Namespace hierarchy preservation with multiple object storage objects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017091235-A1
Application number	US-201615143339-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 29, 2016
Priority date	Sep 25, 2015
Publication date	Mar 30, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

To leverage the attributes of object storage for applications/systems created to interface with a network files system, an object storage backed file system can accept the defined file system commands from the applications/systems and transform the file system commands into requests that target object storage. The file system is “backed” by object storage because attributes and content of file system entities are stored in objects. For instance, content data and metadata of a file are stored in objects in object storage. This object storage backed file system can be considered a bridge between a client perceived hierarchical file system namespace and a flat namespace of an object storage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
after connecting with an object storage that stores objects that back a file system, requesting from the object storage a first listing of object keys each of which begins with a first object key; after receipt of a response with the first listing, updating a structure based, at least in part, on the object keys in the first listing, wherein the structure indicates a namespace hierarchy for the file system; for each of the object keys in the first listing,
requesting from the object storage an object identified by the object key;
determining a second object key from metadata of the object identified by the object key; and
requesting from the object storage a second listing of object keys, wherein each object key in the second listing begins with the second object key;
updating the structure based, at least in part, on the objects keys in the second listing; and
supplying the structure for presentation of the namespace hierarchy.

2 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the objects comprise first objects and second objects, wherein each of the first objects comprise a self-identifying object key and an object key that identifies a corresponding one of the second objects, wherein each of the second objects comprise a self-identifying key and at least an indication of file or file container.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first listing of objects and the second listing of objects are listings of different subsets of the first objects.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the self-identifying object key of each one of the first objects comprises a name of a file or file container represented by the one of the first objects and an object key of one of the second objects that represents a parent file container of the file or file container represented by the one of the first objects.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the self-identifying object key of each one of the first objects also comprises a delimiter between the parent file container object key and the name.

6 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the self-identifying key of each of the second objects comprises an inode number of a file or file container represented by the second object.

7 . The method of claim 2 , wherein each of the first objects and a corresponding one of the second objects represent a file or file container of the file system.

8 . One or more non-transitory machine-readable media having program code for an object storage backed file system, the program code comprising instructions to:
after connecting with an object storage that stores objects that back a file system, request from the object storage a first listing of object keys that each begins with a first object key; after receipt of a response with the first listing, update a structure based, at least in part, on the object keys in the first listing, wherein the structure indicates a namespace hierarchy for the file system; for each of the object keys in the first listing,
request from the object storage an object identified by the object key;
determine a second object key from metadata of the object identified by the object key; and
request from the object storage a second listing of object keys that each begins with the second object key;
update the structure based, at least in part, on the objects keys in the second listing; and
supply the structure for presentation of the namespace hierarchy.

9 . The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 8 ,
wherein the objects comprise first objects and second objects, wherein each of the first objects comprise a self-identifying object key and an object key that identifies a corresponding one of the second objects, wherein each of the second objects comprise a self-identifying key and at least an indication of file or file container.

10 . The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9 , wherein the first listing of objects and the second listing of objects are listings of different subsets of the first objects.

11 . The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9 , wherein the self-identifying object key of each one of the first objects comprises a name of a file or file container represented by the one of the first objects and an object key of one of the second objects that represents a parent file container of the file or file container represented by the one of the first objects.

12 . The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the self-identifying object key of each one of the first objects also comprises a delimiter between the parent file container object key and the name.

13 . The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9 , wherein the self-identifying key of each of the second objects comprises an inode number of a file or file container represented by the second object.

14 . The non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9 , wherein each of the first objects and a corresponding one of the second objects represent a file or file container of the file system.

15 . An apparatus comprising:
a processor; a network interface; and a machine-readable medium comprising program code executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to, after connecting, via the network interface, with an object storage that stores objects that back a file system, request from the object storage a first listing of object keys that each begins with a first object key; after receipt of a response with the first listing, update a structure based, at least in part, on the object keys in the first listing, wherein the structure indicates a namespace hierarchy for the file system; for each of the object keys in the first listing,
request from the object storage an object identified by the object key;
determine a second object key from metadata of the object identified by the object key; and
request from the object storage a second listing of object keys that each begins with the second object key;
update the structure based, at least in part, on the objects keys in the second listing; and
supply the structure for presentation of the namespace hierarchy.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 ,
wherein the objects comprise first objects and second objects, wherein each of the first objects comprise a self-identifying object key and an object key that identifies a corresponding one of the second objects, wherein each of the second objects comprise a self-identifying key and at least an indication of file or file container.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the first listing of objects and the second listing of objects are listings of different subsets of the first objects.

18 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the self-identifying object key of each one of the first objects comprises a name of a file or file container represented by the one of the first objects and an object key of one of the second objects that represents a parent file container of the file or file container represented by the one of the first objects.

19 . The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the self-identifying object key of each one of the first objects also comprises a delimiter between the parent file container object key and the name.

20 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the self-identifying key of each of the second objects comprises an inode number of a file or file container represented by the second object.

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• Yammine Ghassan Abdallah
• Meier Kris Allen
• Preston Jason Dillard
• Beard Derek William

Classifications

• G06F17/30312 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/3012

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30227

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F16/192 Primary

  Implementing virtual folder structures · CPC title

• G06F16/164

  File meta data generation · CPC title