Patent ID: 8856467

Claim:
A method for managing metadata in a storage subsystem, comprising: receiving a call from a client to update a portion of a metadata track; receiving from the client data identifying at least one field of the metadata track to be updated, associated update values for the at least one field to be updated and an update type for the at least one field; populating a data structure field of a client interface with the identity of the at least one field and the associated update values; populating an opcode field of the client interface with the update type; allocating a task control block (TCB) to the client call; acquiring a lock whereby other clients are prevented from accessing the metadata track; at the direction of the TCB: staging to a cache the metadata track containing the at least one field to be updated; copying the at least one field to the TCB; applying the update type to map the update values of the at least one field to the metadata track; and copying the metadata into the TCB; and returning control of the client interface to the client whereby the metadata track with the fields to be updated is subsequently destaged.