Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer network managing – Computer network monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-25
2001-02-06
Meky, Moustafa M. (Department: 2757)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer network managing
Computer network monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
active
06185615
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to logs for server resources and, more particularly, to transaction logs for resources of Network File System (NFS) servers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, logs have been produced for various different protocols. In recent years, logs for HTTP and FTP protocols have been developed to monitor access to files or web pages. One example is WU-FTPd provided by Washington University of St. Louis, Mo. which logs FTP server activity and produces a logfile. Networking tracing utilities have also been developed to analyze network traffic. Network tracing often involves examination of data packets as well as presentation of traffic or transaction information to network administrators. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,787,253; 5,648,965; and 5,740,355.
NFS is a protocol for use with file servers. The NFS protocol is defined in protocol specifications RFC 1094 and RFC 1813, which are hereby incorporated by reference. NFS clients can perform file and directory operations on NFS server resources via Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs).
NFS operations performed through RPCs include uploading (writing) or downloading (reading) files from a NFS server. A NFS file is downloaded over a network from a NFS server by first performing a NFS lookup operation to locate the desired object (filehandle of the file or directory). A series of subsequent NFS read operations will normally follow to obtain the actual file data at given offsets in location. The RPC operations may arrive out of order, or the client may request only a subset of the data in the file. A NFS file is uploaded over the network to an NFS server by first performing an NFS lookup operation to locate the corresponding object (filehandle). A series of NFS write operations will typically follow, each of which provides the corresponding offset in the file where the information will be written, as well as the information itself.
Many file related operations have a one to one mapping to NFS protocol operations. For instance, a directory is created by using a single NFS mkdir operation, a file is removed by using a single NFS remove operation, a directory is removed by using a single NFS rmdir operation. However, other file related operations map to multiple NFS operations. For example, as noted above, a file can be download by issuing multiple NFS read operations and a file can be upload by issuing multiple NFS write operations. In either case, when multiple NFS operations are used to perform access operations, the NFS server has no idea of how many reads the download will generate (particularly since the NFS client may choose to generate reads at different offsets out of order) or no idea of how many writes the upload will generate (since the NFS client does not specify the size of the file before it starts writing to the file).
One problem with these conventional logging systems is that they are not suitable for use with the NFS protocol and thus not satisfactory for logging access to NFS servers. Since the NFS protocol does not use an open or close procedure and since the certain operations or transactions are often performed with multiple NFS operations, conventional logging systems do not have any way to know when certain NFS operations (e.g., read and write) have completed. Thus, there is a need for techniques for logging transactions to NFS servers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Broadly speaking, the invention relates to improved logging techniques that produce transaction logs. The logging techniques according to the invention are able to consolidate multiple related partial operations performed on a server device into a single log entry in a transaction log. Accordingly, the invention is well suited for logging operations of protocols in which transactions are often completed over multiple operations. The invention is particularly well suited for logging access to NFS file and/or directory resources with respect to a NFS server, even when the NFS operations are performed via Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) to the NFS server.
The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a method, system, device, and a computer readable medium. Several embodiments of the invention are discussed below.
As a method for consolidating related partial operations performed on a server device into a single log entry in a transaction log, one embodiment of the invention includes at least the acts of: receiving partial operations to be performed on the server device; determining whether the partial operations together form a complete operation; temporarily storing (for purposes of producing the transaction log) only reduced amounts of information about the partial operations; and producing a log entry in the transaction log pertaining to the complete operation based on the temporarily stored information about the partial operations when said determining determines that the partial operations together form the complete operation.
As a method for producing a transaction log for operations performed on a server device, one embodiment of the invention includes at least the acts of: receiving transaction information pertaining to an operation being requested to be performed on the server; determining whether the operation is a complete operation or a partial operation; temporarily storing the transaction information for the operation when the determining operates to determine that the operation is a partial operation; determining whether the partial operation temporarily stored has been completed through subsequent partial operations; and generating a log entry in the transaction log based on the transaction information temporarily stored for the operation after the determining operates to determines that the operation has been completed through subsequent partial operations.
As a transaction logging system for NFS operations directed to a file server, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: a file store that stores a plurality of electronic files; a NFS server coupled to the file store; and a transaction log of NFS activity with respect to the file server. The NFS server includes at least: a NFS server kernel component that receives NFS operation requests and returns replies; a buffer operatively connected to the NFS server kernel component, the buffer stores the NFS operation requests that are received; and a NFS log manager operatively connected to the buffer. The NFS log manager examines the NFS operation requests in the buffer and determines whether the NFS operation requests are complete through a single NFS operation and if not whether the NFS operation requests are complete through multiple NFS operations, and produces a log entry in the transaction log when the NFS log manager determines that the NFS operation requests are complete.
As a computer readable medium including computer program code for consolidating related partial operations performed on a server device into a single log entry in a transaction log, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: computer program code receiving partial operations to be performed on the server device; computer program code determining whether the partial operations together form a complete operation; and computer program code producing a log entry in the transaction log pertaining to the complete operation when the determining determines that the partial operations together form the complete operation.
As a computer readable medium including computer program code for producing a transaction log for operations performed on a server device, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: computer program code for receiving transaction information pertaining to an operation being requested to be performed on the server; computer program code for determining whether the operation is a complete operation or a partial operation; computer program code for temporarily storing the transaction information for the operation when the computer program code for determining determines that the operation is a
Kupfer Michael D.
Labiaga Ricardo
Shepler Spencer
Beyer Weaver & Thomas LLP
Meky Moustafa M.
Sun Microsystems Inc.
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