Managing counters in a distributed file system

摘要

One embodiment is a method that divides a cluster file system into multiple segments with each segment including one or more local counters. The method then checks for inconsistencies and corrects discovered inconsistencies in each of the local counters while the file system remains online and available for use.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
dividing a clustered file system into plural segments; independently checking each of the plural segments for inconsistency in a corresponding local counter associated with the corresponding segment, wherein the plural segments are associated with the corresponding local counters included in respective distributed computer nodes of the clustered file system; allocating the local counter in a particular one of the computer nodes in response to the particular computer node having to modify distributed count information and the distributed count information not being located at the particular computer node; using a file system checker to locate and correct an inconsistency in the local counter associated with a particular one of the plural segments while the clustered file system remains online with access available to file system data storing non-distributed global count information in a global tree in a global file manager separate from the computer nodes, the non-distributed global count information describing states of the local counters associated with the plural segments, wherein the global tree includes a root node linked to child nodes that describe the states of the respective local counters; and collapse information of the allocated local counter to the global count information at the global file system manager in response to contention of the allocated local counter no longer existing.