Patents by Inventor Steven John Whitehouse

Steven John Whitehouse 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).

  • Publication number: 20220237313
    Abstract: Direct access to host memory for guests is disclosed. For example, a system includes a processor, a host memory, a filesystem daemon, a guest including a storage controller, and a filesystem queue accessible to the filesystem daemon and the storage controller. The storage controller receives a file retrieval request associated with a file stored in the host memory and forwards the file retrieval request to the filesystem daemon by adding the file retrieval request to the filesystem queue. The filesystem daemon retrieves the file retrieval request from the filesystem queue, determines a host memory address (HMA) associated with the file, and causes the HMA to be mapped to a guest memory address (GMA). The guest accesses the file in the host memory with the GMA, and later terminates access to the file, where the filesystem daemon is then configured cause the GMA to be unmapped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2022
    Publication date: July 28, 2022
    Inventors: Stefan Hajnoczi, Vivek Goyal, David Alan Gilbert, Steven John Whitehouse, Miklos Szeredi
  • Patent number: 11308230
    Abstract: Direct access to host memory for guests is disclosed. For example, a system includes a processor, a host memory, a filesystem daemon, a guest including a storage controller, and a filesystem queue accessible to the filesystem daemon and the storage controller. The storage controller receives a file retrieval request associated with a file stored in the host memory and forwards the file retrieval request to the filesystem daemon by adding the file retrieval request to the filesystem queue. The filesystem daemon retrieves the file retrieval request from the filesystem queue, determines a host memory address (HMA) associated with the file, and causes the HMA to be mapped to a guest memory address (GMA). The guest accesses the file in the host memory with the GMA, and later terminates access to the file, where the filesystem daemon is then configured cause the GMA to be unmapped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventors: Stefan Hajnoczi, Vivek Goyal, David Alan Gilbert, Steven John Whitehouse, Miklos Szeredi
  • Publication number: 20200242263
    Abstract: Secure and efficient access to host memory for guests is disclosed. For example, a system includes (i) a processor, (ii) a host memory, (iii) a hypervisor including a filesystem daemon, (iv) a guest including a storage controller, and (v) a first filesystem queue. The storage controller is configured to receive a file request, translate the file request, and add the translated file request to a filesystem queue. The filesystem daemon is configured to retrieve the translated file request from the filesystem queue and provide access to a file in the host memory identified in the file request to the guest.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Stefan Hajnoczi, Vivek Goyal, David Alan Gilbert, Steven John Whitehouse, Miklos Szeredi
  • Publication number: 20200242264
    Abstract: Direct access to host memory for guests is disclosed. For example, a system includes a processor, a host memory, a filesystem daemon, a guest including a storage controller, and a filesystem queue accessible to the filesystem daemon and the storage controller. The storage controller receives a file retrieval request associated with a file stored in the host memory and forwards the file retrieval request to the filesystem daemon by adding the file retrieval request to the filesystem queue. The filesystem daemon retrieves the file retrieval request from the filesystem queue, determines a host memory address (HMA) associated with the file, and causes the HMA to be mapped to a guest memory address (GMA). The guest accesses the file in the host memory with the GMA, and later terminates access to the file, where the filesystem daemon is then configured cause the GMA to be unmapped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Stefan Hajnoczi, Vivek Goyal, David Alan Gilbert, Steven John Whitehouse, Miklos Szeredi
  • Patent number: 9870369
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for detecting and handling resource contention in a cluster file system. In one implementation, a processing device determines a measure of congestion for a resource that is shared by a first node of a cluster file system and a second node of the cluster file system, where the first node has a first local queue for lock requests for the resource, and wherein the second node has a second local queue for lock requests for the resource. The processing device adjusts a parameter for a node of the cluster file system in view of the measure of congestion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Publication number: 20160321292
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for detecting and handling resource contention in a cluster file system. In one implementation, a processing device determines a measure of congestion for a resource that is shared by a first node of a cluster file system and a second node of the cluster file system, where the first node has a first local queue for lock requests for the resource, and wherein the second node has a second local queue for lock requests for the resource. The processing device adjusts a parameter for a node of the cluster file system in view of the measure of congestion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2016
    Publication date: November 3, 2016
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Patent number: 9389926
    Abstract: Some embodiments of a system and a method to detect contention for resource in a cluster file system have been presented. For instance, a processing device executable on a node in a cluster file system may put lock requests for a resource from the node into a local lock request queue, where multiple nodes in the cluster file system share the resource. Then the lock requests for the resource from this node and lock requests for the resource from other nodes may be tracked to measure congestion on the resource.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Patent number: 8793224
