Patent ID: 7739546

Claim:
A method for storing and retrieving file system log information in a clustered computer system, the method comprising the steps of: providing a first storage system and a second storage system connected by a cluster interconnect and each of said first storage system and said second storage system having a direct connection to the other system's storage devices, and each of said first storage system and said second storage system containing a mirrored copy of the other storage system's file system log information to enable logging of data access operations directed to the disks of both storage systems, and continuously maintaining, at each storage system, ongoing file system log information of its own and for the other storage system such that each storage system is in a ready state to take over in case of failure of the other storage system; performing a takeover operation, at a second storage system, of one or more storage devices associated with a first storage system, through said direct connection to said first storage system's storage devices including handling data access requests and storing file system log information directed to the first storage system; thereafter, continuing to store ongoing file system log information on one or more data storage devices associated with the second storage system; upon the first storage system re-initializing, transferring the file system log information of the first storage system from the second storage system to the first storage system across a cluster interconnect; and updating the one or more storage devices associated with the first storage system using the file system log information.