Abstract:
A method, system and computer program product for managing preallocated disk space are presented. The method includes placing a plurality of requests for preallocated disk space on a disk space request queue, wherein each preallocated disk space is preallocated for a fixed amount of disk space and a fixed length of time, and wherein an application using an issued preallocated disk space for more than the fixed length of time results in the application being barred from further current use of the issued preallocated disk space. The requests are sorted in the disk space request queue according to a priority algorithm that establishes a priority level for each of the requests, and preallocated disk space is allocated to requesters according to the priority level established by the priority algorithm.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present disclosure relates to the field of computers, and specifically to software that runs on computers. Still more specifically, the present disclosure relates to managing disk space. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A method, system and computer program product for managing preallocated disk space are presented. The method includes placing a plurality of requests for preallocated disk space on a disk space request queue, wherein each preallocated disk space is preallocated for a fixed amount of disk space and a fixed length of time, and wherein an application using an issued preallocated disk space for more than the fixed length of time results in the application being barred from further current use of the issued preallocated disk space. The requests are sorted in the disk space request queue according to a priority algorithm that establishes a priority level for each of the requests, and preallocated disk space is allocated to requesters according to the priority level established by the priority algorithm. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  depicts an exemplary computer in which the present invention may be implemented; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary Graphical User Interface (GUI) that is presented to a user to request preallocated disk space; 
         FIG. 3  depicts additional detail of a disk space request queue; and 
         FIG. 4  is a high-level flow-chart of exemplary steps taken by the present invention to manage preallocated disk space. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium. 
     Any suitable computer usable or computer readable medium may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as those supporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device. Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with the computer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to the Internet, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc. 
     Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java® (Java®) is a trademark or registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries), Smalltalk, C++ or the like. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). 
     The present invention is described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatuses (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 1 , there is depicted a block diagram of an exemplary computer  100 , with which the present invention may be utilized. Computer  100  includes a processor unit  104  that is coupled to a system bus  106 . A video adapter  108 , which drives/supports a display  110 , is also coupled to system bus  106 . System bus  106  is coupled via a bus bridge  112  to an Input/Output (I/O) bus  114 . An I/O interface  116  is coupled to I/O bus  114 . I/O interface  116  affords communication with various I/O devices, including a keyboard  118 , a mouse  120 , a Compact Disk-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) drive  122 , and a flash drive  124 . The format of the ports connected to I/O interface  116  may be any known to those skilled in the art of computer architecture, including but not limited to Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports. 
     Computer  100  is able to communicate with a server  150  via a network  128  using a network interface  130 , which is coupled to system bus  106 . Network  128  may be an external network such as the Internet, or an internal network such as an Ethernet or a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Server  150  may be architecturally configured in the manner depicted for computer  100 . 
     A hard drive interface  132  is also coupled to system bus  106 . Hard drive interface  132  interfaces with a hard drive  134 . In one embodiment, hard drive  134  populates a system memory  136 , which is also coupled to system bus  106 . System memory  136  is defined as a lowest level of volatile memory in computer  100 . This volatile memory may include additional higher levels of volatile memory (not shown), including, but not limited to, cache memory, registers, and buffers. Code that populates system memory  136  includes an operating system (OS)  138  and application programs  144 . 
     OS  138  includes a shell  140 , for providing transparent user access to resources such as application programs  144 . Generally, shell  140  is a program that provides an interpreter and an interface between the user and the operating system. Shell  140  provides a system prompt, interprets commands entered by keyboard  118 , mouse  120 , or other user input media, and sends the interpreted command(s) to the appropriate lower levels of the operating system (e.g., kernel  142 ) for processing. As depicted, OS  138  also includes kernel  142 , which includes lower levels of functionality for OS  138 . Kernel  142  provides essential services required by other parts of OS  138  and application programs  144 . The services provided by kernel  142  include memory management, process and task management, disk management, and I/O device management. 
