Patent ID: 7360030
Filing Date: 2008-04-15
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. In a system in which a given computer is one of multiple computers having access to a shared storage system, a method of managing shared volumes of logical storage residing on one or more disks in the shared storage system, the shared volumes of logical storage being accessible by at least a portion of the multiple computers in addition to the given computer, the method comprising: providing a coherent view of the shared volumes to the multiple computers having access to the shared storage system; providing the multiple computers access to data in the shared volumes; providing access control for each of the multiple computers to each of the shared volumes by ordering of disks in the shared volumes during initial formatting of disk partition tables defining a mapping of the disks to the shared volumes, the ordering indicating a locking order used by each of the multiple computers attempting to modify the shared volumes; and providing control of modifications each user can apply on each of the shared volumes by at least temporarily providing exclusive access to a selected volume for modification by the given computer based on sequentially applying exclusive locks to the disk partition tables in accordance with the locking order to prevent deadlock amongst any other computers attempting to simultaneously modify the selected volume.