Updating references to a migrated object in a partition-based distributed file system

An apparatus for updating references to a migrated object that has moved from a source partition server to a target partition server in a distributed file system having a plurality of partition servers, wherein each object has an associated parent object and each partition server owns a subset of objects of the file system, comprising:

• means for maintaining in each parent object a set of forward pointers that reference one or more child objects of the parent object;
• means for maintaining in the migrated object a set of back pointers that reference one or more parent objects having forward pointers to the migrated object;
• means for transmitting an update request to each partition server that owns a parent object of the migrated object;
• and
• means for updating the forward pointers in each parent object in response to the update request.

A computer-readable medium configured with computer program code for updating references to a migrated object that has moved from a source partition server to a target partition server in a distributed file system having a plurality of partition servers, wherein each object has an associated parent object and each partition server owns a subset of objects of the file system, the computer program code configured to cause a computer to perform the steps comprising:

• maintaining in each parent object a set of forward pointers that reference one or more child objects of the parent object;
• maintaining in the migrated object a set of back pointers that reference one or more parent objects having forward pointers to the migrated object;
• transmitting an update request to each partition server that owns a parent object of the migrated object;
• and
• updating the forward pointers in each parent object in response to the update request.