Managing computer file system using file system trees
View Patent ↗A system, method and computer program product for managing computer file system using file system trees. A plurality of Virtual Execution Environments (VEEs) running on a computer system is provided. The computer system has a common file system tree, which can be concurrently accessed by the VEEs. The shareable files are stored in the common file system tree located in a local storage of the computer system. The common file system tree includes a first set of files that can be accessed by VEEs directly using first redirection. The common file system tree also includes a second set of files that can be accessed by VEEs using first and second redirection. The files system accesses the files from the local storage using first redirection and from the network storage using first and second redirection. The local storage can also receive files from the network storage and store them in the common file system tree.
1. A method for managing a computer file system, the method comprising:
on a remote computing system, creating a Virtual Execution Environment (VEE) file template for a plurality of VEEs having a VEE file system located on a local computing system;
establishing, on the local computing system, a shared template file system tree that is concurrently accessible by the VEEs;
on a local computing system, instantiating the plurality of VEEs that use the VEE file template, each VEE virtualizing a host operating system of the local computing system and the VEEs sharing services of the host operating system, and each VEE being isolated from other VEEs on a namespace level;
transmitting the VEE file template from the remote computing system to the shared template file system tree; and
providing access from the VEE to the file template in the shared template file system tree,
wherein the shared template file system tree comprises stub files that reference files on the network storage.
2. A method for managing a computer file system, the method comprising:
establishing a shared template file system tree that is concurrently accessible by a plurality of Virtual Execution Environments (VEEs);
instantiating a VEE on a computer system;
launching the VEEs together with the VEE file system tree, each VEE virtualizing a host operating system of the computer system and the VEEs sharing services of the host operating system, and each VEE being isolated from other VEEs on a namespace level, wherein:
after any of the VEEs requests access to a file from the VEE file system tree, if the requested file is stored on network storage, copying the file into the shared template file system tree from the network storage, wherein the shared template file system tree is located on local storage; and
redirecting file access requests from the VEE file system tree to the shared template file system on the local storage,
wherein the shared template file system tree provides the file requested by the VEE to the file system.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the requested file is stored on the network storage along with files forming a file template set, and further comprising loading the file template set after an attempt to load the file template.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein, if the requested file is stored on the network storage, the method further comprises recognizing a portion of file requested by the VEE, copying the portion to the local storage and providing access to the portion as if it were the entire file.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the stub files include metadata.
6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the VEE file systems are stored on the local storage.
7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the shared template file system tree is associated with a downloading utility that is activated by the request and downloads the requested files and/or templates to a local machine.
8. A method for managing a computer file system, the method comprising:
launching a plurality of Virtual Execution Environments (VEEs) on a computer system, each VEE virtualizing a host operating system of the computer system and the VEEs sharing services of the host operating system, and each VEE being isolated from other VEEs on a namespace level,;
creating a VEE file system for each VEE;
establishing a shared template file system tree that is concurrently accessed by the VEEs;
requesting, by a VEE, a file from the shared template file system tree and copying the requested file from the shared template file system tree into the VEE file system, if the requested file is available in the shared template file system tree, and
copying the file into the shared template file system tree from the network storage and subsequently providing the requested file from the shared template file system tree into the VEE file system, if the requested file is not available in the shared template file system tree; and
providing the file from the VEE file system to the VEE,
wherein the VEE file systems and the shared template file system tree are stored on a local storage of the computer system and wherein the shared template file system tree includes stub files that reference files on the network storage.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the VEE file system includes stub files referencing files in the shared template file system tree.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein copying the file into the shared template file system tree from the network storage is performed via a downloading utility.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the downloading utility downloads and caches files according to predefined rules.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the shared template file system tree communicates with the downloading utility by I/O redirections using the stub files.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the file is provided to the VEE by I/O processing.
14. A non-transitory computer useable medium having computer executable program logic stored thereon for executing on a processor for performing the method of claim 8 .