Abstract: A method and a system for efficient replication of files using shared null mappings when having trim operations on files are provided herein. The method may include: creating at time t0, a snapshot S0 of a file system, wherein said file system includes at least one extent and at least one unmapped sector, wherein the data extent and the at least one unmapped extent are indicated as owned by snapshot S0; creating at time t1, wherein t1>t0, a snapshot S1 of the file system, wherein the at least one unmapped extent of time t0 remains unmapped at time t1; and indicating the at least one unmapped extent as an unmapped extent shared by snapshot S1 and owned by snapshot S0. The system may implement the aforementioned method on a distributed shared file system.

Abstract: A method for performing a snapshot in a distributed shared file system (DSFS) is provided. The method includes synchronizing a snapshot operation among a plurality of domains of the DSFS; writing pending write requests to a memory to suspend write operations for the domains of the DSFS; and after the writing the pending write requests, generating a snapshot file comprising data items representing a current state of the DSFS.

Abstract: A method for performing a snapshot in a distributed shared file system (DSFS) is provided. The method includes synchronizing a snapshot operation among a plurality of domains of the DSFS; writing pending write requests to a memory to suspend write operations for the domains of the DSFS; and after the writing the pending write requests, generating a snapshot file comprising data items representing a current state of the DSFS.