     Application programs  144  include a browser  146 . Browser  146  includes program modules and instructions enabling a World Wide Web (WWW) client (i.e., computer  100 ) to send and receive network messages to the Internet. Computer  100  may utilize HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) messaging to enable communication with server  150 . Application programs  144  in system memory  136  also include a Preallocated Disk Space Manager (PDSM)  148 , which includes instructions and data required to execute the processes and steps described below in  FIGS. 2-4 . Application programs  144  also include waiting programs  147 , which are application programs that are waiting to use preallocated disk space, according to their status in an application queue  149 , in a manner described below. 
     In one embodiment, computer  100  is able to download PDSM  148  from a remote service provider server  150 , preferably in an “on demand” basis. In another embodiment, server  150  is able to execute PDSM  148 , thus reducing demand on hardware and software resources directly attributed to computer  100 . 
     The hardware elements depicted in computer  100  are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather are representative to highlight essential components required by the present invention. For instance, computer  100  may include alternate memory storage devices such as magnetic cassettes, Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs), Bernoulli cartridges, and the like. These and other variations are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Note that the hardware architecture for service provider server  150  may be substantially similar to that shown for computer  100 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , an exemplary Graphical User Interface (GUI)  202  for accepting a request for preallocated disk space is presented. GUI  202  is part of a preallocated disk space reservation program  204 , which is part of PDSM  148  shown in  FIG. 1 . GUI  202  allows a user to enter, into a window  206 , a request for preallocated disk space. The preallocated disk space is reserved disk space that is preallocated for a fixed amount of disk space and a fixed length of time. These fixed amounts of disk space have been predetermined by a disk manager (either through automatic software or manually), such that the amount of disk space remains static (e.g., 500 MB, 1 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB, etc.). The preallocated disk spaces can only be allocated to/reserved by an application/requester for the fixed amount of time. If an application using an issued preallocated disk space exceeds the fixed length of time, then that application is barred from further current use of the issued preallocated disk space. That is, the application will be “kicked off” the issued preallocated disk space. Note that the fixed amount of time can either be set by the requester (according how long he requested the use of the preallocated disk space), or the fixed amount of time may be a set attribute of a preallocated disk space (i.e., one preallocated disk space can only be made available for five minutes, while another preallocated disk space can only be made available for 30 minutes, etc.). If the fixed amount of time is a set attribute of a preallocated disk space, this fixed amount of time may be set by PDSM  148  by considering the size of the preallocated disk space (i.e., larger disk spaces are preallocated for longer periods of time than smaller disk spaces, or vice versa), how often a particular size preallocated disk space has been requested (e.g., high demand preallocated disk spaces are made available for shorter periods of time), etc. 
     As suggested by the figure, the user can state the name of the application that will be using the preallocated disk space (field  208 ); how large the preallocated disk space needs to be (field  210 ); how long the application will need to have exclusive use of the preallocated disk space (field  212 ); and how long the requester is willing to wait for the preallocated disk space to be made available to the application (field  214 ). 
     Although the GUI  202  shown in  FIG. 2  requires the user to manually populate all information related to a particular application that needs preallocated disk space, in one embodiment some of the information can be pre-populated, along with suggestions. For example, assume that a user has just entered “Application A” in field  208 . PDSM  148  can then look up “Application A” in a table that shows disk requirements, and auto-populate fields  210  and  212 . Furthermore, if the user has entered a shorter time such as “three hours” in field  212 , but the lookup table that PDSM  148  accesses suggests four hours, then “four hours” may be suggested in a text message in GUI  202  or another message back to the user, or PDSM  148  may override the “three hours” entry in field  212  and save the preallocated disk space for four hours. Similarly, PDSM  148  may override the size of preallocated space that is called. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , the data for each request is placed into a disk space request queue  300 . Each entry in the disk space request queue  300  includes a name of the application that will be using the preallocated disk space, how much disk space is needed, how long the disk space will be needed, and how long the requester is willing to wait. Initially, the requests are placed onto the disk space request queue  300  in a First In First Out (FIFO) manner, such that the oldest requests are handled first. However, PDSM  148  includes an algorithm that is able to weigh the various parameters of the request (i.e., the name of the application, the amount of disk space needed, the length of time the disk space is needed, and how long the requester is willing to wait). For example, assume that Application  1  is first in the queue, but PDSM  148  notices that Application  3  only needs the same amount of preallocated disk space (5 GB) for two minutes, while Application  1  will monopolize this much space for half an hour. Like a maitre d&#39; at a restaurant, the PDSM  148  may let Application  3  have the next available preallocated disk space that can handle 5 GB (e.g., preallocated disk space  308 ) before Application  1 , particularly since the requester is in more of a hurry (can wait only 0.5 hours instead the requester using Application  1  being able to wait only one hour). Note that in the example shown, hard drive  134  does not have a 5 GB preallocated disk space, so PDSM  148  allocates/assigns the 10 GB preallocated disk space  308  to Application  1  and Application  3  (but not both at the same time, since each preallocated disk space is to be used exclusively by a requesting application). 
