Hosted file sync with stateless sync nodes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11943291-B2
Application number	US-201916558978-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2019
Priority date	Sep 14, 2015
Publication date	Mar 26, 2024
Grant date	Mar 26, 2024

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a system and method to synchronize files from a hosted file system where the client endpoint devices have direct access to the files stored on a hosted file store. When the client desires to synchronize with the files stored on the hosted file store the process identifies a sync role that can process the request. The particular sync role does not need to maintain state with the client device or the file store. The state necessary for the processing of the synchronization process is maintained separate from the sync role such that any sync role in the system can pick up the requests and process the requests. Once the role has been selected the synchronization process proceeds as normal. As state is not maintained by the sync role multiple roles can process the request or two roles can handle different portions of the process.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a sync request for synchronizing data between the client device and a file store on a remote host platform;
dividing the sync request into two or more data sync tasks for synchronizing data between the client device and the file store, and assigning the two or more data sync tasks to two or more stateless sync nodes, respectively;
transmitting, from a state store to the two or more stateless sync nodes, a synchronization state of the data between the client device and the file store; and
synchronizing, via transmissions by the two or more stateless sync nodes, the data based on the synchronization state and the two or more data sync tasks which results in changes to the data stored by at least one of the client device and the file store.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the synchronization state comprises a synchronization history of the data between the client and the file store performed by at least one different stateless sync node.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the two or more stateless sync nodes from among a plurality of stateless sync nodes based on a current sync load among the plurality of stateless sync nodes.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the two or more stateless sync nodes from among a plurality of stateless sync nodes based on an expected duration of a sync task identified by the sync request.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the two or more stateless sync nodes from among a plurality of stateless sync nodes based on a round-robin approach.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the selecting comprises selecting a different stateless sync node than a most recently selected stateless sync node from among the plurality of stateless sync nodes.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the synchronizing comprises resuming synchronizing of the data between the client device and the file store based on a point at which a different stateless sync node finished synchronizing the data between the client device and the file store.

8. A computing system comprising:
a network interface device configured to receive, from a client device, a sync request for synchronizing data between the client device and a file store on a remote host platform;
at least one processor; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to perform a set of operations, comprising:
dividing the sync request into two or more data sync tasks for synchronizing data between the client device and the file store, and assign the two or more sync tasks to two or more stateless sync nodes, respectively;
transmitting, from a runtime state store to the two or more stateless sync nodes, a synchronization state of the data between the client device and the file store; and
controlling the two or more stateless sync nodes to synchronize the data based on the synchronization state and the two or more data sync tasks, which results in changes to the data stored by at least one of the client device and the file store.

9. The computing system of claim 8 , wherein the synchronization state comprises a synchronization history of the data between the client and the file store performed by at least one different stateless sync node.

10. The computing system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to select the two or more stateless sync nodes from among a plurality of stateless sync nodes based on a current sync load among the plurality of stateless sync nodes.

11. The computing system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to select the two or more stateless sync nodes from among a plurality of stateless sync nodes based on an expected duration of a sync task identified by the sync request.

12. The computing system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to select the two or more stateless sync nodes from among a plurality of stateless sync nodes based on a round-robin approach.

13. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the processor selects a different stateless sync node than a most recently selected stateless sync node from among the plurality of stateless sync nodes.

14. The computing system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to control the two or more stateless sync nodes to resume synchronizing of the data between the client device and the file store based on a point at which a different stateless sync node finished synchronizing the data between the client device and the file store.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computer to perform a method comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a sync request for synchronizing data between the client device and a file store on a remote host platform;
dividing the sync request into two or more data sync tasks for synchronizing data between the client device and the file store, and assigning the two or more data sync tasks to two or more stateless sync nodes, respectively;
transmitting, from a state store to the two or more stateless sync nodes, a synchronization state of the data between the client device and the file store from a state store; and
synchronizing, via transmissions by the two or more stateless sync nodes, the data based on the synchronization state and the two or more data sync tasks which results in changes to the data stored by at least one of the client device and the file store.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises selecting the two or more stateless sync nodes from among a plurality of stateless sync nodes based on a current sync load among the plurality of stateless sync nodes.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises selecting the two or more stateless sync nodes from among a plurality of stateless sync nodes based on an expected duration of a sync task identified by the sync request.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises selecting the two or more stateless sync nodes from among a plurality of stateless sync nodes based on a round-robin approach in which a different stateless sync node than a most recently selected stateless sync node is selected from among the plurality of stateless sync nodes.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dividing comprises dividing the sync request into the two or more data sync tasks based on one or more of a size of the data and a speed required for the sync request.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dividing comprises dividing the sync request into two or more data sync tasks based on two or more shards in the file store where the sync tasks are to be performed, respectively.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Murstein Michael
• Teodorescu Cristian
• Shay Jason
• Benton James
• Zheglov Ivelin

Classifications

• H04L67/1095 Primary

  Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes · CPC title

• G06F16/178 Primary

  Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems · CPC title

• G06F16/183

  Provision of network file services by network file servers, e.g. by using NFS, CIFS (network file access protocols H04L67/1097) · CPC title

• G06F16/1873

  Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files · CPC title

• G06F16/235

  Update request formulation · CPC title