Patents by Inventor Neal T. Fachan
Neal T. Fachan has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 7822932Abstract: In one embodiment, systems and methods are provided for nonlinear journaling. In one embodiment, groups of data designated for storage in a data storage unit are journaled into persistent storage. In one embodiment, the journal data is recorded nonlinearly. In one embodiment, a linked data structure records data and data descriptors in persistent storage.Type: GrantFiled: August 18, 2006Date of Patent: October 26, 2010Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Neal T. Fachan, Peter J. Godman, Justin M. Husted, Aaron J. Passey
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Patent number: 7797283Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed that provide an indexing data structure. In one embodiment, the indexing data structure is mirrored index tree where the copies of the nodes of the tree are stored across devices in a distributed system. In one embodiment, nodes that are stored on an offline device are restored, and an offline device that comes back online is merged into the distributed system and given access to the current indexing data structure. In one embodiment, the indexing data structure is traversed to locate and restore nodes that are stored on offline devices of the distributed system.Type: GrantFiled: October 21, 2005Date of Patent: September 14, 2010Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Neal T. Fachan, Aaron J. Passey, Darren P. Schack
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Publication number: 20100223235Abstract: In one embodiment, systems and methods are provided for nonlinear journaling. In one embodiment, groups of data designated for storage in a data storage unit are journaled into persistent storage. In one embodiment, the journal data is recorded nonlinearly. In one embodiment, a linked data structure records data and data descriptors in persistent storage.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 2, 2010Publication date: September 2, 2010Applicant: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Neal T. Fachan, Peter J. Godman, Justin M. Husted, Aaron J. Passey
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Patent number: 7779048Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate generally to incremental computing. Specifically, embodiments of the invention include systems and methods that provide for the concurrent processing of multiple, incremental changes to a data value while at the same time monitoring and/or enforcing threshold values for that data value. For example, a method is provided that determines whether multiple incremental changes to a data field could pass a threshold based on keeping track of a possible value range for the data field.Type: GrantFiled: April 13, 2007Date of Patent: August 17, 2010Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Neal T. Fachan, Peter J. Godman, Justin M. Husted, Aaron J. Passey
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Patent number: 7756898Abstract: In one embodiment, systems and methods are provided for tracking events wherein an event system monitors certain areas of a system. When an event occurs in one area of the system, the event system notifies the processes listening to that area of the system of the event.Type: GrantFiled: March 31, 2006Date of Patent: July 13, 2010Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Aaron J. Passey, Neal T. Fachan
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Patent number: 7752402Abstract: In one embodiment, systems and methods are provided for incremental journaling. In one embodiment, order-independent operations are journaled incrementally for the same storage location. In one embodiment, partially ordered operations are journaled incrementally for the same storage location. In one embodiment, order-independent operations and partially ordered operations are journaled incrementally for the same storage location. In one embodiment, incremental journaling is used to update data that represents accounting, ctime, and parity.Type: GrantFiled: August 18, 2006Date of Patent: July 6, 2010Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Neal T Fachan, Peter J. Godman, Justin M. Husted, Aaron J. Passey
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Publication number: 20100161556Abstract: In one embodiment, a user or client device is connected to a distributed file system comprised of one or more physical nodes. The data on each of the physical nodes store metadata about files and directories within the file system. Some of the embodiments permit a user to take a snapshot of data stored on the file system. The snapshot may include a single file, a single directory, a plurality of files within a directory, a plurality of directories, a path on the file system that includes nested files and subdirectories, or more than one path on the file system that each includes nested files and directories. In one embodiment, the metadata comprises mini-snapshots for directories representing a path from the root of the file system to the root of the snapshot. The mini-snapshots serve as stand-ins for portions of the file system which are not included in the snapshot, but which permit access to the snapshot data in an intuitive way.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 4, 2010Publication date: June 24, 2010Inventors: Robert J. Anderson, Neal T. Fachan, Eric M. Lemar, Aaron J. Passey, David W. Richards, Darren P. Schack
