Abstract: Use and generation of an identifier. An indication of a value to be used to generate system-unique identifiers is received. The indication and an associated count value are stored in a metadata server interconnected with one or more remote metadata servers. A modified value to be used to generate system-unique identifiers generated based, at least in part, on the indication and the associated count value is transmitted to a remote metadata server.

Abstract: Use and maintenance of an idempotent journal in a system having multiple metadata servers. A data modification operation is performed by a metadata server. A journal entry corresponding to the data modification operation is generated. The journal entry includes a file identifier and a journal sequence number corresponding to a data modification operation that created the file.

Abstract: The data storage system has metadata server machines, content server machines arranged in groups where each group has a respective one or more of the content server machines, and a system interconnect to which the metadata and content server machines are communicatively coupled. A distributed file system is to be executed in the metadata server machines, the content server machines, and the client machine, to hide complexity of the system from a number of client machine users. The content server machines store slices of the files at locations indicated by the metadata. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Abstract: Use and distribution of a token and associated journal entries in a system with multiple metadata servers. A metadata server receives a token from one of a plurality of remote metadata servers. Remote metadata servers perform data modification operations during control of the token. The metadata server performs original data modification operations during control of the token.

Abstract: Use and generation of an identifier. An indication of a value to be used to generate system-unique identifiers is received. The indication and an associated count value are stored in a metadata server interconnected with one or more remote metadata servers. A modified value to be used to generate system-unique identifiers generated based, at least in part, on the indication and the associated count value is transmitted to a remote metadata server.

Abstract: Use and maintenance of an idempotent journal in a system having multiple metadata servers. A data modification operation is performed by a metadata server. A journal entry corresponding to the data modification operation is generated. The journal entry includes a file identifier and a journal sequence number corresponding to a data modification operation that created the file.

Abstract: A system is disclosed having shared storage nodes and a number of processing nodes coupled to the shared storage nodes. The storage nodes are to store user data and file system meta-data (FSMD) and can be accessed by the processing nodes. Each respective processing node stores a copy of the FSMD, and can update its copy of the FSMD based upon content of a token received from one of the processing nodes. The processing node adds information to the token that describes a change that node makes to the copy of the FSMD, and then sends the token to another one of the processing nodes. Such a scheme may prove to be a more scalable solution for a shared file system as the number of processing nodes are increased, because the overhead associated with managing the meta-data does not significantly diminish the performance of the storage system as a whole.

Abstract: A fault tolerant, secondary storage engine (such as a RAID engine) is closely coupled with a file system to achieve greater overall throughput in storage/database applications having a mix of large, sequential access transactions and small, random access transactions. In addition, disk rebuild time may be greatly reduced using such an embodiment. A logical storage space representing a storage area in a set of non-volatile storage devices is divided into nonoverlapping storage allocation units (SAUs) such as stripes, each SAU to overlay all of the devices in the set. Different fault tolerant storage methodologies (FTSMs) are assigned to access (i.e. read/write) data in the different SAUs, respectively. An access is made to an SAU in the set responsive to an input storage request of a first or second type, respectively.

Abstract: An application programming interface for a digital disk recorder uses a port to link resources together to form a multimedia recorder that emulates a tape recorder while retaining the flexibility of the digital disk recorder. The port is a matrix of timelines for each resource, with each track in the port representing a media stream associated with a different one of the resources. A dynamic subsystem controls recording and playing back multimedia between the resources and a disk file system of the digital disk recorder using the port. A static subsystem maintains on the disk file system a database of movies recorded by the digital disk recorder from the resources according to the port, with each movie being a collection of media files for each resource that are independently accessible.