초록 ▼

A scalable NAS file system and protocols for implementing CIFS thereon are disclosed. In certain embodiments, the protocols implement the CIFS protocol on a scalable file server architecture having one or more protocol termination nodes, one or more file server nodes, and one or more disk controller

A scalable NAS file system and protocols for implementing CIFS thereon are disclosed. In certain embodiments, the protocols implement the CIFS protocol on a scalable file server architecture having one or more protocol termination nodes, one or more file server nodes, and one or more disk controller nodes. Among the features that may be specifically implemented are tree access, file access, user authentication, locking, state maintenance, and failover of protocol termination nodes and file server nodes.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A scalable network attached storage system comprising: one or more termination nodes; one or more file server nodes in communication with the one or more termination nodes for maintaining file systems, wherein the file server nodes are together responsible for a plurality of

What is claimed is: 1. A scalable network attached storage system comprising: one or more termination nodes; one or more file server nodes in communication with the one or more termination nodes for maintaining file systems, wherein the file server nodes are together responsible for a plurality of trees of the file systems, wherein each of the plurality of trees is a server message block (SMB) share; and a switching fabric coupling the one or more termination nodes and file server nodes, wherein the one or more termination nodes and file server nodes can be added to or deleted from the scalable network attached storage system as needed, wherein the one or more termination nodes are configured to communicate with users via CIFS protocol; wherein the one or more termination nodes are configured to (i) receive a Server Message Block (SMB) TREE CONNECT message from a user, which TREE CONNECT message identifies a share to be accessed by the user, (ii) determine which file server node is responsible for a tree identified in the TREE CONNECT message, (iii) send the TREE CONNECT message to the file server node determined to be responsible, and (iv) send a response to the user, which response identifies a Tid to be used by the user to identify said share. 2. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the one or more termination nodes are configured to (i) receive a user's credentials and (ii) forward said credentials to a management entity or domain controller responsible for authenticating users. 3. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the termination nodes are configured to (i) receive a request from the user to lock a selected file or portion of a file stored on the network attached storage system, and (ii) provide the request or at least criteria pertaining to locking from the selected termination node to one of the file server nodes responsible for the file for which the lock request was made, and wherein the file server nodes are configured to maintain state information pertaining to the locked file or portion of the file. 4. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the storage system is configured to (i) determine that a protocol termination node has failed, wherein the failed protocol termination node had established a session with a client at the time when it failed, (ii) designate another protocol termination node to handle subsequent communication with the client, and (iii) start a new session between the client and the other protocol termination node. 5. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the storage system is configured to (i) determine that a file server node has failed, wherein the failed file server node was responsible for handling access to one or more of the plurality of trees, (ii) identify one or more peer file server nodes to handle the trees of the failed file server node, and (iii) allow a client to access one or more files in the trees of the failed file server node by providing access through the one or more peer file server nodes identified to handle said trees. 6. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the termination nodes are configured to (i) receive a Tid from the user, wherein the Tid identifies one of the plurality of trees in the file system, (ii) determine which file server node is responsible for a tree identified by the Tid, and (iii) send a request for access to the file server node determined to be responsible; wherein the responsible file server node is configured to (i) identify the actual file associated with an operation via an Fid carried in the request, wherein the Fid identifies a file to be accessed, (ii) determine that the user has appropriate permissions for that Fid, and (iii) allow the user to access the file. 7. The storage system of claim 1, further comprising one or more disk controller nodes for accessing storage disks. 8. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the file server nodes is responsible for a different set of the plurality of trees of the file systems. 9. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 8, wherein each of the file server nodes is responsible for providing access to files of the set of the plurality of trees for which it is responsible. 10. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 9, wherein the access includes at least one of creating one of the files, writing to one of the files, flushing one of the files, or renaming one of the files. 11. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 9, wherein the access includes at least one of moving one of the files to another one of the plurality of trees or copying one of the files to another one of the plurality of trees. 12. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 8, wherein each of the file server nodes maintains state information associated with locks pertaining to files of the set of the plurality of trees for which it is responsible. 13. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 1, wherein the file server nodes are responsible for maintaining state information associated with locks pertaining to files in the plurality of trees. 14. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the trees identifies one or more files. 15. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 1, wherein the file server nodes are not nodes of the plurality of trees. 16. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the file server nodes maintains a root of each of the plurality of trees for which it is responsible. 17. The scalable network attached storage system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of trees is accessible via a corresponding single one of the file server nodes at a given point in time. 18. A scalable network attached storage system comprising: one or more termination nodes; one or more file server nodes in communication with the one or more termination nodes for maintaining file systems; and a switching fabric coupling the one or more termination nodes and file server nodes, wherein the one or more termination nodes and file server nodes can be added to or deleted from the scalable network attached storage system as needed, and wherein the one or more termination nodes are configured to communicate with users via CIFS protocol; wherein the one or more termination nodes are configured to (i) receive a Server Message Block (SMB) TREE_CONNECT message from a user, which TREE_CONNECT message identifies a share to be accessed by the user, (ii) determine which file server node is responsible for a tree identified in the TREE_CONNECT message, (iii) send the TREE_CONNECT message to the file server node determined to be responsible, and (iv) send a response to the user, which response identifies a Tid to be used by the user to identify said share. 19. A method of connecting a user to a file system tree maintained on a scalable network attached storage system using CIFS protocol, the network attached storage system comprising: (i) one or more termination nodes and (ii) one or more file server nodes in communication with the one or more termination nodes for maintaining file systems, wherein the one or more termination nodes and file server nodes can be added to or deleted from the scalable network attached storage system as needed, the method comprising: receiving a Server Message Block (SMB) TREE_CONNECT message at a selected termination node; determining which file server node is responsible for a tree identified in the TREE_CONNECT message; sending the TREE_CONNECT message to the file server node determined to be responsible; determining a tree ID used by the file server node for the share; providing the tree ID used by the file server node to the selected termination node; generating a Tid at the selected termination node, which Tid identifies the share; and sending a response including the Tid to the user. 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising authenticating the users access to the share. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein authenticating the user's access to the share is performed by a management process on the network attached storage system. 22. The method of claim 19, wherein the Tid is generated on a per client basis.