Efficient on demand block generation for a sparseness aware file system

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes a set of acts comprising:

• maintaining a cluster comprising a plurality of nodes storing a plurality of objects;
• using a plurality of subsets of metadata to manage data for respective objects of the plurality of objects, wherein at least one subset of metadata, in the plurality of subsets of metadata, stores inter-mingled entries for a plurality of snapshots or clones of a corresponding extent;
• and
• processing access requests to the data on the plurality of nodes using the plurality of subsets of metadata, wherein a first portion of the data for respective objects is generated using corresponding application or file specific content generation logic.

A computing system comprising:

• a memory to hold a set of instructions;
• and
• a computer processor to execute the set of instructions, which when executed cause a set of acts comprising:
• maintaining a cluster comprising a plurality of nodes storing a plurality of objects;
• using a plurality of subsets of metadata to manage data for respective objects of the plurality of objects, wherein at least one subset of metadata, in the plurality of subsets of metadata, stores inter-mingled entries for a plurality of snapshots or clones of a corresponding extent;
• and
• processing access requests to the data on the plurality of nodes using the plurality of subsets of metadata, wherein a first portion of the data for respective objects is generated using corresponding application or file specific content generation logic.