Importance

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Abstract

The invention is directed to techniques for accessing a data storage system having both a filesystem and directory system. In one arrangement, an apparatus has memory that stores an application, and a controller coupled to the memory. The controller operates in accordance with the application stored in the memory to access a data storage system. In particular, the application configures the controller to obtain an access instruction which identifies a portion of the data storage system, and determine, in response to the obtained access instruction, whether the identified portion of the data storage system is a file of the filesystem or a directory entry of the directory system. The application further configures the controller to perform a file access operation to access the identified portion as a file when the identified portion is determined to be a file of the filesystem, and a directory entry access operation to access the identified portion as a directory entry when the identified portion is determined to be a directory entry of the directory system. Since the apparatus is capable of determining whether the access instruction identifies a file of a filesystem or a directory entry of a directory system, application developers need not be concerned about the availability of any particular vendor-specific APIs. Rather, the application developers can simply use an access instruction with a common syntax and expression such as that for accessing a file of UNIX filesystem (e.g., open( ), read( ), write( ), etc.), and let the apparatus determine how to handle such instructions.

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First Claim