Client application program interface for network-attached storage system

摘要

Methods and apparatus for providing a network attached storage system which does not require specialized hardware to operate. In one embodiment, a downloadable software package is provided via a web interface. After a user has downloaded and installed the software package, a sharable volume is created upon a host system. In one embodiment, the sharable volume is adapted to present the contents of one or more remote systems to the host system as a local file, drive, or directory. One or more processes resident in the host system are adapted to intercept a command interpretable by the host system and translate the command into one or more commands interpretable by at least one remote system. The one or more commands are then serviced by at least one remote system and a result set is generated. The result set may then be converted into a format interpretable by the host system and output accordingly.

主权项

1. A method of performing file operations on a network-attached storage system, comprising:
receiving at an interface module disposed within a local file system a command interpretable by the local file system; converting the command into a translated command at the interface module, wherein the translated command is interpretable by a remote file system and comprises an upload request; determining whether a cache of the interface module has space available for a requested upload corresponding to the upload request, wherein the cache limits a number of concurrent uploads from the local file system; transmitting the translated command from the interface module to the remote file system and caching the requested upload locally at the cache of the interface module in response to the cache having space available for the requested upload; receiving at the interface module a set of results from the remote file system in response to the translated command being transmitted from the interface module to the remote file system; translating the set of results into a format interpretable by the local file system; placing the translated command in a queue in response to the cache not having space available for the requested upload; transmitting the queued translated command from the interface module to the remote file system and caching the requested upload of the queued translated command locally at the cache of the interface module in response to the cache having space become available for the requested upload within a first time period of the placing of the translated command in the queue; and expiring the queued translated command in response to the cache not having space become available for the requested upload within the first time period of the placing of the translated command in the queue.