JP2006285867A - File management system, monitoring server, file server, file management method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide technology for unlocking a file left as a client locks it. <P>SOLUTION: This file management system comprises: a file server 200 comprising a file storage means storing the file, and a lock control means locking the file when access to the file is performed, and releasing the lock when the access to the file is completed; the client 300 accessing the file stored in the file storage means of the file server 200; and a lock monitoring server 100 comprising a client monitoring means monitoring whether the client 300 operates or not, and a notification means transmitting notification information for specifying the client 300 to the file server 200 used by the client when the client monitoring means detects the client 300 not in operation. The lock control means releases the lock when receiving the notification information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for changing a file access restriction in a file management system.

  In a file management system having a server for storing a file and a client connected to the server via a network, there is a technology called NFS (Network File System) that allows a client to freely access the file stored by the server. Known and used by many operating systems (OS).

In many cases, NFS prohibits (locks) another client from accessing a file when one client is accessing the file to prevent the file content from becoming inconsistent. When access to the file ends, the lock is released (unlocked).
According to Non-Patent Document 1, when NFS is used, the file cannot be unlocked unless the client locks the file.
Brent Callaghan, “NFS Bible”, ASCII Publishing, October 1, 2001, p. 302-303

In the NFS where locking and unlocking are executed as described above, when a client accessing a file stops operating (downs), the file being accessed remains locked. It will exist in the server. At this time, in order for another client to access the file, the client that has stopped operating must be restarted to unlock the file. In addition, when it is impossible to restart a client that has stopped operating with the file locked, the server must be restarted in order for another client to access the file.
These problems cause a reduction in the availability of the file management system.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a file management system and a file management method for unlocking a file that has been left locked by the client when the client goes down, and An object is to provide a monitoring server, a file server, and a program suitable for the file management system and the file management method.

A file management system according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a file storage unit that stores a file, and locks the file when the file is accessed, and locks the file when access to the file is completed. A lock control means for releasing the file server, a client accessing the file stored in the file storage means of the file server, and a client monitoring means for monitoring whether or not the client is operating. A notification server configured to transmit notification information for identifying the client to a file server used by the client when the client monitoring unit detects a non-operating client; A file management system consisting of The lock control unit, when receiving the notification information from the notification means, to unlock the file a client identified by the notification information is being accessed, and wherein the.
In the present invention, “the client is not operating” means not only that the entire client device is not operating, but also a process accessing a file on the file server in a process operating on the client device. Including that one of them is not operating.

  The notification means transmits the notification information including identification information for identifying an inoperative client, the file server stores the locked client and the locked file in association with each other, and the locked client Based on the stored content that associates a locked file with the locked file and the notification information, a file locked by the client specified by the client identification information included in the notification information is specified and notified to the lock control means The lock control means may release the lock of the file specified by the file management means.

  In the file management system, the client monitoring unit transmits response request information to the client, and the client transmits reply information to the client monitoring unit in response to response request information from the client monitoring unit. The client monitoring means may detect that the client is not operating when no reply information is received from the client within a predetermined period.

  When the monitoring server according to the second aspect of the present invention detects a client monitoring unit that monitors whether or not a client connected to the network is operating, and a client that does not operate the client monitoring unit, And a notification means for transmitting notification information for specifying the client to a file server used by the client.

  The notification unit may transmit the notification information including identification information for identifying a client that is not operating.

  The client monitoring means transmits response request information for causing the client to send reply information, and if no reply information is received from the client within a predetermined period, it detects that the client is not operating. Also good.

  A file server according to a third aspect of the present invention has a file storage means for storing a file, locks the file when the file is accessed, and releases the lock when the access to the file ends. And a lock management unit configured to release the lock when receiving notification information for specifying an inactive client. .

  The file server stores the client that locked the file in association with the locked file, specifies the file locked by the client specified by the client identification information included in the notification information, and stores the file in the lock control unit. The file management means may be further notified, and the lock control means may unlock the file specified by the file management means.

  The file management method according to the fourth aspect of the present invention provides a lock state in which identification information of a server to which a client is connected and information indicating whether there is a locked file in the server are associated with each other and acquired. An acquisition step; a client monitoring step for monitoring whether or not the client is operating; and the locked file when it is detected that the client locks the file and is not operating. And an unlocking step for releasing the lock.

  A program according to a fifth aspect of the present invention uses a computer when a client monitoring unit that monitors whether a client is operating and a client that does not operate the client monitoring unit are detected by the client. It is made to function as a notification means which transmits the notification information for notifying the said client to the file server which has been carried out.

