Patent ID: 11880338
Assignee: EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 9:
10. A method, comprising:
creating, by a system comprising a processor, a hard link in a first directory to a file object in a second directory, wherein the creating the hard link comprises:
allocating a virtual inode number for the hard link in association with the first directory,
generating a mapping between the virtual inode number and a first real inode number that identifies a real inode file of the file object, and
associating a weight to the mapping;

adding, by the system, the weight to an existing total weight associated with mappings between virtual inode numbers and the first real inode number that identifies the real inode file of the file object to increase the existing total weight to an updated total weight associated with the real inode file of the file object;
updating, by the system, a hard link data store associated with the hard link to include an entry for the hard link to the file object, the entry comprising the first real inode number of the real inode file of the file object, a second real inode number of the first directory that identifies a directory real inode file of the first directory, a mapping real inode number of an inode mapping file associated with the first directory, and the virtual inode number of the hard link; and
in response to receiving a request to write data via the hard link, determining, by the system, whether the real inode file has been shared as a result of a snapshot, based on comparing the updated total weight associated with the real inode file of the file object to a total weight of the real inode file of the file object in an inode space of the hard link data store.