JP2000148565A - Different operating system file sharing method and file sharing system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To make it possible to manage the attributes and the like of shared files when sharing disks in a cluster with different operating systems, as if they were native files of each operating system. With the goal. A file is stored in a shared first disk in a first file management format commonly supported by operating systems of all computers constituting a cluster. Separately, each computer has a local second disk formatted in the native second file management format of each operating system, which has the same directory structure as the shared disk. The attribute of the file included in the first disk is managed as the attribute of a native file existing at the same directory position on the second disk.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly, to a different operating system.
A method and system for configuring a cluster and sharing the same storage device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various operating systems have been used in various computers. Each operating system employs a predetermined file system. A file system is a part of an operating system that manages the storage location of files on a storage medium such as a disk. In general, different operating systems have different file systems and different formats of file management information on storage media. In many cases, a disc formatted in one operating system cannot be read even if it is connected to another operating system.

For example, a VAX computer is equipped with a VMS operating system (VAX, VMS is a Digital Equip
The disc is formatted in the form of a file system of the VMS operating system. When configuring a cluster with multiple VAX computers,
Computers and disks are connected to each other by a kind of local area network, and each computer can share the disks. This is an example of a cluster composed of computers of the same type.

In the MS-DOS operating system (MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation),
It has file management information in a so-called FAT (file allocation table) format. Since MS-DOS is widely used in personal computers, MS-DOS
Some operating systems other than S can read FAT format discs. For example, W
Windows NT, Solaris2.5 Int
el Platform Edition (hereinafter simply referred to as Solaris) is NTFS and UF, respectively.
S, which uses a proprietary file system as standard, but in addition to this, can read FAT format discs (Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft corporation, Sol
aris is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.). Therefore,
If a FAT-format disc is connected to these systems, the contents of the files on the disc can be read from either system. This is an example of a cluster composed of different types of computers.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application No. 9-52774 discloses SCS.
A method for sharing a disk having an I and a channel interface between a mainframe and an open system is disclosed. In this method, an open system program
VTOC (VoC), which is the mainframe file management information
By analyzing the lume table of content, mainframe files can be accessed from open systems.

[0006]

The method of sharing a disk with a cluster composed of computers of the same type has already been used in commercial computers. However, clusters composed of different types of computers have few attempts, and a method for sharing disks has not been established.

For example, Windows NT and Sola
In the example in which the FAT format disk is shared by ris, the following problem occurs. First, the file name allowed in the FAT format is limited to a format in which a name for eight characters is formed by adding a dot and a three-character extension. On the other hand, NTFS and U
FS allows you to use longer names,
For example, if a file created by NTFS is copied to a shared disk in the FAT format, a problem such as truncation of the file name or inability to copy in the first place occurs.

[0008] Next, unlike the NTFS and UFS, the FAT format does not have security information such as a file owner and an access right. For this reason, there is a problem that anyone can refer to or delete the file on the shared disk of the FAT format.

[0009] The system of Japanese Patent Application No. 9-52774 has the following problem. In a mainframe file system, security information such as file owner and access authority is not managed by VTOC, but is managed by a file called a system catalog.
The system catalog can reside on multiple disks, including the operating system boot disk. For this reason, although the shared disk can be read from the open system, security information cannot be obtained. Access from an open system is better than bypassing all the security checks that the mainframe normally does.