The file management system and the file management method of the present invention monitor whether or not a client is operating, and when a client that is not operating is detected, unlock the file locked by the client. For this reason, when a client goes down, a file that has been left locked while the client is locked can be unlocked.
The monitoring server, file server, and program of the present invention are suitable for the above-described file management system and file management method.

  A file management system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the file management system 1 of the present embodiment includes a communication network C, a lock management server 100 connected to the communication network C, a file server 200 connected to the communication network C, and a communication network C. Clients 300A to 300C connected to the network. Hereinafter, the clients 300A to 300C are collectively referred to as a client 300.
In the present embodiment, the file management system 1 includes only one file server 200 and three clients 300, but there is no limit on the number of either the file server 200 or the client 300.

  The communication network C is a communication network based on a communication protocol such as TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the lock management server 100 includes a storage unit 110, a control unit 120, and a communication unit 130.

  The storage unit 110 includes, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory) serving as a work area, and an OS (Operating System) for controlling the operation of the control unit 120, a hard disk device that stores application programs, and the like. More specifically, the storage unit 110 stores, for example, a program for causing the control unit 120 to execute a client monitoring process for periodically monitoring the operation state of the client 300 on the hard disk.

  In addition, the storage unit 110 stores a correspondence table 111. As shown in FIG. 3, the correspondence table 111 indicates client identification data for identifying the client 300, a status flag (up or down) indicating the status of the client 300, and whether the client 300 has locked the file. It is a table that stores a lock flag (on or off) and server identification data indicating the file server 200 used (mounted) by the client 300 in association with each other.

  For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the first line of the correspondence table 111 shows that the client 300A is not operating (down) but the file is locked (on), and the file is mounted. It indicates that the server is the file server 200.

  The second line of the correspondence table 111 indicates that the client 300B is operating (up), does not lock the file (off), and the mounted file server is the file server 200. It shows that there is.

  The communication unit 130 includes a communication device such as a NIC (Network Interface Card), for example, and performs data transmission / reception between the file server 200 and the client 300 via the communication network C according to control by the control unit 120. .

  The control unit 120 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), performs arithmetic processing based on a program stored in the storage unit 110, and controls each unit.

  For example, the control unit 120 monitors the state of the client 300 (whether it is operating or not) via the communication network C, and when a client 300 that is not operating is found, the file server 200 mounted by the client is detected. Send down notification information. The down notification information is information including client identification data corresponding to the down client 300 in the correspondence table 111, for example.

  As illustrated in FIG. 4, the file server 200 includes a storage unit 210, a control unit 220, a communication unit 230, and a file storage unit 240.

  The storage unit 210 includes, for example, a RAM serving as a work area and a hard disk device that stores an OS, an application program, and the like for controlling the operation of the control unit 220. The storage unit 210 stores, for example, a program for executing a forced unlocking process for unlocking a file that remains locked in the hard disk.

  In addition, the storage unit 210 stores a lock management table 211. As shown in FIG. 5, the lock management table 211 is a table that stores client identification data indicating the client 300 and lock file identification data indicating a file locked by the client in association with each other.

  For example, the first line of the lock management table 211 indicates that the client 300A has locked the file “thesis.doc”.

  The communication unit 230 includes, for example, a communication device such as a NIC (Network Interface Card). Based on control by the control unit 220, data communication between the lock management server 100 and the client 300 is performed via the communication network C. Send and receive.

  The file storage unit 240 is composed of, for example, a hard disk device, and stores a file accessed by the client 300.

  The control unit 220 includes, for example, a CPU, performs arithmetic processing based on a program stored in the storage unit 210, and controls each unit.

  For example, the control unit 220 responds to the access to the file from the client 300, locks it, prohibits access from the other client 300 to the file, unlocks the file that has been accessed, The file can be accessed even at 300. Further, the control unit 220 manages the lock management table 211 while updating it according to the access status to the file.

  In addition, when receiving the down notification information from the lock management server 100, the control unit 220 executes a forced unlock process for enabling access to the file. The forced unlock process will be described later in detail.

  The client 300 is configured by, for example, a personal computer or a workstation. The client 300 is connected to the communication network C, and accesses a file stored in the file storage unit 240 of the file server 200 via the communication network C in accordance with control by a program or user operation.

  In the file management system 1 configured as described above, the procedure of client monitoring processing that is regularly executed by the lock management server 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The lock management server 100 executes client monitoring processing at predetermined intervals (for example, every 10 seconds).

  When the client monitoring process is started, the control unit 120 communicates with all of the clients 300 (300A to 300C) connected to the communication network C via the communication unit 130 and the communication network C. A state is acquired (step S100). More specifically, the control unit 120 inquires each client 300 about the mounted file server 200 and whether there is a lock. On the other hand, when each client 300 responds, the control unit 120 acquires information about the file server 200 mounted by each client 300 and the presence or absence of lock. On the other hand, when there is a client 300 that does not respond to an inquiry within a predetermined period, the client 300 is processed as being not operating (down).

