Patent ID: 7721062
Filing Date: 2010-05-18
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for operating a storage system, comprising: initiating writing a first consistency point (CP) at a first time, a CP being a wholly consistent and up-to-date version of an old data of the file system which is written to persistent storage, the old data received by the storage system since an earlier CP was written to persistent storage, and the old data stored in an old buffers in memory of the storage system; determining a first consistency point number assigned to the first CP, the first CP number to identify the old buffers as holding data to be written to persistent storage during the first CP; receiving a write operation to add new data to the storage system, the write operation identifying a file for the write operation to store the new data, the new data written to a new buffer in memory of the storage system; continuing to receive write operations for the new data during writing the first CP, the new data to be written to a second CP at a later second time, the new data written to a new data buffers in memory of the storage system; determining that a volume storing the file has buffer leakage detection activated; while writing the new data to the new data buffers, and in response to determining that the volume has buffer leakage detection activated, writing a buffer check control structure to the new data buffer, the buffer check control structure including one or more uniquely identifying numbers referred to as magic numbers, and an identifying consistency point number, the magic numbers to uniquely identify the new data buffer as a labeled buffer check control structure and to indicate that the data buffer needs to be checked for leakage; and comparing a buffer consistency point number read from an old buffer with the first consistency point number, the magic numbers to identify the buffer check control structure containing the buffer consistency point number, and if the buffer consistency point number agrees with the first consistency point number, continuing to write the first consistency point, and continuing to write the new data to the new data buffers, and in the event that the buffer consistency point number disagrees with the first consistency point number, signaling an administrator that buffer leakage between consistency points has occurred, and halting writing of the first consistency point, and halting write operations to add new data to the storage system.