Filesystem-Aware Block Storage System, Apparatus, and Method

Abstract

A filesystem-aware storage system locates and analyzes host filesystem data structures in order to determine storage usage of the host filesystem. To this end, the storage system might locate an operating system partition, parse the operating system partion to locate its data structures, and parse the operating system data structures to locate the host filesystem data structures. The storage system manages data storage based on the storage usage of the host file system. The storage system can use the storage usage information to identify storage areas that are no longer being used by the host filesystem and reclaim those areas for additional data storage capacity. Also, the storage system can identify the types of data stored by the host filesystem and manage data storage based on the data types, such as selecting a storage layout and/or an encoding scheme for the data based on the data type.

1 . A method of managing storage space by a block-level storage system that stores data under control of a host filesystem, the method comprising:
 storing data for the host filesystem in the block-level storage system, the data including host filesystem data structures;   locating the host filesystem data structures stored in the block-level storage system;   analyzing the host filesystem data structures to determine storage usage of the host filesystem; and   managing physical storage based on the storage usage of the host filesystem.   
     
     
         2 . A block-level storage system that stores data under control of a host filesystem, the system comprising:
 a block-level storage in which data is stored for the host filesystem, the data including host filesystem data structures; and   a storage controller operably coupled to the block-level storage for storing the data including the host filesystem data structures, locating the host filesystem data structures stored in the block-level storage system, analyzing the host filesystem data structures to determine storage usage of the host filesystem, and managing physical storage based on the storage usage of the host filesystem.