  Next, the control unit 120 updates the correspondence table 111 according to the state of each client 300 (step S110).

  Next, the control unit 120 determines whether or not there is a client 300 whose status flag is down and whose lock flag is on in the updated correspondence table 111 (step S120).

  If there is no client 300 whose status flag is down and the lock flag is on (step S120; No), the file server 200 ends the client monitoring process.

  On the other hand, when there is a client 300 in which the status flag is down and the lock flag is on (step S120; Yes), the control unit 120 generates down notification information including client identification data of the client 300, The down notification information is transmitted to the file server 200 mounted by the client (step S130).

  And the control part 120 is updated so that the lock flag of the corresponding | compatible table 111 may be set to off about the client which completed transmission of down notification information (step S140).

The lock management server 100 ends the client monitoring process as described above.
Note that when a predetermined time elapses after the client monitoring process ends, the lock management server 100 repeatedly executes the client monitoring process.

  Next, the procedure of the forced unlock process executed by the file server 200 that has received the down notification information will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

Upon receiving the down notification information, the file server 200 starts a forced unlock process.
When the forced unlock process is started, the control unit 220 collates the client identification data included in the down notification information with the data of the lock management table 211, and specifies a file to be unlocked (step S200).

Next, the control unit 220 unlocks the identified file (step S210). And the control part 220 deletes the data regarding the unlocked file from the lock management table 211, and updates the lock management table 211 (step S220).
The file server 200 ends the forced unlock process.

  In the file management system 1 described above, the entire operation of the file management system 1 when the client 300 goes down with the file locked is specifically described.

Assume that the client 300A is down while the file “thesis.doc” stored in the file storage unit 240 of the file server 200 is locked. That is, the clients 300B and 300C cannot access the locked file “thesis.doc”.
Note that the lock management table 211 of the file server 200 is in the state shown in FIG.

  In such a state, the lock management server 100 starts a client monitoring process and communicates with each client 300 to acquire the state (step S100 in FIG. 6). At this time, the clients 300B and 300C respond normally, but the client 300A does not respond.

  The control unit 120 of the lock management server 100 recognizes that the client 300A is down, and updates the correspondence table 111 (step S110 in FIG. 6). At this time, the updated correspondence table 111 is in a state as shown in FIG.

  The control unit 120 of the lock management server 100 searches the updated correspondence table 111 to search for data in which the status flag is down and the lock flag is on. And the control part 120 discovers the data (1st line of the corresponding | compatible table of FIG. 3) of the client 300A as what corresponds to this (step S120 of FIG. 6; Yes).

  The control unit 120 of the lock management server 100 creates down notification information based on the found data and transmits it to the file server 200 mounted by the client 300A (step S130 in FIG. 6).

  Thereafter, the control unit 120 of the lock management server 100 turns off the lock flag in the first row of the correspondence table 111 (step S140 in FIG. 6).

  On the other hand, the file server 200 receives the down notification information and starts the forced unlocking process.

  The control unit 220 of the file server 200 collates the client identification data included in the down notification information with the data of the lock management table 211. As a result, the control unit 220 identifies “thesis.doc” as the file to be unlocked (step S200 in FIG. 7).

  The control unit 220 of the file server 200 forcibly unlocks the file “thesis.doc” (step S <b> 210 in FIG. 7), and the data about the unlocked file “thesis.doc” from the lock management table 211 ( That is, the first line) in the table of FIG. 5 is deleted. Then, the file server 200 ends the forced unlock process.

  As a result of the forced unlocking process by the file server 200, the file “thesis.doc” is unlocked, and the clients 300B and 300C can access the file “thesis.doc”.

As described above, in the file management system 1 of the present embodiment, when the client 300 goes down with the file locked, the lock management server 100 detects that the client 300 is down and notifies the file server 200 of it. To do. Then, the file server 200 unlocks the file locked by the down client 300 and enables access from other clients.
Therefore, according to the file management system 1 of the present embodiment, even if the client goes down with the file locked, the file can be accessed without restarting the file server or the client. Availability can be increased.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications and applications are possible.

In the above embodiment, the case where one client 300 mounts one file server 200 has been described as an example. However, in the file management system of the present invention, one client mounts a plurality of file servers. May be.
In this case, in the correspondence table 111, a plurality of server identification data may be stored in association with one client identification data. If the client goes down, the lock management server 100 may send down notification information to a plurality of file servers associated with the client.

