System and method for providing a unified storage system that supports file/object duality

摘要

Methods and systems that permit file protocols and object protocols to co-exist using a file namespace and an object namespace in a unified storage system are disclosed. Data stored in the unified storage system are file-objects that preserve the behaviors expected by both file clients and object clients.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
storing, by a processor, a data entity in a network storage system; maintaining a file representation of the data entity in the network storage system; maintaining an object representation of the data entity in the network storage system; accepting a file protocol to access the file representation of the data entity, wherein the file representation has a first set of access characteristics comprising non-atomic operations; accepting an object protocol to access the object representation of the data entity, wherein the object representation has a second set of access characteristics comprising atomic operations; in an event that the file representation has been modified, copying the modified file representation to update the object representation; and in an event that the object representation has been modified, copying the modified object representation to update the file representation, wherein modifications made via the file protocol are accessible by the object protocol, and wherein modifications made via the object protocol are accessible by the file protocol.