A metadata querying method, comprising: a first sampling step, sampling at least one piece of first metadata from to-be-searched-for metadata (Step 11); using a part of feature values in the at least one piece of the first metadata obtained by the first sampling step as an index, and searching a sparse index table preset in a memory for container identifiers corresponding to the index, wherein the sparse index table records container identifiers and indicates correspondence between a location index for each container identifier and the each container identifier; the location index is a part of feature values of second metadata stored in a container corresponding to the container identifier (Step 12); wherein the index is determined by a first-level index offset indicating a row index and a second-level index offset indicating a column index, the first-level index offset is determined according to the most significant bits of the part of feature values in each of the at least one piece of the first metadata, and the second-level index offset is determined according to the least significant bits of the part of feature values in each of the at least one piece of the first metadata; selecting, according to the number of times that the container identifiers are found, a target container corresponding to a target container identifier in the container identifiers that meets a set condition (Step 13); loading metadata in the target container into a metadata cache (Step 14); and searching the metadata cache for a data block that is the same as the to-be-searched-for metadata (Step 15); wherein the location index for the container identifier in the sparse index table is obtained by using the following method: a second sampling step, sampling at least one piece of the second metadata from metadata stored in the container, and using a part of feature values of the at least one piece of the second metadata as the location index; wherein the location index is determined by a first-level index offset indicating a row index and a second-level index offset indicating a column index, the first-level index offset is determined according to the most significant bits of the part of feature values of the at least one piece of the second metadata, and the second-level index offset is determined according to the least significant bits of the part of feature values of the at least one piece of the second metadata. a first sampling step, sampling at least one piece of first metadata from to-be-searched-for metadata (Step 11); using a part of feature values in the at least one piece of the first metadata obtained by the first sampling step as an index, and searching a sparse index table preset in a memory for container identifiers corresponding to the index, wherein the sparse index table records container identifiers and indicates correspondence between a location index for each container identifier and the each container identifier; the location index is a part of feature values of second metadata stored in a container corresponding to the container identifier (Step 12); wherein the index is determined by a first-level index offset indicating a row index and a second-level index offset indicating a column index, the first-level index offset is determined according to the most significant bits of the part of feature values in each of the at least one piece of the first metadata, and the second-level index offset is determined according to the least significant bits of the part of feature values in each of the at least one piece of the first metadata; selecting, according to the number of times that the container identifiers are found, a target container corresponding to a target container identifier in the container identifiers that meets a set condition (Step 13); loading metadata in the target container into a metadata cache (Step 14); and searching the metadata cache for a data block that is the same as the to-be-searched-for metadata (Step 15); wherein the location index for the container identifier in the sparse index table is obtained by using the following method: a second sampling step, sampling at least one piece of the second metadata from metadata stored in the container, and using a part of feature values of the at least one piece of the second metadata as the location index; wherein the location index is determined by a first-level index offset indicating a row index and a second-level index offset indicating a column index, the first-level index offset is determined according to the most significant bits of the part of feature values of the at least one piece of the second metadata, and the second-level index offset is determined according to the least significant bits of the part of feature values of the at least one piece of the second metadata. a second sampling step, sampling at least one piece of the second metadata from metadata stored in the container, and using a part of feature values of the at least one piece of the second metadata as the location index; wherein the location index is determined by a first-level index offset indicating a row index and a second-level index offset indicating a column index, the first-level index offset is determined according to the most significant bits of the part of feature values of the at least one piece of the second metadata, and the second-level index offset is determined according to the least significant bits of the part of feature values of the at least one piece of the second metadata.