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Abstract

A method and apparatus for interfacing with a stateless NFS (Network File System) server. A pseudo-open state is created for a file when a request from a network client for accessing the file is received in a network server. The term pseudo-open data relates to a set of data that is kept in a network server. The pseudo-open describes the state of a file being currently accessed via an NFS server in the network server. The pseudo-open data differs from normal file state data in that it can be created or recreated at will, thus preserving the stateless functionality of the NFS server. Thus, if a request is received at any time and there is no pseudo-open state established for the file, the pseudo-open state will be established or reestablished at that time. If, on the other hand, a request is received for which a pseudo-open state already exists, the overhead of creating the pseudo-open state is avoided, and the existing data is used. The pseudo-open state is stored in a file-system data structure called VNODE. Each active file has an associated VNODE. The pseudo-open state of a file can be then closed. The state of the file can be changed to a higher or lower level of access privilege via open-promotion or open-demotion operations, respectively. Open-demotion refers to the change of a file state to a lower level of access privilege.

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First Claim