  In the above embodiment, the file storage unit may be provided outside the file server. In this case, the function of the file server 200 according to the present embodiment may be realized by a storage device that stores a file accessed by the client and a management server that manages a lock state of the file stored in the storage device.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the lock management server 100 and the file server 200 are separate devices has been described. However, the lock management server 100 and the file server 200 may be the same device.

In the above embodiment, the case where the entire client 300 is not operated due to a hang-up or the like has been described as an example. However, in the present invention, the fact that one of the processes operating on the client 300 accessing the file of the file server 200 is not operating is also included in the concept of “the client is not operating”. Shall be.
In this case, for example, the lock management server 100 inquires of the OS (Opetating System) operating on the client 300 about the operating status of the process operating on each client 300 and accessing the file on the file server 200. If there is an unprocessed process, the file server 200 may be notified of the file accessed by the non-operating process. Then, the file server 200 may release the lock on the notified file.

  The server and the client according to the present invention can be realized using a normal computer system, not a dedicated system. For example, by storing a program for executing the above-described operation on a computer-readable recording medium (flexible disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.) and installing the program on the computer, You may comprise the server and client which perform the above-mentioned process. Further, the server and the client may be configured by storing the program in a storage of a server on a communication network such as the Internet and downloading the program by a normal computer system.

  Further, when the above-described function is realized by sharing of the OS and the application or by cooperation between the OS and the application, only the application part may be stored in the recording medium or the storage.

  It is also possible to superimpose a program on a carrier wave and distribute it via a communication network. For example, the program may be posted on a bulletin board (BBS, Bulletin Board System) on a communication network, and the program may be distributed via the network. Then, the above-described processing may be executed by starting this program and executing it under the control of the OS in the same manner as other application programs.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a file management system. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a lock management server. It is a figure which shows the format of a correspondence table. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a file server. It is a figure which shows the format of a lock management table. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of a client monitoring process. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of a forced unlocking process.

Explanation of symbols

1 File management system 100 Lock management server 200 File server 300 Client C Communication network

Claims (10)

A file server comprising: a file storage means for storing a file; a lock control means for locking the file when the file is accessed; and unlocking the file when the access to the file is terminated; ,
A client accessing the file stored in the file storage means of the file server;
Client monitoring means for monitoring whether or not the client is operating, and when detecting a client for which the client monitoring means is not operating, a file server used by the client for identifying the client A file management system comprising a monitoring server comprising notification means for sending notification information,
The lock control unit, when receiving notification information from the notification unit, unlocks the file accessed by the client specified by the notification information;
A file management system characterized by that. The notification means transmits the notification information including identification information for identifying an inoperative client;
The file server stores the locked client and the locked file in association with each other, and is included in the notification information based on the stored content in which the locked client and the locked file are associated with each other and the notification information. File management means for specifying a file locked by the client specified by the client identification information and notifying the lock control means;
The lock control unit releases the lock of the file specified by the file management unit;
The file management system according to claim 1. The client monitoring means transmits response request information to the client;
The client is a file management system for sending reply information to the client monitoring means in response to response request information from the client monitoring means,
The client monitoring means detects that the client is not operating when it does not receive reply information within a predetermined period from the client.
The file management system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that Client monitoring means for monitoring whether or not a client connected to the network is operating;
A notification unit configured to transmit notification information for identifying the client to a file server used by the client when the client monitoring unit detects a non-operating client;
A monitoring server characterized by that. The notification means transmits the notification information including identification information for identifying an inoperative client;
The monitoring server according to claim 4. The client monitoring means transmits response request information for sending reply information to the client, and detects that the client is not operating when no reply information is received from the client within a predetermined period.
The monitoring server according to claim 4 or 5, characterized by the above. A file management server comprising file storage means for storing a file, and lock control means for locking the file when the file is accessed and releasing the lock when the access to the file is completed Because
The lock control means releases the lock when receiving notification information for identifying a client that is not operating;
A file server characterized by that. The client that includes the locked file and the locked file are stored in association with each other, and the client identification included in the notification information is based on the stored content that associates the locked client with the locked file and the notification information. A file management means for specifying the file locked by the client specified by the information and notifying the lock control means;
The lock control unit releases the lock of the file specified by the file management unit;
The file server according to claim 7, wherein: A lock state acquisition step of acquiring, in association with each other, identification information of a server to which the client is connected and information indicating whether or not there is a locked file in the server;
A client monitoring step for monitoring whether the client is operating;
An unlocking step of unlocking the locked file when it is detected that the client has locked the file and is not operating;
A file management method comprising: Computer
Client monitoring means for monitoring whether the client is operating;
When the client monitoring unit detects a non-operating client, it functions as a notification unit that transmits notification information for notifying the client to the file server used by the client.
A program characterized by that.

Images