US 2023/0409235 A1 · FILE SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS FOR ZONED STORAGE DEVICE OPERATIONS

Abstract

The techniques disclosed herein enable systems to efficiently interface with zoned namespace (ZNS) storage devices through a specialized management entity. To achieve this, the management entity receives write requests from a file system containing data intended for storage at the ZNS device. In response, the management entity selects a zone from the ZNS device to write the file data to. Accordingly, the file data is written by appending the file data to the zone at a location indicated by a write pointer. When the write operation is completed, the offset of the file data within the zone is observed and recorded by the file system in file metadata. In contrast to typical systems which allocate locations at the storage device prior to writing, appending file data and then recording the location enables improved efficiency in file system operations. Namely, that write operations can be issued to the ZNS device non-serially.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

receiving, at a management entity by a processing system, a write request from a file system, the write request comprising file data and a data quantity;
in response to receiving the write request, selecting, by the management entity, a zone of a storage device containing a plurality of zones for storing the file data of the write request;
appending the file data of the write request to the zone;
determining an offset of the file data within the zone based on the data quantity and a starting location of the zone;
returning an identifier of the zone and the offset of the file data within the zone to the management entity;
and
updating file metadata associated with the file data with the identifier of the zone and the offset of the file data.

4 more elements

A system comprising:

a processing system;
and
a computer-readable medium having encoded thereon computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, cause the system to:
receive, at a management entity by a processing system, a write request from a file system, the write request comprising file data and a data quantity;
in response to receiving the write request, select, by the management entity, a zone of a storage device containing a plurality of zones for storing the file data of the write request;
append the file data of the write request to the zone;
determine an offset of the file data within the zone based on the data quantity and a starting location of the zone;
return an identifier of the zone and the offset of the file data within the zone to the management entity;
and
update file metadata associated with the file data with the identifier of the zone and the offset of the file data.

7 more elements

A computer-readable storage medium having encoded thereon computer-readable instructions that when executed by a processing system cause a system to:

receive, at a management entity by a processing system, a write request from a file system, the write request comprising file data and a data quantity;
in response to receiving the write request, select, a zone of a storage device containing a plurality of zones for storing the file data of the write request;
append the file data of the write request to the zone;
determine an offset of the file data within the zone based on the data quantity and a starting location of the zone;
return an identifier of the zone and the offset of the file data within the zone to the management entity;
and
update file metadata associated with the file data with the identifier of the zone and the offset of the file data.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

File system improvements for zoned storage device operations

Life of this patent

File system improvements for zoned storage device operations

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20