Patent ID: 7185013

Claim:
A method for constructing and caching a chain of file identifiers in a computing system environment, the chain of file identifiers representing a full path to a file system resource the method comprising the steps of: processing a file system resource's defined name (DN) into a file identifier (FID) and defined name database; retrieving from the defined name database a first file identifier for a first file system resource, the retrieved file first identifier corresponding to a first defined name of the first file system resource; adding the retrieved first file identifier to a chain of file identifiers, the added file identifier being the first file identifier in the chain; retrieving a second file identifier for a second file system resource in a full path of the first file system resource; adding the second retrieved file identifier to the chain; and repeating said step of retrieving a next file identifier for a next file system resource and said step of adding the next retrieved file identifier to the chain until a file identifier for each file system resource in a full path of the first file system resource is retrieved and added in the chain; retrieving a the first file identifier corresponding to the file system resource, the file system resource being target of an access attempt and having the file identifier chain representing the full path directory of the target system resource; searching for a security classification category and defined name for the target resource file identifier; updating the security classification system, when said search finds a security classification category for the target resource file identifier; determining whether operations for the target file system resource could affect the file system name space; terminating constructing and caching of the chain of file identifiers when there is a determination that the operations for the target file system resource do not affect the file system name space; and flushing the file identifier chain cache when there is a determination that desired operations on the target file system resource can affect the file system name space.