The present invention shares storage between different operating systems and allows files in that storage to be treated like native files that each operating system normally supports. It is an object to provide a file sharing method and system.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first computer on which a first operating system operates, and a second computer different from the first operating system. A second computer on which an operating system operates, and the first and second computers
A first storage device connected to both of the computers and shared by those computers, and a second storage device connected to the second computer
A method for sharing a file of a different type of operating system in a computer system comprising: a first storage device shared by both of the first and second operating systems connected to the computer system The second storage device formatted in the first file management format and connected to the second computer,
The second storage device is formatted in a second file management format different from the first file management format so that it can be accessed by the operating system of the second computer. The file management information of the file existing in the storage device described in the second file management format.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of computers each operating a different type of operating system; a first storage device connected to all of the plurality of computers and shared by the computers; A method for sharing files of different operating systems in a computer system including a plurality of second storage devices individually connected to the respective computers, wherein
Is formatted in a first file management format that is commonly accessible from all connected operating systems, and a plurality of second storage devices respectively connected to the plurality of second computers are The second storage device is formatted in a second file management format different from the first file management format so as to be accessible by an operating system of a second computer to which the second storage device is connected; Each of the second storage devices includes file management information expressed in the second file management format for a file existing in the shared first storage device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first computer on which a first operating system runs, a second computer on which a second operating system different from the first operating system runs, A first storage device that is connected to both the first and second computers, is formatted in a first file management format that is commonly accessible from any operating system of those computers, and is shared by those computers; , The second
The file is formatted in a second file management format different from the first file management format so that the file can be accessed by the operating system of the computer, and the first file in the shared first storage device is stored in the second file management format. And a second storage device connected to the second computer, the second storage device including file management information expressed in the second file management format.

[0014] The invention according to claim 4 is the communication device according to claim 3, further comprising communication means for enabling the first computer to access the file management information of the second storage device, and Is characterized in that the computer accesses the file management information of the second storage device by the communication means, and uses the file management information when accessing the shared file of the first storage device.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of computers each running a different type of operating system and a first file management format commonly accessible from all connected operating systems, And a plurality of second storage devices individually connected to each of the plurality of computers, the first storage device being connected to all of the computers and being shared by the computers, wherein each of the second storage devices Is formatted in a second file management format different from the first file management format so as to be accessible by an operating system of a second computer to which the second storage device is connected, and A file represented in the second file management format for a file existing in the shared first storage device. Characterized by comprising a those containing Le management information.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the third to fifth aspects, the second storage device includes an alias of a file included in the first storage device and / or security information. I do.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the third to fifth aspects, the second storage device has a directory having the same topology structure as a directory included in the first storage device. And

According to a feature of the present invention, for example, a plurality of computers have a shared storage device. In this shared storage device, file management information is written in a format supported by all relevant operating systems. Apart from this, the operating system of each computer individually manages the file management information of this shared storage device as needed.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings.

First, a first embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a computer system according to the first embodiment of this invention. The computer 10 and the computer 11 share the disk 20. In the computer 10, a UNIX operating system (UNIX is a trademark of X / Open) operates. In the computer 11, a Windows NT operating system operates. The shared disk 20 is an FA
It is assumed that the file is formatted in the T format and is accessible from the operating systems of the computers 10 and 11. The computer 10 has a disk 21, and the disk 21 is formatted in a UFS format that UNIX normally supports. The computer 11 has a disk 22
The disk 22 is formatted in the NTFS format that Windows NT supports as standard.

FIG. 2 shows the files and directories contained on the disk 21. The disk 21 is in the UFS format, and includes a file foo, a directory bar, and a file verylongname. txt. As described later, the file on the disk 21 has only the attribute information of the file on the shared disk 20, and the like.
It does not have actual user data.

FIG. 3 shows files and directories included in the shared disk 20. Shared disk 20 is FAT
Format, file foo, directory bar, and file 12345678. txt.

The file foo in FIG. 2 corresponds to the file f in FIG.
oo. The directory bar in FIG. 2 corresponds to the directory bar in FIG. The file “very” in FIG.
longname. txt is the file 12345 of FIG.
678. txt. Where verylong
name. Since the file name txt is a long name that is not allowed in the FAT format, 1
2345678. txt file. The file verylongnam of the disk 21
e. The content of txt is a character string "12345678.txt" which is a corresponding file name on the shared disk 20, and is a kind of symbolic link.
In addition, verylongname. txt file owner and access authority are 12345678. txt is used as the file owner or access authority. This will be described below.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart when the application program accesses a file on the shared disk 20 in the computer 10. In step 400, from the application program to the UNIX of the computer 10,
verylongname. A txt open request is issued. At step 410, UNIX reads disk 21
To see if the specified file exists. If not, the process ends as an access error. If there is, go to step 420 and varylongnam
e. Based on txt file owner and access rights,
Check whether the application program has the right to access the file. Since the disk 21 is in the UFS format, it has security information of files used by the UNIX 10, so that access authority and the like can be checked.

