System and method of generating automatic checkpoints of a distributed file system

A system for generating a global checkpoint comprising:

• a computer processing device;
• and
• a global snapshot module stored within the computer processing device which performs the following operations:
• capturing a present time;
• calculating from configured parameters a future wakeup time for a subsequent set of snapshots from the present time;
• walking a database of meta file set objects to locate at least one of a plurality of meta file set objects;
• calculating a retention period for a snapshot that is being created;
• and
• generating a global data-less snapshot for the at least one meta file set object and remote data file set objects associated with the at least one meta file set object.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a global checkpoint operation, the operation comprising:

• capturing a present time;
• calculating from configured parameters a future wakeup time for a subsequent set of snapshots from the present time;
• walking a database of meta file set objects to locate at least one of a plurality of meta file set objects;
• calculating a retention period for a snapshot that is being created;
• and
• generating a global data-less snapshot for the at least one meta file set object and remote data file set objects associated with the at least one meta file set object.