Workflow File Signature Extraction from Access Traces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Identifying related files in large systems is complex and often requires manual effort or relies on temporal locality techniques that may capture spurious relationships, and conventional methods require detailed system call information not always available across all systems.
Innovation Solution
A technique for determining files associated with a workflow by tracing file accesses at a server, preprocessing the trace to extract frequent file sets, and clustering these sets to reconstruct workflow file signatures, which can be used for managing storage, understanding resource utilization, and optimizing storage performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual identification of related files is performed, then accuracy of file grouping is improved, but time consumption and labor cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically performs file grouping by analyzing file access traces and identifying workflows, eliminating the need for manual identification. The server autonomously processes trace data, extracts workflows, and groups related files without human intervention, thus maintaining high accuracy while significantly reducing time consumption.
2Extent of automation
If temporal locality techniques are used to identify related files, then automation is improved, but accuracy deteriorates due to spurious relationships
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces workflow extraction as an intermediary concept between automated file access tracking and file grouping. By using file access traces as a mediator to identify workflows, and then using workflows to group files, the system maintains automation while improving accuracy over direct temporal locality methods.
3Measurement precision
If detailed system call information is used for file relationship tracking, then accuracy of workflow identification is improved, but system compatibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary file access information from system traces, specifically focusing on file access patterns rather than detailed system call information. This extraction approach maintains accuracy in workflow identification while improving compatibility across different systems by requiring only basic file access trace data that is universally available.
4Measurement precision
If manual file identification is performed in large systems, then accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical file identification processes with automated computational analysis of file access traces. The server automatically processes trace data, extracts workflows using algorithmic methods, and groups files based on identified workflows, thereby maintaining accuracy while reducing the complexity associated with manual intervention in large file systems.
Data Source
AI summary
To determine files associated with one or more workflows, a trace of accesses of files in at least one server is received. The files are grouped into at least one set of files, where the files in the set are accessed together more than a predetermined number of times in the trace. Files associated with the particular workflow are identified based on the at least one set.