If there is no access right, the process ends as an access error. If there is, go to step 440, and
erylongname. Read the contents of txt. Here, the file name of the shared file “1234567”
8. txt ”is read out. Next, at step 450,
File 12345678 of the shared disk 20. txt
open. The actual user data is stored in this file.

Although an example of UNIX of the computer 10 has been described above, the same applies to Windows NT and the disk 22 of the computer 11. Disk 22 is NTF
It has the same directory structure as the shared disk 20 as in FIG. 2, and has a file containing the file name of the shared disk 20 as in FIG. Calculator 11
Functions supported by NTFS but not supported by FAT, such as ACLs, access control lists, and audits, can be provided to files on the shared disk 20.

It is assumed that exclusive control is performed on files on the shared disk 20.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a computer system according to the second embodiment of this invention. The description of the same components as those in FIG. 1 is omitted. The computer 10 and the computer 11 are connected by a local area network 500. The NFS server program runs on the computer 10 and the NFS client program runs on the computer 11 (NFS is Sun Microsystems).
systems, Inc.). The computer 10 has a disk 21
Can be accessed from the computer 11 by NFS.

In the first embodiment, the computer 10 and the computer 11 store the disk 21 and the disk 22 respectively in FIG.
(Ie, shared disk 2
0 is the same as the directory structure, and the contents of each file store the name of the file on the shared disk 20 corresponding to the file)
Was prepared. On the other hand, in the system shown in FIG. 5 according to the second embodiment, the data of the directory structure described with reference to FIG. The computer 11 accesses this data via the local area network 500.

The advantage of this method is that the directory structure shown in FIG. 2 needs to be held at only one place in the cluster, so that the operation is easy. However, in this method, the file attributes given to the files on the shared disk 20 by the computer 11 are restricted as compared with the case where NTFS is used in FIG.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a main part configuration diagram of a computer system according to the third embodiment. The description of the same components as those in FIG. 1 is omitted. In the computer 610, a VOS3 operating system operates (VOS3 is a product name of Hitachi, Ltd.). Shared disk 600 is formatted in a format supported by the VOS3 operating system and has a sequential file. The computer 610 has a disk 620
Having. Disk 620 has a system catalog used by the VOS3 operating system. The system catalog contains the configuration information of the computer 610 and the VOS
3 Stores security information of all files managed by the operating system. The security information of the file included in the shared disk 600 is also included in this system catalog.

In the computer 10, HMDE (Hitachi Mult)
iplatform Data Exchange) 630 operates (HMDE is a product name of Hitachi, Ltd.). The HMDE is VTOC (Volume Table Of Co.) which is file management information of the mainframe.
ntent) to analyze the mainframe disk from an open system. It is assumed that the UNIX operating system of the computer 10 does not have the ability to analyze mainframe file management information. For this reason, HMDE uses
Using a technique called O, the shared disk 600 is accessed directly, bypassing the file system of the UNIX operating system.

The VOS3 operating system centrally manages the security information of all files managed by the system catalog, not by the VTOC of the disk where the file is located. For this reason, HMDE6
30 cannot generally obtain the security information of the files of the shared disk 600. This is because there is no means for the computer 10 to know the contents of the system catalog connected to the computer 610.

In this embodiment, the disk 21 is provided. Disk 21 is shared disk 6 in advance.
00 has security information of a file extracted from a system catalog. Thereby, HM
The DE 630 can access the files of the shared disk 600 by using the information of the disk 21 in accordance with the file security information originally defined by the VOS3 operating system of the computer 610.
The system catalog may be shared between the computer 10 and the computer 610 using NFS or the like, and the disk 21 may be omitted.