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Publication number: 20100161557Abstract: In one embodiment, a user or client device is connected to a distributed file system comprised of one or more physical nodes. The data on each of the physical nodes store metadata about files and directories within the file system. Some of the embodiments permit a user to take a snapshot of data stored on the file system. The snapshot may include a single file, a single directory, a plurality of files within a directory, a plurality of directories, a path on the file system that includes nested files and subdirectories, or more than one path on the file system that each includes nested files and directories. According to one embodiment, the system stores representations of the snapshots that govern a file or directory and its descendants within metadata associated with that file or directory. In one embodiment, before modifying a file or directory, the system updates the representations of the governing snapshots by traversing the metadata of ancestors of the file or directory.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 4, 2010Publication date: June 24, 2010Inventors: Robert J. Anderson, Neal T. Fachan, Justin M. Husted, Eric M. Lemar, Aaron J. Passey, Darren P. Schack
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Patent number: 7680836Abstract: In one embodiment, a user or client device is connected to a distributed file system comprised of one or more physical nodes. The data on each of the physical nodes store metadata about files and directories within the file system. Some of the embodiments permit a user to take a snapshot of data stored on the file system. The snapshot may include a single file, a single directory, a plurality of files within a directory, a plurality of directories, a path on the file system that includes nested files and subdirectories, or more than one path on the file system that each include nested files and directories. According to one embodiment, the system stores representations of the snapshots that govern a file or directory and its descendants within metadata associated with that file or directory. Before modifying a file or directory, the system updates the representations of the governing snapshots by traversing the metadata of ancestors of the file or directory.Type: GrantFiled: August 18, 2006Date of Patent: March 16, 2010Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Robert J. Anderson, Neal T. Fachan, Justin M. Husted, Eric M. Lemar, Aaron J. Passey, Darren P. Schack
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Patent number: 7680842Abstract: In one embodiment, a user or client device is connected to a distributed file system comprised of one or more physical nodes. The data on each of the physical nodes store metadata about files and directories within the file system. Some of the embodiments permit a user to take a snapshot of data stored on the file system. The snapshot may include a single file, a single directory, a plurality of files within a directory, a plurality of directories, a path on the file system that includes nested files and subdirectories, or more than one path on the file system that each includes nested files and directories. In one embodiment, the metadata comprises mini-snapshots for directories representing a path from the root of the file system to the root of the snapshot. The mini-snapshots serve as stand-ins for portions of the file system which are not included in the snapshot, but which permit access to the snapshot data in an intuitive way.Type: GrantFiled: August 18, 2006Date of Patent: March 16, 2010Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Robert J. Anderson, Neal T. Fachan, Eric M. Lemar, Aaron J. Passey, David W. Richards, Darren P. Schack
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Patent number: 7676691Abstract: In one embodiment, systems and methods are provided for nonlinear journaling. In one embodiment, groups of data designated for storage in a data storage unit are journaled into persistent storage. In one embodiment, the journal data is recorded nonlinearly. In one embodiment, a linked data structure records data and data descriptors in persistent storage.Type: GrantFiled: August 18, 2006Date of Patent: March 9, 2010Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Neal T. Fachan, Peter J. Godman, Justin M. Husted, Aaron J. Passey
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Publication number: 20090252066Abstract: The systems and methods maintain varying protection levels of related objects, such as when nodes of a data structure are protected at the same or greater protection level as their children nodes. In one embodiment, the nodes store data to track protection levels of their children nodes.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 15, 2009Publication date: October 8, 2009Applicant: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Aaron J. Passey, Neal T. Fachan
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Publication number: 20090248765Abstract: In general, embodiments of the invention relate to reading data from and writing data to a storage system. Specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to a read only mode for a portion of a storage system. In one embodiment, a selective read-only mode for a portion of a storage system is implemented by monitoring a condition that affects a subset of persistent storage in a storage system, by detecting the condition, by entering a read-only mode for the subset, and by enforcing a policy of processing write requests and read requests to the storage system, which includes processing the write requests without modifying user data stored on the subset and processing the read requests, including requests for user data stored on the subset.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 27, 2008Publication date: October 1, 2009Inventors: Tyler A. Akidau, Aaron J. Passey, Neal T. Fachan, Jonathan Walton