    Abstract: A filesystem checker identifies a metadata block in a filesystem and determines a number of pointers pointing to the metadata block and a number of pointers embedded in the metadata block. The filesystem checker records the number of pointers pointing to the metadata block and the number of pointers embedded in the metadata block in a filesystem checker array. The filesystem checker verifies a consistency of the filesystem using data recorded in the filesystem checker array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Patent number: 8788474
    Abstract: A mechanism for inode event notification for cluster file systems is disclosed. A method of the invention includes implementing a lock scheme for a cache manager associated with an inode of a cluster file system, wherein the lock scheme includes a null lock (NL) used as a reference count for a lock value block (LVB) and an exclusive (EX) lock used for setting up inode event notifications, and associating a first global counter and a second global counter with the cache manager for the inode, wherein the first global counter is configured to track one or more processes that have the inode open in read-only mode and the second global counter is configured to track processes that have the inode open in read-write mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Publication number: 20130325817
    Abstract: A filesystem checker identifies a metadata block in a filesystem and determines a number of pointers pointing to the metadata block and a number of pointers embedded in the metadata block. The filesystem checker records the number of pointers pointing to the metadata block and the number of pointers embedded in the metadata block in a filesystem checker array. The filesystem checker verifies a consistency of the filesystem using data recorded in the filesystem checker array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: RED HAT, INC.
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Patent number: 8229961
    Abstract: Some embodiments of a system and a method to detect contention for resource in a cluster file system have been presented. For instance, a processing device may measure time spent performing actual operations by each of a set of nodes in a cluster file system when a respective node holds a lock on a resource and time spent performing overhead operations by the set of nodes without synchronization of clocks across the cluster file system. Then the processing device can determine latency and throughput of the cluster file system based on the time spent performing actual operations and the time spent performing overhead operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Publication number: 20120158683
    Abstract: A mechanism for inode event notification for cluster file systems is disclosed. A method of the invention includes implementing a lock scheme for a cache manager associated with an inode of a cluster file system, wherein the lock scheme includes a null lock (NL) used as a reference count for a lock value block (LVB) and an exclusive (EX) lock used for setting up inode event notifications, and associating a first global counter and a second global counter with the cache manager for the inode, wherein the first global counter is configured to track one or more processes that have the inode open in read-only mode and the second global counter is configured to track processes that have the inode open in read-write mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Publication date: June 21, 2012
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Publication number: 20110276690
    Abstract: Some embodiments of a system and a method to detect contention for resource in a cluster file system have been presented. For instance, a processing device executable on a node in a cluster file system may put lock requests for a resource from the node into a local lock request queue, where multiple nodes in the cluster file system share the resource. Then the lock requests for the resource from this node and lock requests for the resource from other nodes may be tracked to measure congestion on the resource.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 5, 2010
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Publication number: 20110276542
    Abstract: Some embodiments of a system and a method to detect contention for resource in a cluster file system have been presented. For instance, a processing device may measure time spent performing actual operations by each of a set of nodes in a cluster file system when a respective node holds a lock on a resource and time spent performing overhead operations by the set of nodes without synchronization of clocks across the cluster file system. Then the processing device can determine latency and throughput of the cluster file system based on the time spent performing actual operations and the time spent performing overhead operations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 5, 2010
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse
  • Patent number: 7484048
    Abstract: A method of and system for managing storage resources in a distributed file system is described. A lock for a storage resource is maintained on a lock-holding node. A master node that controls the lock-holding node receives a lock request from a requesting node. The lock request includes a request to obtain a lock for the storage resource, and a request to perform an action by the lock-holding node on the storage resource if the request to obtain the lock is not granted immediately.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2009
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven John Whitehouse