In each of the above embodiments, the directory structure is prepared on the disk of the file system of each operating system so that the directory structure on the shared disk is directly copied. That is, a directory having the same topology structure as the directory included in the shared disk was prepared. However, the information does not need to have the same directory structure, but may be any information that allows the directory structure of the shared disk to be understood.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the file management information on the shared file stored in the storage device shared by a plurality of operating systems is stored in a second storage device that is separate for each operating system and managed individually, Can be treated in the same way as native files supported by each operating system. For example, even if the shared file is in the FAT format, a long file name can be used or security information can be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main part configuration diagram of a computer system according to a first embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a directory structure included in a disc 21 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a directory structure included in a shared disk 20 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for opening a shared file according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a main part configuration diagram of a computer system according to a second embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 6 is a main part configuration diagram of a computer system according to a third embodiment of this invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 11: Computer, 20: Shared disk, 21, 22
... disk, 500 ... local area network.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A first computer on which a first operating system operates, a second computer on which a second operating system different from the first operating system operates, and the first and second computers And a second storage device connected to the second computer and a second storage device connected to the second computer. The shared first storage device is formatted in a first file management format that can be commonly accessed from both the first and second operating systems connected to the first storage device, and is connected to the second computer. The second storage device is configured so that the first storage device can be accessed by an operating system of the second computer. The file is formatted in a second file management format different from the file management format, and the second storage device represents the file existing in the shared first storage device in the second file management format. A file sharing method for a heterogeneous operating system, comprising file management information. 2. A plurality of computers each running a different type of operating system, a first storage device connected to all of the plurality of computers and shared by the computers, and an individual computer for each of the plurality of computers. A method for sharing files of different operating systems in a computer system comprising a plurality of second storage devices connected to the storage device, wherein the shared first storage device is commonly accessed by all connected operating systems. A plurality of second storage devices each formatted in a possible first file management format and connected to the plurality of second computers, respectively, the second computer to which the second storage device is connected Different from the first file management format so as to be accessible by the operating system of Wherein each of the plurality of second storage devices is a file management expressed in the second file management format for a file existing in the shared first storage device. A method for sharing files of different operating systems, comprising information. 3. A first computer on which a first operating system operates, a second computer on which a second operating system different from the first operating system operates, and the first and second computers A first storage device that is connected to both of the computers, is formatted in a first file management format that is commonly accessible from any of the operating systems of the computers, and is shared by the computers, and the second computer The second file management format, which is formatted in a second file management format different from the first file management format so as to be accessible by the operating system of the first storage device, exists in the shared first storage device. Connected to the second computer, including file management information represented in a file management format. Heterogeneous operating system file sharing system being characterized in that a second storage device. 4. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a communication unit that enables the first computer to access the file management information in the second storage device, wherein the first computer uses the communication unit to transmit the file management information. 4. The different operating system file sharing system according to claim 3, wherein said file management information of said storage device is accessed, and said file management information is used when accessing said shared file of said first storage device. 5. A plurality of computers, each running a different type of operating system, and a first file management format commonly accessible from all connected operating systems, and connected to all of the plurality of computers. A first storage device shared by the computers, and a plurality of second storage devices individually connected to the plurality of computers, wherein each of the second storage devices is the second storage device. The shared first format is formatted in a second file management format different from the first file management format so as to be accessible by an operating system of a second computer to which the storage device is connected. Including file management information of the file existing in the storage device in the second file management format. Heterogeneous operating system file sharing system comprising the and. 6. The different operating system file according to claim 3, wherein the second storage device includes an alias and / or security information of a file included in the first storage device. Shared system. 7. The different operating system file sharing system according to claim 3, wherein said second storage device has a directory having the same topology structure as a directory included in said first storage device. system.