System and method for maintaining consistency among metadata elements of filesystem's logical objects

A method for maintaining consistency among metadata elements of logical objects, the method comprising:

• using a processor of an object management system to perform the following steps, the processor is operatively coupled to a non-volatile storage space accessible by the processor and configured to store the metadata elements:
• a) in response to receiving by the object management system, from a host coupled to the object management system, a filesystem command for creating a logical object:
• i. generating, in the non-volatile storage space, a directory entry associated with the logical object and configuring the directory entry to comprise a second correlation value and an inconsistency indication indicative of potential inconsistency between the directory entry and an inode (index node);
• and
• ii. generating, in the non-volatile storage space, the inode associated with the logical object and configuring the inode to comprise a first correlation value corresponding to the second correlation value;
• wherein the step of generating the inode is succeeding the step of generating the directory entry;
• b) upon an access to the directory entry, that follows the creating of the logical object, verifying consistency between the directory entry and the inode when the directory entry includes the inconsistency indication, by checking a match between the first correlation value and the second correlation value;
• deleting the directory entry when the verifying of consistency is unsuccessful;
• and removing the inconsistency indication from the directory entry when the verifying is successful.

A non-transitory computer storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for maintaining consistency among metadata elements (MDEs) of logical objects, the computer program product comprising:

• computer readable program code that once being executed on a processor of an object management system causes the processor to:
• a) configuring for each logical object of the logical objects, a child MDE, comprising a first correlation value, that associates the child MDE to a parent MDE, wherein the parent MDE includes a reference to the child MDE, and assigning to the parent MDE an inconsistency indication, indicative of potential inconsistency between a certain parent MDE and a certain child MDE;
• b) in response to receiving by the object management system, from a host coupled to the object management system, a filesystem command addressed to certain logical object, performing a transaction related to the certain logical object that is associated with the certain parent MDE and the certain child MDE, wherein the transaction includes at least one first write operation with respect to the certain parent MDE and at least one second write operation with respect to the certain child MDE;
• wherein the performing comprises determining an order of performing the at least one first and second write operations such that at no point in time during the transaction the certain child MDE comprises a certain first correlation value that associates the certain child MDE to a non-existing parent MDE;
• and
• c) upon an access to the certain parent MDE, that follows the performing of the transaction, verifying consistency between the certain parent MDE and the certain child MDE when the certain parent MDE includes the inconsistency indication, using the certain first correlation value;
• deleting the certain parent MDE when the verifying of consistency is unsuccessful;
• and removing the inconsistency indication from the certain parent MDE when the verifying is successful.