Redirection of I/O requests from local to remote storage locations to improve network performance and data redundancy
Technologies are disclosed for redirecting input/output (“I/O”) requests to virtual hard disks (“VHDs”) to improve network performance and data redundancy. More particularly, files can be encapsulated in remote VHDs and accessed in such a way that the files appear to a local operating system and any local applications to be residing locally. Furthermore, I/O requests redirected to files encapsulated in VHDs may also be redirected to one or more additional VHDs for data redundancy. The redirected I/O requests may be transmitted simultaneously but separately to the additional VHDs in a split stream.
1. A computing device, comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to:
modify a location on a file system local to the computing device such that input/output (I/O) requests directed to the location are redirected to a location on a network-accessible virtual hard disk (VHD);
intercept an I/O request directed to the location on the file system local to the computing device;
redirect the intercepted I/O request to the location on the network-accessible VHD; and
redirect the intercepted I/O request to locations on one or more additional network-accessible VHDs, the one or more additional network-accessible VHDs being associated with the location on the file system local to the computing device.
2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium has further executable instructions stored thereupon to change a path of the location on the file system local to the computing device such that the location is inaccessible prior to modifying the location.
3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the location on the file system local to the computing device is modified responsive to receiving a notification that a user has logged on to the computing device.
4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium has further executable instructions stored thereupon to modify the location on the file system local to the computing device such that I/O requests directed to the location are not redirected to the location on the network-accessible VHD in response to receiving a notification that a user has logged off of the computing device.
5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the location on the file system local to the computing device is modified by associating a junction point with the location, the junction point defining the location on the network-accessible VHD.
6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium has further executable instructions stored thereupon to store the I/O request in a local cache of the computing device.
7. The computing device of claim 6 , wherein the I/O request is stored in the local cache of the computing device responsive to determining the network-accessible VHD or the one or more additional network-accessible VHDs is inaccessible.
8. The computing device of claim 6 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium has further executable instructions stored thereupon to transmit the I/O request stored in the local cache to the network-accessible VHD and the one or more additional network-accessible VHDs responsive to determining that the network-accessible VHD or the one or more additional network-accessible VHDs are accessible.
9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
modify a location on a file system local to the computing device such that input/output (I/O) requests directed to the location are redirected to a location on a network-accessible virtual hard disk (VHD);
intercept an I/O request directed to the location on the file system local to the computing device;
redirect the intercepted I/O request to the location on the network-accessible VHD; and
redirect the intercepted I/O request to locations on one or more additional network-accessible VHDs, the one or more additional network-accessible VHDs being associated with the location on the file system local to the computing device.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , having further computer-executable instructions stored thereupon to change a path of the location on the file system local to the computing device such that the location is inaccessible prior to modifying the location.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the location on the file system local to the computing device is modified by associating a junction point with the location, the junction point defining the location on the network-accessible VHD.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium has further executable instructions stored thereupon to store the I/O request in a local cache of the computing device.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein data identifying the locations on the one or more additional network-accessible VHDs is stored in a registry accessible to the filter driver.
14. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
modifying a location on a file system local to a computing device such that input/output (I/O) requests directed to the location are redirected to a location on a network-accessible virtual hard disk (VHD);
intercepting an I/O request directed to the location on the file system local to the computing device;
redirecting the intercepted I/O request to the location on the network-accessible VHD; and
redirecting the intercepted I/O request to locations on one or more additional network-accessible VHDs, the one or more additional network-accessible VHDs being associated with the location on the file system local to the computing device.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising changing a path of the location on the file system local to the computing device such that the location is inaccessible prior to modifying the location.
16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the location on the file system local to the computing device is modified responsive to receiving a notification that a user has logged on to the computing device.
17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising modifying the location on the file system local to the computing device such that I/O requests directed to the location are not redirected to the location on the network-accessible VHD in response to receiving a notification that a user has logged off of the computing device.
18. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the location on the file system local to the computing device is modified by associating a junction point with the location, the junction point defining the location on the network-accessible VHD.
19. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising storing the I/O request in a local cache of the computing device.
20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 , wherein the I/O request is stored in the local cache of the computing device responsive to determining the network-accessible VHD or the one or more additional network-accessible VHDs is inaccessible.