Patent ID: 7698501
Filing Date: 2010-04-13
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A system, comprising: two or more computers coupled together to form a cluster; a plurality of volumes distributed across the two or more computers to form a striped volume set, wherein the striped volume set is defined by a set of striping rules, and each volume is a logical arrangement of a plurality of storage devices attached to a computer of the two or more computers; a volume striping module configured to execute on one or more computers in the cluster, wherein the volume striping module stripes one or more data containers across the striped volume set; and a plurality of data containers stored across the striped volume set, wherein each data container stores one or more stripes of data on each volume and is configured with one or more sparse regions, wherein the one or more sparse regions are used to maintain that each stripe of data is stored at a predetermined offset, wherein the set of striping rules comprises a stripe width and wherein the predetermined offset is equal to a stripe number minus 1 multiplied by the stripe width.