Method and Apparatus for Tiered Storage

A method for storing file data and directory data received over a network comprising the steps of:

• receiving NAS requests containing data to be written to files from the network at a network interface;
• executing with a processing unit the policy specification which specifies a first portion of one or more files' data which is less than all of the files' data is stored in a first type of storage and a second portion of the data which is less than all of the data of the files stored in the second type of data which is different from the first type of storage;
• and
• causing with the processing unit the first portion to be stored in the first type of storage and the second portion to be stored in the second type of storage.

A system for storing file data and directory data received over a network comprising:

• a network interface in communication with the network which receives NAS requests from the network, including NAS requests containing data to be written to files;
• a first type of storage;
• a second type of storage different from the first type of storage;
• a policy specification which specifies a first portion of one or more directories' data which is less than all of the directories' data is stored in the first type of storage and a second portion of the data which is less than all of the data of the directories is stored in the second type of store;
• and
• a processing unit which executes the policy and causes the first portion to be stored in the first type of storage and a second portion to be stored in the second type of storage.

A system for storing file data and directory data received over a network comprising:

• a network interface in communication with the network which receives NAS requests containing data to be written to files from the network;
• a first type of storage;
• a policy specification which specifies a first portion of one or more files' data which is less than all of the files' data is stored in the first type of storage;
• a processing unit which executes the policy and causes the first portion to be stored in the first type of storage;
• an inode attribute manager which updates attributes in an inode;
• and
• an inode object allocator which allocates inodes and tags them with policy specifications.