Patent ID: 7454567

Claim:
A method for data storage comprising the steps of: creating a file across a plurality of NFS (Network File System) servers, where each server can be either a data server or a meta-data server, each server having a network element and a disk element; storing in a caching element at each input output secondary of each active file at the meta-data server a last known version of attributes of the active file which are good for a dallying period; moving the caching element out of invalid mode to read mode when a read operation must be executed by making a status request by the caching element to the meta-data server to obtain a file's current attributes and a latest attributes status; requesting the caching element out of invalid mode to read mode when a read operation must be executed; writing data into the file as strips of the data in the data servers, the strips together forming a stripe for providing bandwidth to multiple disk elements, where a striped file system comprises a set of striped VFSes (virtual file systems) distributed among a number of disk elements of a cluster of servers, with one VFS of the set of striped VFSes per disk element; reading the strips of the data from the data servers; and deleting the strips from the data servers.