Patent Application

App. No. 11/675,606

Abstract

Claims (36)

1 . A method of dealing with persistent objects accessible by a network of servers, the method comprising:

binding the locations of the persistent objects to the storage units in which the persistent objects are contained;

allowing each server in the network of servers to register its corresponding storage unit; and

routing requests for the persistent objects by:

determining the storage unit that contains the persistent object; and

determining the server having access to that storage unit.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further including re-registering access to a storage unit with a backup server after failure of a server currently registered to access that storage unit.

3 . A method of forming a directory and a location service, the method comprising:

in the directory, binding a location of a persistent object to a storage unit in which the persistent object is contained; and

in the location service, providing a translation of the storage unit to a current server having access to that storage unit.

4 . A location service for a network of servers, the location service comprising:

means for allowing a server to automatically register itself as accessing a particular storage unit.

5 . The location service of claim 4 , further including means for allowing a backup server to re-register access to a storage unit after failure of a server currently registered to access that storage unit.

6 . A location service comprising:

a listing of registered servers providing access to corresponding, self-describing storage units.

7 . The location service of claim 6 , wherein at least one registered server is indicated as being replaced by a backup server, the location service further comprising instructions that allow the backup server to re-register access to a storage unit after failure of a server currently registered to access that storage unit.

8 . A system comprising:

a plurality of storage units, each storage unit including meta data indicating any persistent objects the storage unit contains;

a plurality of servers, each server facilitating access to a storage unit by using the meta data of that storage unit.

9 . The system of claim 8 , further including:

a directory for storing a storage unit location of a persistent object; and

a location service that allows the plurality of servers to register their corresponding storage units, thereby allowing access to the persistent object without updating the directory.

10 . The system of claim 9 , further including:

an access network for requesting a persistent object from an appropriate server based on a registration stored by the location service.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of storage units form a network storage.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of servers form a network server.

13 . A lookup for a persistent object, the lookup comprising:

determining a storage unit that contains the persistent object; and

after determining the storage unit, determining a server that accesses the storage unit.

14 . A method of translating in a computer system, the method comprising:

providing meta data in each storage unit, the meta data describing persistent objects contained by the storage unit;

using a directory to translate a persistent object to the storage unit; and

using a location service to translate that storage unit to a server accessing the persistent object.

15 . A method of accessing a storage unit in a system, the method comprising:

registering a server that accesses the storage unit without changing a directory entry; and

accessing the storage unit based on the registering.

Assignments (12)