Stub File Migration in Distributed File Systems
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Network administrators face challenges in efficiently managing and maintaining distributed file servers, including increased complexity and costs as the number of users and servers grows, while ensuring file accessibility and security.
Innovation Solution
The method involves creating temporary target stub files and remapping source stub files to point to target shares, allowing for efficient data migration and storage across multiple servers, utilizing a file migration engine to manage data location and apply server functions like encryption and de-duplication without requiring each server to have these capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If files are stored on distributed servers to improve accessibility and reduce latency, then file accessibility and latency are improved, but network complexity and maintenance costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces stub files as intermediary objects that mediate between users and the actual distributed file storage system. Instead of users directly interacting with complex distributed server infrastructure, stub files serve as simple local proxies that redirect file access requests to the appropriate distributed servers, thereby reducing network complexity while maintaining accessibility and latency benefits
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates stub files that are local copies or representations of actual file access points in the distributed system. These stub files contain metadata and redirection information that enable users to access distributed files without needing to understand or manage the underlying distributed storage complexity, effectively copying the access interface to the local environment
2Quantity of substance
If the number of distributed servers is increased to expand capacity, then storage capacity is expanded, but maintenance costs and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Stub files act as intermediaries that abstract the complexity of managing multiple distributed servers from end users and administrators. The stub files encapsulate server location, access credentials, and file path information, allowing capacity to be expanded across multiple servers without proportionally increasing operational complexity or maintenance burden
Solution Approach 2:
The stub file structure is designed to be universal and adaptable to different distributed server configurations and storage systems. A single stub file format can work across multiple servers with different capacities and locations, allowing the system to expand storage capacity flexibly without requiring different management approaches for each server
3Productivity
If data is migrated between source share and target share, then storage optimization and server function application are achieved, but service interruption may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by creating stub files with redirection capability before actual data migration occurs. The stub files are pre-configured to point to either source or target shares based on migration status, ensuring that user access is maintained throughout the migration process without service interruption. This preliminary setup of flexible redirection paths allows seamless switching between source and target locations
Solution Approach 2:
The stub file redirection mechanism is dynamic and adaptable during the migration process. Stub files can automatically update their target location based on migration progress, switching from pointing to the source share to pointing to the target share as data is transferred. This dynamic redirection ensures continuous service availability while enabling storage optimization through migration to more efficient server locations
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes creating a temporary target s-stub file. The temporary target s-stub file points to a source share. The method further includes creating a plurality of stub files in a target top-level directory on a target share. Each stub file out of the plurality of stub files corresponds to source data. The source data includes files and subdirectories in a source top-level directory on a source share. The plurality of stub files include source information, the source information is associated with the temporary target s-stub file, and a source s-stub file points to the source share. The method further includes remapping the source s-stub to point to the target share.