Method and apparatus for a virtual memory file system
View Patent ↗Methods and a system for a RAM based file system are provided. One exemplary system provides a RAM file system integrated into a host adapter card that connects to a host computer that has access to a storage device. The host adapter card includes a bus interface and a random access memory chip for holding accessed files. The random access memory chip is configured to communicate with the storage device. The accessed files and new files are capable of being operated on until a storage capacity of the random access memory reaches a target level. In response to reaching the target level a file is flushed from the random access memory to the storage device.
1. A host adapter card that connects to a host computer that has access to a storage device, the host adapter card including,
a bus interface;
a random access memory (RAM) file system, wherein the RAM file system includes,
a RAM file system code, which is separate from an operating system, the RAM file system code is configured to monitor file usage for the RAM file system and copy accessed files to the RAM file system; and
a random access memory (RAM) dedicated to the RAM file system for holding accessed files, the accessed files and new files capable of being operated on until a storage capacity of the RAM reaches a target level, and in response to reaching the target level, a file from the random access memory is flushed to the storage device, wherein the RAM file system code is executed on the host computer to manage the files of the RAM file system.
2. The host adapter card as recited in claim 1 , wherein the storage device is a hard drive.
3. The host adapter card as recited in claim 1 , wherein the storage device is a RAID.
4. The host adapter card as recited in claim 1 , wherein the bus interface is a PCI bus interface.
5. The host adapter card as recited in claim 1 , wherein the flushing is not time based flushing.
6. A host adapter card that connects to a host computer that has access to a storage device, the host adapter card including,
a bus interface;
a RAID input/output processor (IOP);
a RAM file system, wherein the RAM file system including,
a RAM file system code, which is separate from an operating system, the RAM file system code is configured to monitor file usage for the RAM file system and copy accessed files to the RAM file system; and
a random access memory chip, having a random access memory (RAM) that is dedicated to the RAM file system, and for holding accessed files, the RAID IOP managing temporary storage of the accessed files, the random access memory chip being configured to communicate with the storage device, wherein the accessed files and new files are operated on, until a storage capacity of the random access memory chip reaches a target level, thereby causing one least frequently used file to be flushed from the random access memory to the storage, wherein the RAM file system code is executed on the host computer to manage the files of the RAM file system.
7. The host adapter card as recited in claim 6 , wherein the storage device is RAID storage.
8. The host adapter card as recited in claim 6 , wherein the flushing is not time based flushing.
9. The host adapter card as recited in claim 6 , wherein the bus interface is a PCI interface.
10. The host adapter card as recited in claim 6 , wherein a RAM file system code is executed on the RAID IOP for managing temporary storage of the accessed files.
11. An apparatus for managing a file system of a host computer, comprising:
a central processing unit (CPU) is located on the host computer;
a random access memory (RAM) unit, having a random access memory (RAM) that is separate from a system RAM utilized by an operating system;
a communication chip;
a bus connecting the CPU the RAM and the communication chip;
a storage media; and
a RAM file system, which is being managed by a RAM file system code that is different from the operating system, the RAM file system is configured to communicate with the storage media through the communication chip, the RAM file system further being configured to store temporary files, the temporary files capable of being operated on until a storage capacity of the RAM file system reaches a target level wherein the RAM file system in response to reaching the target level being configured to flush not recently used files to the storage media, wherein the RAM file system code is executed through the CPU to manage the files of the RAM file system.
12. The apparatus as recited in claim 11 , wherein the RAM file system is contained on an adapter card.
13. The apparatus as recited in claim 12 , wherein the adapter card contains one of a SCSI chip and a RAID chip.
14. The apparatus as recited in claim 11 , wherein the storage media is a plurality of disks.
15. The apparatus as recited in claim 11 , wherein the storage media is a RAID subsystem.