File system journal management

A computing system, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processing device coupled to the memory, wherein the processing device is programmed to perform operations for data journaling, the operations comprising:
• writing data into at least one block in a journal storage area;
• marking as dirty, each block in the journal storage area that has been written into;
• and
• determining if the number of blocks in the journal storage area that have been marked as dirty is greater than the number of blocks in a corresponding data storage area that have been used and whose corresponding blocks in the journal storage area are not marked as dirty,
• and if so:
• copying the used blocks in the data storage area whose corresponding blocks in the journal storage area are not marked as dirty, to the corresponding blocks in the journal storage area;
• and
• transmitting to a meta-data server, a message instructing the meta-data server to swap the data storage area and the journal storage area;
• and if not:
• copying the blocks in the journal storage area that have been marked as dirty to corresponding blocks in the data storage area;
• and
• transmitting to the meta-data server, a message instructing the meta-data server to commit the data that has been stored in the journal storage area.

A computing system, comprising:

• means for writing data into at least one block in a journal storage area;
• means for marking as dirty, each block in the journal storage area that has been written into;
• means for transmitting to a meta-data server, for each block in the journal storage area that has been marked as dirty, meta-data indicating that the block has been marked as dirty;
• means for determining if the number of blocks in the journal storage area that have been marked as dirty is greater than the number of blocks in a corresponding data storage area that have been used and whose corresponding blocks in the journal storage area are not marked as dirty;
• means for copying the used blocks in the data storage area whose corresponding blocks in the journal storage area are not marked as dirty, to the corresponding blocks in the journal storage area;
• means for transmitting to the meta-data server, a message instructing the meta-data server to swap the data storage area and the journal storage area;
• means for copying the blocks in the journal storage area that have been marked as dirty to corresponding blocks in the data storage area;
• and
• means for transmitting to the meta-data server, a message instructing the meta-data server to commit the data that has been stored in the journal storage area.

A method for data journaling, comprising the following operations:

• writing data into at least one block in a journal storage area;
• marking as dirty, each block in the journal storage area that has been written into;
• transmitting to a meta-data server, for each block in the journal storage area that has been marked as dirty, meta-data indicating that the block has been marked as dirty;
• and
• determining if the number of blocks in the journal storage area that have been marked as dirty is greater than the number of blocks in a corresponding data storage area that have been used and whose corresponding blocks in the journal storage area are not marked as dirty,
• and if so:
• copying the used blocks in the data storage area whose corresponding blocks in the journal storage area are not marked as dirty, to the corresponding blocks in the journal storage area;
• and
• transmitting to the meta-data server, a message instructing the meta-data server to swap the data storage area and the journal storage area;
• and if not:
• copying the blocks in the journal storage area that have been marked as dirty to corresponding blocks in the data storage area;
• and
• transmitting to the meta-data server, a message instructing the meta-data server to commit the data that has been stored in the journal storage area.