Building file system images using cached logical volume snapshots

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11586358-B2
Application number	US-201414573137-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2014
Priority date	Dec 17, 2014
Publication date	Feb 21, 2023
Grant date	Feb 21, 2023

Abstract

Systems and methods for building file system images using cached logical volume snapshots. An example method may comprise: producing a buildroot descriptor in view of a list of identifiers of software packages to be included into a new file system image; and responsive to locating, in a storage memory, a logical volume snapshot associated with the buildroot descriptor, creating the new file system image using the logical volume snapshot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving a file system image request comprising a plurality of identifiers of software packages;
producing, by a processing device, a file system image descriptor by applying a pre-defined function to a lexicographically-ordered list of the identifiers of software packages to be included into a new file system image;
responsive to failing to locate, in a storage memory, a logical volume snapshot identified by the file system image descriptor, creating a new logical volume comprising a sequence of logical extents that are mapped to physical extents;
installing the software packages on the new logical volume, wherein the software packages include a first software package depending on a second software package;
producing a snapshot of the new logical volume while preserving a current version of the new logical volume;
creating a new file system image by installing and configuring software components on the snapshot of the new logical volume; and
storing, in the storage memory, the snapshot of the new logical volume comprising the new file system image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage memory comprises a logical volume manager (LVM) cache.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
removing, from the storage memory, a least recently accessed logical volume snapshot.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the file system image descriptor is insensitive to an order of the identifiers of the software packages.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-defined function is provided by a checksum of a pre-defined size.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-defined function is provided by a function that provides a specified distribution of input variable values over a range of function values.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein locating the logical volume snapshot further comprises:
looking up the file system image descriptor in a memory data structure comprising a plurality of mappings of file system image descriptors to locations of corresponding logical volume snapshots.

8. A system, comprising:
a memory; and
a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory, to:
receive a file system image request comprising a plurality of identifiers of software packages;
produce a file system image descriptor by applying a pre-defined function to a lexicographically-ordered list of the identifiers of software packages to be included into a new file system image;
responsive to failing to locate, in a storage memory, a logical volume snapshot identified by the file system image descriptor, create a new logical volume comprising a sequence of logical extents that are mapped to physical extents;
install the software packages on the new logical volume, wherein the software packages include a first software package depending on a second software package;
produce a snapshot of the new logical volume while preserving a current version of the new logical volume;
create a new file system image by installing and configuring software components on the snapshot of the new logical volume; and
store, in the storage memory, the snapshot of the new logical volume comprising the new file system image.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the storage memory comprises a logical volume manager (LVM) cache.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the file system image descriptor is insensitive to an order of the identifiers of the software packages.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the pre-defined function is provided by a checksum of a pre-defined size.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the pre-defined function is provided by a function that provides a specified distribution of input variable values over a range of function values.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein locating the logical volume snapshot further comprises:
looking up the file system image descriptor in a memory data structure comprising a plurality of mappings of file system image descriptors to locations of corresponding logical volume snapshots.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the processing device is further to:
remove, from the storage memory, a least recently accessed logical volume snapshot.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing device of a file system server, cause the processing device to:
receive a file system image request comprising a plurality of identifiers of software packages;
produce, by the processing device, a file system image descriptor by applying a pre-defined function to a lexicographically-ordered list of the identifiers of software packages to be included into a new file system image;
responsive to failing to locate, in a storage memory, a logical volume snapshot identified by the file system image descriptor, create a new logical volume comprising a sequence of logical extents that are mapped to physical extents;
install the software packages on the new logical volume, wherein the software packages include a first software package depending on a second software package;
produce a snapshot of the new logical volume while preserving a current version of the new logical volume;
create a new file system image by installing and configuring software components on the snapshot of the new logical volume; and
store, in the storage memory, the snapshot of the new logical volume comprising the new file system image.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the storage memory comprises a logical volume manager (LVM) cache.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the file system image descriptor is insensitive to an order of the identifiers of the software packages.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the pre-defined function is provided by a checksum of a pre-defined size.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the pre-defined function is provided by a function that provides a specified distribution of input variable values over a range of function values.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein locating the logical volume snapshot further comprises:
looking up the file system image descriptor in a memory data structure comprising a plurality of mappings of file system image descriptors to locations of corresponding logical volume snapshots.

Assignees

• Red Hat Inc

Inventors

• Simacek Michael
• Suchy Miroslav

Classifications

• G06F3/0619 Primary

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G06F3/065

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/0665

  at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes · CPC title