Detection and avoidance of stalled filesystems to prevent stalling of virtual tape drives during tape mounts

摘要

A method for operating a virtual tape emulator that receives a request to access a directory in a disk array including a set of directories. The method includes determining whether the directory is stalled, and if so, preventing access to the directory. In another embodiment, a virtual tape emulator includes a request reception module configured to receive a request to access a directory in a disk array including a set of directories. The virtual tape emulator further includes a stall determination module configured to determine whether the directory is stalled, and an access prevention module configured to prevent access to the directory if the directory is stalled.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
in a virtual tape emulator: receiving a request to access a directory in a disk array including a set of directories configured to overlay the disk array, thereby delineating a fractional portion of a disk array device or a combination of the fractional portions of two or more disk array devices, wherein the request is a request to mount a virtual tape file from the disk array; determining whether the directory is stalled; preventing access to the directory if the directory is stalled, such that access to the fractional portion of the disk array device or the combination of the fractional portions of the two or more disk array devices may be prevented while a remainder of the disk array device or devices may remain accessible; searching for the virtual tape file in the set of directories; if the virtual tape file is found in the set of directories, mounting the virtual tape file; if the directory is stalled, adding the directory to a stalled list; if the virtual tape file is not found after searching for the virtual tape file in the set of directories, searching the stalled list with a higher priority.