     Similarly, PDSM  148  may elect to service requests for smaller amounts of preallocated disk space earlier (e.g., Application  2  needs only 0.5 GB), since the hard drive  134  may have more smaller fixed preallocated disk spaces (e.g., preallocated disk spaces  302 ,  304  and  306 ) than the larger preallocated disk space  308 . Likewise, if an application name (e.g., “Application  1 ”) is recognized as an application that has a high priority (e.g., a registration or boot application), such applications may be given preferential treatment in the allocation of the preallocated disk spaces. 
     As the preallocated disk spaces in the hard drive  134  are allocated, the PDSM  148  notifies the appropriate program from the waiting programs  149  (e.g., Applications  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ). As soon as a particular program is given the exclusive use of a particular preallocated disk space, that particular program&#39;s entry in the disk space request queue  300  is removed. If that particular program needs additional time on the hard drive  134 , then another request for the same or another preallocated disk space is submitted to the disk space request queue  300  by the requester. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 4 , a high level flow chart of exemplary steps taken to manage preallocated disk space is presented. After initiator block  402 , which may be prompted by a user of an application determining that there is a need for a preallocated disk space, a request for preallocated disk space is received by a preallocated disk space manager. This request, which may be for use by a specific application, is placed on a disk space request queue (block  404 ). In one embodiment, a display of requests on the disk space request queue is presented to the user, showing the user “where in line” his request is at any point of real time. Thus, as new requests come in, and as they are manipulated (as described below at block  406 ), the user is able to see how much longer he has to wait for his request to be served. 
     If there are multiple requests on the disk space request queue, then the preallocated disk space manager sorts the requests (block  406 ) as described above (according to the name of the application that will be using the preallocated disk space, the amount of disk space requested, the length of time that the preallocated disk space will be needed, and the length of time that the requester is willing to wait for the preallocated disk space to become available). As soon as the preallocated disk space manager determines that an appropriate preallocated space is available (query block  408 ), the requester (and application) are provided/allocated an appropriate preallocated disk space for the fixed amount of time, and the request is removed from the disk space request queue (block  410 ). Note that a request is also automatically removed from the disk space request queue at any time that the application is cancelled. That is, if an application no longer needs the preallocated disk space, e.g., the application&#39;s operations and/or installation is aborted, then that application is removed from the disk space request queue. However, in one embodiment, if the application has completed a certain percentage of an operation that requires the use of the preallocated disk space, then that application request remains on the disk space request queue. For example, assume that the application has completed 95% of the operation that requires the use of the preallocated disk space. If the operation fails, the application request will remain on the queue, and will (preferably) be first in line for the next available preallocated disk space of the requisite size. The process continues as long as more requests are in the disk space request queue (query block  412 ), after which the process ends (terminator block  414 ). 
     As described herein, by evaluating the data entries to determine the data entry classifications for each data entry field, and by counting the occurrences of a particular data entry classification for a particular data entry field, and be determining that the particular data entry classification has occurred more than a predetermined number of times, a presumption can be made that data for that particular data entry field should be of that particular data entry classification. This allows an automatic generation of a prompt that tells the customer what type of data should be entered in a particular data entry field, thus ensuring uniformity in data entries. This also allows the insertion of a reasonable default value that most (future, subsequent) users will be able to use as their own. 
     Note that the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. 
     The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
     The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 
     Having thus described the invention of the present application in detail and by reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims.