System for handling storage system requests

1. A computer system for managing client requests in a computer network, comprising:

a client, a server having a plurality of files, and a computer network connecting the client and the server, wherein the server is responsive to client file requests from the client for a file and each file has an associated time stamp indicating the time at which a request was made to create the file;

a storage system for storing files, wherein the storage system is responsive to internal-retry requests and fail-fast requests for the files from the server; and

wherein the server includes software that, in response to a client file request, instructs the server to determine an elapsed time since a request was made to create the file, to make an internal re-try request for the file from the storage system if the elapsed time is less than or equal to a pre-determined limit, and to make a fail-fast request for the file from the storage system if the elapsed time is greater than the pre-determined limit.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , further including a universal resource indicator (URI) associated with each file and wherein the URI includes a query parameter if the elapsed time since a request was made to create the file is less than or equal to a pre-determined limit and wherein the URI does not include a query parameter if the elapsed time since a request was made to create the file is greater than the pre-determined limit.

3. The computer system of claim 2 , wherein the server includes software to create and store URIs, and to request a file associated with a URI from the storage system using an internal re-try request if the URI includes a query parameter, and wherein the server requests a file associated with a URI from the storage system using a fail-fast request if the URI does not include a query parameter.

4. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein each file is identified with a universal resource indicator (URI).

5. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the server includes software to receive a request to create a file storage structure, to create a time-stamped file record for the requested file, and to request the storage system to create the file storage structure.

6. The computer system of claim 5 , wherein the time required for the storage system to create a file storage structure is perceptible to humans.

7. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein the time required for the storage system to create the file storage structure is greater than one second.

8. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the storage system includes software to return the file stored in the file storage to the server, and the server includes software to return the requested file to the client.

9. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the files stored in the storage system includes a digital image.

10. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the server includes software to construct a universal resource identifier for each file requested from the storage system.

11. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the client is a remote client that communicates with the server over a network.

12. A computer system comprising:

a server coupled to a communication network for receiving a file, a file storage request pertaining to the file, and a file retrieval request from a computer connected to the network, the server comprising a file record for storing information pertaining to the file storage request;

a storage system coupled to the server for receiving the file storage request forwarded by the server to the storage system, for creating a file structure for storing the file pertaining to the file storage request, and for sending to the server a file status of the file storage request in response to receiving a forwarded request to retrieve the file from the server; and

wherein the server is configured to perform an internal retry and to forward a no-file response from the storage system to the computer in response to receiving a no-file file status from the storage system, the server performing the internal retry or the no-file response based on an amount of elapsed time from the time the server receives the file storage request.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the server comprises storage for a time-out value for comparing the time-out value to the elapsed time from the time the server received the file storage request.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the server repeatedly performs the internal retry in response to receiving the no-file file status from the storage system and if the amount of the elapsed time is less than the time-out value.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the server terminates performing the internal retry in response to receiving the no-file file status from the storage system if the amount of the elapsed time is more than the time-out value.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the server forwards the no-file file status to the computer connected to the network in response to receiving the no-file file status from the storage system and if the amount of the elapsed time is more than the time-out value.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the server idles for a programmed duration after receiving a no-file file status from the storage system and before repeating the internal retry.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the server idles for a programmed duration before forwarding the request to retrieve the file to the storage system.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the server terminates performing the internal retry in response to receiving the file from the storage system, and wherein the server forwards the file from the storage system to the computer connected to the network.

20. The system of claim 12 , wherein the storage system returns a URI to the server in response to receiving a forwarded file retrieval request from the server.