Method for managing lock resources in a distributed storage system

Abstract

A method and a distributed locking system for the management of lock resources in a distributed files system having several lock managers, each managing lock resources in its respective domain. Each lock manager maintains a registry lock file that comprises of a list of all locked files and a list of lock requests. The registry lock files of all lock managers in the distributed locking system are saved in a central database. Furthermore, the system enables concurrent locking operations of different file sharing protocols on the same file system resources.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 581,721, filed Jun. 23, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates generally to distributed file systems, and more particularly, for managing lock resources in distributed file systems. [0003] During the past decade, the demand for scalability of storage systems has sharply increased. To meet this demand many storage systems implement distributed architectures, i.e., distributed storage systems. Generally, multiple processing nodes (e.g., storage servers) that serve data to client applications characterize a distributed storage system. The processing nodes and systems that host the client applications are connected through a network. [0004] Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary diagram of a distributed storage system 100 is shown. The system 100 comprises of ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018] A third aspect of the present invention provides a distributed lock system for managing lock resources in a distributed storage system. The distributed lock system comprises a plurality of locking managers, wherein each of the plurality of locking managers is capable of managing lock resources in its respective domain. The system further comprises a plurality of metadata servers capable of maintaining a plurality of a lock resource objects, and a central database for maintaining locking information. Each of the plurality of lock resource objects is part of metadata of the lockable file. The locking information comprises a plurality of registry lock files, wherein each of the plurality registry lock files comprises at least a list of locked files and a list of lock requests. Each of the plurality of lock resource objects is allocated to a lockable file. The registry lock file comprises a unique identification of the client requesting the lock and a host name of the client. The list of files contains files locked by the client requesting the lock in a domain of the locking manager, and the list of files includes at least a file name of the locked file and a counter recording a number of requested locks for the locked file.

Problems solved by technology

However, the disclosed mechanisms do not provide locking services satisfying the locking requirements of all file-sharing protocols.

Specifically, the current locking mechanisms do not enable simultaneous operations of different sharing protocols on the same file system resource.

Furthermore, the distributed locking mechanisms disclosed in the related are not scalable beyond a certain number of nodes.

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