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Publication number: 20090248756Abstract: In general, embodiments of the invention relate to reading data from and writing data to a storage system. Specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to a read only mode for a portion of a storage system. In one embodiment, a selective read-only mode for a portion of a storage system is implemented by monitoring a condition that may affect a subset of persistent storage in a storage system, by detecting the condition, by entering a read-only mode for the subset, and by enforcing a policy of processing write requests and read requests to the storage system, which includes processing the write requests without modifying user data stored on the subset and processing the read requests, including requests for user data stored on the subset.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 27, 2008Publication date: October 1, 2009Inventors: Tyler A. Akidau, Neal T. Fachan, Aaron J. Passey
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Publication number: 20090210880Abstract: In one embodiment, a system for managing semantic locks and semantic lock requests for a resource is provided. Access to the resource is controlled such that compatible lock requests can access the resource and incompatible lock requests are queued.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 23, 2009Publication date: August 20, 2009Applicant: ISILON SYSTEMS, INC.Inventors: Neal T. Fachan, Aaron J. Passey
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Patent number: 7551572Abstract: The systems and methods maintain varying protection levels of related objects, such as when nodes of a data structure are protected at the same or greater protection level as their children nodes. In one embodiment, the nodes store data to track protection levels of their children nodes.Type: GrantFiled: October 21, 2005Date of Patent: June 23, 2009Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Aaron J. Passey, Neal T. Fachan
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Patent number: 7509448Abstract: In one embodiment, a system for managing semantic locks and semantic lock requests for a resource is provided. Access to the resource is controlled such that compatible lock requests can access the resource and incompatible lock requests are queued.Type: GrantFiled: January 5, 2007Date of Patent: March 24, 2009Assignee: Isilon Systems, Inc.Inventors: Neal T. Fachan, Aaron J. Passey
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Publication number: 20090055604Abstract: In one embodiment, a user or client device communicates with a distributed file system comprised of one or more physical nodes. The data on each of the physical nodes store metadata about files and directories within the file system. Some of the embodiments permit a user to take a snapshot of data stored on the file system. The snapshot may include a single file, a single directory, a plurality of files within a directory, a plurality of directories, a path on the file system that includes nested files and subdirectories, or more than one path on the file system that each includes nested files and directories. In some embodiments, systems and methods intelligently choose whether to use copy-on-write or point-in-time copy when saving data in a snapshot version of a file whose current version is being overwritten. In some embodiments, systems and methods allow snapshot users to return from a snapshot directory to the immediate parent directory from which the user entered into the snapshot.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 21, 2007Publication date: February 26, 2009Inventors: Eric M. Lemar, Darren P. Schack, Neal T. Fachan
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Publication number: 20090055607Abstract: In one embodiment, a user or client device communicates with a distributed file system comprised of one or more physical nodes. The data on each of the physical nodes store metadata about files and directories within the file system. Some of the embodiments permit a user to take a snapshot of data stored on the file system. The snapshot may include a single file, a single directory, a plurality of files within a directory, a plurality of directories, a path on the file system that includes nested files and subdirectories, or more than one path on the file system that each includes nested files and directories. In some embodiments, systems and methods intelligently choose whether to use copy-on-write or point-in-time copy when saving data in a snapshot version of a file whose current version is being overwritten. In some embodiments, systems and methods allow snapshot users to return from a snapshot directory to the immediate parent directory from which the user entered into the snapshot.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 21, 2007Publication date: February 26, 2009Inventors: Darren P. Schack, Eric M. Lemar, Neal T. Fachan
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Publication number: 20080256537Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate generally to incremental computing. Specifically, embodiments of the invention include systems and methods that provide for the concurrent processing of multiple, incremental changes to a data value while at the same time monitoring and/or enforcing threshold values for that data value. For example, a method is provided that implements domain quotas within a data storage system.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 13, 2007Publication date: October 16, 2008Inventors: Neal T. Fachan, Peter J. Godman, Justin M. Husted, Aaron J. Passey