Patent ID: 7406473

Claim:
A distributed file system comprising: a plurality of storage devices configured to store files; a plurality of disk servers, coupled to the plurality of storage devices, executing as a single disk server layer and configured to organize the plurality of storage devices based on a single address space; a plurality of lock servers, coupled to the disk server layer, cooperatively executing as a single distributed lock server and configured to coordinate access to the files stored on the plurality of physical disks based on locks; a plurality of file servers comprising file server memories, and coupled to the plurality of lock servers and the disk server layer, executing as a single distributed file server layer and configured to retrieve requested files from the plurality of disk servers based on locks issued by the plurality of lock servers; and a management node, wherein the management node is configured to execute a management framework, framework plugins, and standalone programs/utilities related to management; wherein in the response to a request for a file from a user program from one file server of the plurality of file servers, the single distributed file server layer is configured to retrieve the requested file from at least one of the storage devices and at least one lock, associated with the retrieved file, from at least one lock server; and to retrieve meta-data for at least one file that is related to the requested files, and at least one lock, for each file that has had its meta-data retrieved, the at least one lock and meta-data being stored in a memory of the one file server.