Sean F O'Malley

US Patent:

7130873, Oct 31, 2006

Filed:

Jun 2, 2003

Appl. No.:

10/452795

Inventors:

Steven R. Kleiman - Los Altos CA, US
David Hitz - Los Altos CA, US
Norman Hutchinson - Richmond, CA
Sean O'Malley - Tucson AZ, US

Assignee:

Network Appliance Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 12/00
G06F 17/30

US Classification:

707203, 707204

Abstract:

The invention provides techniques for duplicating all or part of a file system while maintaining consistent copies of the file system. A preferred embodiment reads data from the source file system (mapped according to a first storage block arrangement) creates an image stream and writes this data onto the destination file system (in accordance with a second storage block arrangement). Thus, the invention allows an image transfer between file systems that have dissimilar characteristics. An intermediate storage medium can be used to store or transmit the data read from the source file system before writing the data to the destination file system. (For example, the intermediate storage medium can include a magnetic tape or other archival device, or a network. ) Another aspect of the invention writes the data to the intermediate storage medium using a normalized or implied block list. The information is read from the intermediate storage medium using normalized or implied block list and written to the destination file system according to the second storage block arrangement.

US Patent:

7174352, Feb 6, 2007

Filed:

May 10, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/854187

Inventors:

Steven R. Kleiman - Los Altos CA, US
David Hitz - Los Altos CA, US
Guy Harris - Mountain View CA, US
Sean W. O'Malley - Tucson AZ, US
Michael Malcolm - Los Altos CA, US
James Lau - Los Altos Hills CA, US
Byron Rakitzis - Burlingame CA, US

Assignee:

Network Appliance, Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 17/00

US Classification:

707203, 707204

Abstract:

The invention provides a method and system for duplicating all or part of a file system while maintaining consistent copies of the file system. The file server maintains a set of snapshots, each indicating a set of storage blocks making up a consistent copy of the file system as it was at a known time. Each snapshot can be used for a purpose other than maintaining the coherency of the file system, such as duplicating or transferring a backup copy of the file system to a destination storage medium. In a preferred embodiment, the snapshots can be manipulated to identify sets of storage blocks in the file system for incremental backup or copying, or to provide a file system backup that is both complete and relatively inexpensive. Also in a preferred embodiment, shadow snapshots can be maintained, with a shadow snapshot including a set of member storage blocks that formed a consistent file system other than an active file system, with a set of selected member storage blocks removed from the consistent file system.