Concurrent file and object protocol access using space-efficient cloning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9959281-B2
Application number	US-201615224182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2016
Priority date	Jan 11, 2016
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

A computer-implemented method is provided in one general embodiment for concurrent file and object protocol access. The method includes receiving a notification that indicates storage of an object by an object-based client, and creating a clone of the object. Also, the method includes providing a file-based client access to the clone of the object. Further, the method includes, after the file-based client has finished modifying the clone of the object, replacing the object with an updated object based on the modified clone of the object. The file-based client is provided access to the modified clone of the updated object. After the file-based client has finished modifying the modified clone of the updated object, the updated object is replaced with an additional object based on the modification to the modified clone of the updated object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer program product for providing concurrent file and object protocol access, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
computer readable program code configured to receive a notification that indicates storage of an object in response to an object PUT request from an object-based client, utilizing an object-based access protocol;
computer readable program code configured to create a clone of the object;
computer readable program code configured to identify a request to access the object by a file-based client different from the object-based client;
computer readable program code configured to provide, to the file-based client, access to the clone of the object, utilizing a file-based network attached storage (NAS) protocol different from the object-based access protocol, where the file-based NAS protocol implements a traversal of a file system hierarchy;
computer readable program code configured to identify a modification of the clone of the object by the file-based client that results in a modified clone of the object;
computer readable program code configured to return the object to the object-based client or another object-based client, in response to one or more object GET read requests for the object received from the object-based client or the other object-based client during the modification of the clone of the object by the file-based client; and
computer readable program code configured to replace the object with an updated object after the modification of the clone of the object, utilizing the modified clone of the object.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the modification of the clone of the object is performed utilizing the file-based NAS protocol.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , comprising computer readable program code configured to:
create a second clone of the updated object; and
delete the object and remove the clone of the object, in response to the creation of the second clone of the updated object.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the clone of the object includes a representation of blocks of the object that have changed relative to when the object was stored in response to the request from the object-based client.

5. The computer program product of claim 4 , wherein replacing the object with the updated object includes merging the object with the blocks of the object that have changed relative to when the object was stored in response to the request from the object-based client, to create the updated object.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , comprising:
computer readable program code configured to provide, to the file-based client, access to the modified clone of the object; and
computer readable program code configured to, after the file-based client has finished modifying the modified clone of the object:
based on the modification of the modified clone by the file-based client, generate an additional clone of the object, and
replace the updated object with an additional object based on the additional clone of the object;

wherein each of the clone, the modified clone, and the additional clone are separately and simultaneously stored.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , comprising computer readable program code configured to return, in response to one or more read requests for the object received from one or more object-based clients while the file-based client modifies the modified clone of the object to generate the additional clone, the updated object to the one or more object-based clients.

8. The computer program product of claim 6 , comprising computer readable program code configured to de-clone the clone, the modified clone, and the additional clone in response to determining that a predetermined number of clones are associated with the object.

9. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the clone of the object is created in response to the storage of the object in response to the request from the object-based client.

10. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the clone of the object is created in response to identifying the request to access the object by the file-based client.

11. A computer-implemented method for providing concurrent file and object protocol access, the method comprising:
receiving a notification that indicates storage of an object in response to an object PUT request from an object-based client, utilizing an object-based access protocol;
creating a clone of the object;
identifying a request to access the object by a file-based client different from the object-based client;
providing, to the file-based client, access to the clone of the object utilizing a file-based network attached storage (NAS) protocol different from the object-based access protocol, where the file-based NAS protocol implements a traversal of a file system hierarchy;
identifying a modification of the clone of the object by the file-based client that results in a modified clone of the object;
replacing the object with an updated object based on the modified clone of the object;
providing, to the file-based client, access to the modified clone of the object;
identifying a modification of the modified clone of the object by the file-based client; and
replacing the updated object with an additional object based on the modification of the modified clone of the object.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein the modification of the clone of the object is performed utilizing the file-based NAS protocol.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , further comprising:
creating a second clone of the updated object; and
deleting the object and removing the clone of the object, in response to the creation of the second clone of the updated object.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein the clone of the object includes a representation of blocks of the object that have changed relative to when the object was stored in response to the request from the object-based client.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein replacing the object with the updated object includes merging the object with the blocks of the object that have changed relative to when the object was stored in response to the request from the object-based client, to create the updated object.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , comprising:
based on the modification of the modified clone of the object by the file-based client, generating an additional clone of the object, wherein the additional object is based on the additional clone of the object;
wherein each of the clone of the object, the modified clone of the object, and the additional clone of the object are separately and simultaneously stored.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , comprising returning, in response to one or more read requests for the object received from one or more object-based clients while the file-based client modifies the modified clone of the object to generate the additional clone, the updated object to the one or more object-based clients.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , comprising de-cloning the clone, the modified clone, and the additional clone in response to determining that a predetermined number of clones are associated with the object.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Dietz Mathias
• Hildebrand Dean
• Lorenz Simon
• Nelson Brian
• Owen William W
• Wolafka Rainer

Classifications

• G06F17/30174

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30117 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30197

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30345

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30215

  Physics · mapped topic