Protecting large distributed file systems

A system for protecting a distributed file system, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and memory configured to store one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
• splitting responsibility for protecting the distributed file system across a plurality of client hosts, each client host being assigned a subset of the distributed file system to backup;
• identifying an index host to create a common namespace under which client file indexes generated by the client hosts during backups of respective subsets of the distributed file system by the client hosts will be maintained;
• during the backups, receiving, from the client hosts, the client file indexes, wherein the client file indexes comprise metadata about files in the distributed file system included in the backups;
• associating each of the client file indexes to the same common namespace;
• and
• allowing the client file indexes to be accessed using a name of the index host to provide a unified view of all files across all subsets of the distributed file system that have been backed up by the client hosts.

A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by one or more processors to implement a method for protecting a distributed file system, the method comprising:

• splitting responsibility for protecting the distributed file system across a plurality of client hosts, each client host being assigned a subset of the distributed file system to backup;
• identifying an index host to create a common namespace under which client file indexes generated by the client hosts during backups of respective subsets of the distributed file system by the client hosts will be maintained;
• during the backups, receiving, from the client hosts, the client file indexes, wherein the client file indexes comprise metadata about files in the distributed file system included in the backups;
• associating each of the client file indexes to the same common namespace;
• and
• allowing the client file indexes to be accessed using a name of the index host to provide a unified view of all files across all subsets of the distributed file system that have been backed up by the client hosts.