Patent ID: 7165260
Filing Date: 2007-01-16
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A set of computer readable media containing computer instructions for operating a layered computing environment in an insecure or public environment, the set of computer readable media comprising at least one medium upon which is stored the computer instructions executable by a computing system to achieve the functions of: (i) receiving from applications a read request for a read operation to a file system, the read request containing a file reference appropriate to the file system organization; (ii) a first determining whether or not the file reference is maintained in at least one enabled layer; (iii) if in the first determining a file reference is found not to be maintained in at least one enabled layer, causing the read operation to execute using the file reference of the read request; (iv) if in the first determining a file reference is found to be maintained in at least one enabled layer, identifying an owner layer from the set of enabled layers; (v) following the identifying an owner layer, identifying a virtual read reference utilizing information contained in the layer; (vi) following the identifying a virtual read reference, causing the read operation to execute using the virtual read reference; (vii) receiving from applications a write request for a write operation to a file system, the write request containing a file reference appropriate to the file system organization; (viii) a second determining whether or not the file reference is a reference to a write operation to be captured in an enabled layer; (ix) if in the second determining a file reference is determined not to be a reference to a write operation to be captured to an enabled read-writable layer, causing the write operation to execute using the file reference of the write request; (x) if in the second determining a file reference is determined to be a reference to a write operation to be captured to an enabled read-writable layer, identifying a capture layer; (xi) following the identifying a capture layer, creating a virtual write reference relative to an enabled read-writable layer corresponding to the file reference of the write request; (xii) following the creating a virtual write reference, causing the write operation to execute using the virtual write reference; (xiii) receiving management commands through an applications programmer interface; (xiv) receiving a management command through an applications programmer interface to delete a specified layer; and (xv) delete the specified layer.