Patent ID: 7072894

Claim:
In a cluster of computing nodes having shared access to one or more file systems in data storage using parallel file system software, a method for managing the data storage, comprising: initiating a session of a data management application on a first one of the nodes; receiving a request submitted to the parallel file system software at a second one of the nodes to mount one of the file systems in the data storage on the second one of the nodes; sending a mount event message from the second node to the first node responsive to the request, for processing by the data management application on the first node; mounting first and second instances of the one of the file systems on the first and second nodes, respectively, responsive to the mount event message; receiving a further request at the second node to unmount the second instance of the one of the file systems at the second node; sending, responsive to the further request, a preunmount event message to the first node; and responding to the preunmount event message so as to permit unmounting of the second file system instance without unmounting the first file system instance.