US 11,934,279 B2
Sequential file restore performance using filesystem redirection
Nitin Madan, Cupertino, CA (US); and Kedar Godbole, Pune (IN)
Assigned to Dell Products L.P., Hopkinton, MA (US)
Filed by Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX (US)
Filed on Oct. 27, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/512,147.
Prior Publication US 2023/0128279 A1, Apr. 27, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 16/10 (2019.01); G06F 11/14 (2006.01); G06F 16/13 (2019.01); G06F 16/172 (2019.01)
CPC G06F 11/1469 (2013.01) [G06F 11/1453 (2013.01); G06F 16/13 (2019.01); G06F 16/172 (2019.01); G06F 2201/84 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method of restoring files in a data backup system, comprising:
receiving a restore request;
determining that the received restore request comprises a long sequential read and not small file-level restores;
setting up a local read-ahead cache on an active node and a remote read-ahead cache on a passive node coupled to the active node through a fast interconnect link;
defining an index relating a file offset to memory storing file data and containing an indication of a location of the memory as stored locally or remotely;
receiving a prefetch request to aid retrieval of file data restored from a storage system, wherein the prefetch request issues after a read request and comprises a prefetch request issued at a prefetch horizon on the order of megabytes in size from a read offset, and wherein the prefetch horizon covers an amount of time between stalls of input/output (I/O) operations of reads from the memory and slower reads from disk, and wherein the time between the stalls comprises a read highway;
first determining if the read request accesses data contained in the index, and second determining if the indexed data is stored locally or remotely; and
accessing the read data from the local read-ahead cache if stored locally or accessing the read data from the remote cache if stored remotely to effectively lengthen the read highway to thereby reduce the stalls of I/O operations.