Global Lock Translation for Multi-Protocol File Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network-attached file systems lack efficient mechanisms for locking shared files across different local file systems and protocols, leading to potential conflicts and data integrity issues.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for managing file locks in a shared network-attached file system, which intercepts local lock requests, translates them into a common protocol, and sends them to a central lock server for global lock management, ensuring compatibility across different protocols like NFS, SMB, and CIFS.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a network-attached file system supports multiple local file systems and protocols (NFS, SMB, CIFS), then the adaptability and versatility of the system is improved, but the device complexity increases due to the need to manage different locking protocols simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a lock translation service as an intermediary component that sits between multiple local file systems/protocols and the underlying storage system. This service translates locking requests from different protocols (NFS, SMB, CIFS) into a unified internal locking mechanism, allowing the system to support multiple protocols without each protocol directly implementing complex interoperability logic. The intermediary handles protocol conversion and coordination, reducing the complexity burden from the overall system architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The lock translation service implements a universal locking interface that works across multiple protocols. Instead of creating separate locking mechanisms for each protocol, the system designs a single multi-functional locking service that can handle requests from NFS, SMB, and CIFS protocols uniformly. This universal approach improves adaptability while managing complexity through consolidation rather than proliferation of protocol-specific components.
2Reliability
If global lock requests are centralized on a single lock server, then the reliability of lock management is improved, but the speed of lock request processing may be reduced due to network communication overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the lock management functionality into distributed lock translation services rather than concentrating all lock operations on a single centralized server. Each local file system or storage node runs its own lock translation service that can handle lock requests locally, segmenting the centralized lock management into distributed units. This segmentation maintains reliability through coordinated consistency while improving speed by reducing network communication overhead for lock operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a purely centralized lock management approach to a distributed architecture by adding the dimension of spatial distribution across multiple nodes. Lock translation services are deployed across different storage nodes or file system servers, transforming the single-point centralized model into a multi-dimensional distributed model. This dimensional change allows the system to maintain centralized coordination for reliability while achieving parallel processing capabilities for speed.
Data Source
AI summary
A versioned file system comprising network accessible storage is provided. Aspects of the system include globally locking files or groups of files so as to better control the stored files in the file system and to avoid problems associated with simultaneous remote access or conflicting multiple access requests for the same files. A method for operating, creating and using the global locks is also disclosed. A multiprotocol global lock can be provided for filing nodes that have multiple network protocols for generating local lock requests.