Method and apparatus for transmitting a file in a network using a single transmit request from a user-mode process to a kernel-mode process

A method for transmitting, by means of a series of send operations performed by a kernel-mode transmission procedure, data from a file stored on a secondary data storage device on a first networked machine having a kernel-mode accessed memory to a second networked machine, said method comprising the steps of:

• issuing, using a single call by a user-mode process within the first networked machine to a kernel-mode process, a transmit request including an identifier of a segment of data;
• copying by the kernel-mode process, in response to the issuing step, the segment of data comprising a plurality of data blocks, from the secondary data storage device to the kernel-mode accessed memory;
• and
• repeating a plurality of times, by kernel-mode processes, in response to the issuing step, the steps of:
• identifying a designated data block of the plurality of data blocks;
• and
• transmitting, by the kernel-mode data transmission procedure, the designated data block to the second networked machine.

A method for transmitting, by means of a series of send operations performed by a kernel-mode transmission procedure, data from a file stored on a secondary data storage device on a first networked machine having a kernel-mode accessed memory to a second networked machine, said method comprising the steps of:

• issuing, using a single call by a user-mode process within the first networked machine to a kernel-mode process, a transmit request including an identifier of a segment of data;
• and
• performing, by kernel-mode processes, in response to the issuing step, a transmission of the segment of data comprising a plurality of data blocks to the second networked machine, said performing step comprising repeating a plurality of times the steps of:
• identifying a designated data block of the plurality of data blocks;
• copying the designated data block from the secondary data storage device to the kernel-mode accessed memory;
• and
• transmitting, by the kernel-mode data transmission procedure, the designated data block from the kernel-mode accessed memory to the second networked machine.

A file server for receiving a request for transmitting data from a file stored upon a secondary data storage device from a second networked machine, and in response transmitting the data from the file to the second networked machine, the file server comprising:

• a kernel-mode accessed memory;
• a user-mode process for issuing a transmit request using a single call to a kernel-mode process, the transmit request including a non-address file identification corresponding to the file;
• a kernel-mode file system data controller for copying, in response to the transmit request, a data block within the file from the secondary data storage device to the kernel-mode accessed memory;
• and
• a kernel-mode data transmission controller for transmitting, in response to the transmit request and the kernel-mode file system data controller copying the data block to the kernel-mode accessed memory, the data block from the kernel-mode accessed memory to the second networked machine on the established connection.

A file server for transmitting, by means of a series of send operations performed by a kernel-mode transmission procedure, data from a file stored on a secondary data storage device on the file server to a second networked machine, said file server comprising:

• a kernel-mode accessed memory;
• a user-mode process for issuing a transmit request using a single call to a kernel-mode process, the transmit request including an identifier of a segment of data;
• a kernel-mode file system data controller for copying, in response to the transmit request, the segment of data comprising a plurality of data blocks, from the secondary data storage device to the kernel-mode accessed memory;
• and
• means for repeating a plurality of times, by kernel-mode processes, in response to the transmit request:
• identifying a designated data block of the plurality of data blocks;
• and
• transmitting, by the kernel-mode data transmission procedure, the designated data block to the second networked machine.

A file server for transmitting, by means of a series of send operations performed by a kernel-mode transmission procedure, data from a file stored on a secondary data storage device on the file server to a second networked machine, the file server comprising:

• a kernel-mode accessed memory;
• a user-mode process for issuing a transmit request using a single call to a kernel-mode process, the transmit request including an identifier of a segment of data;
• and
• means for performing, by kernel-mode processes, in response to the transmit request, a transmission of the segment of data comprising a plurality of data blocks to the second networked machine, said means for performing step comprising means for repeating a plurality of times:
• identifying a designated data block of the plurality of data blocks;
• copying the designated data block from the secondary data storage device to the kernel-mode accessed memory;
• and
• transmitting, by the kernel-mode data transmission procedure, the designated data block from the kernel-mode accessed memory to the second networked machine.

A network for facilitating the transmission of a file stored on a secondary data storage device to other networked machines, the network comprising:

• a second networked machine comprising means for requesting the file stored on the secondary data storage device;
• a first networked machine including the secondary data storage device and further comprising:
• a kernel-mode accessed memory;
• a user-mode process for issuing a transmit request using a single call to a kernel-mode process, the transmit request including an identifier of a segment of data;
• a kernel-mode file system data controller for copying, in response to the transmit request, the segment of data comprising a plurality of data blocks, from the secondary data storage device to the kernel-mode accessed memory;
• and
• means for repeating a plurality of times, by kernel-mode processes, in response to the transmit request:
• identifying a designated data block of the plurality of data blocks;
• and
• transmitting, by a kernel-mode data transmission procedure, the designated data block to the second networked machine;
• and
• a network link communicatively coupling the second networked machine and the first networked machine.