snapPVFS: Snapshot-Able Parallel Virtual File System

In this paper, we propose a modified parallel virtual file system that provides snapshot functionality. Because typical file systems are exposed to various failures, taking a snapshot is a good way to enhance the reliability of file systems. The PVFS, which is one of the famous parallel file systems deployed in cluster systems, is vulnerable to system failures or users¿ mistakes; however, there is a scarcity of research on snapshots or online backup for the PVFS. Because a PVFS consists of multiple servers on a network, snapshots should be generated properly in each server in the system. Furthermore, before snapshots are generated, the status of each PVFS server must be checked to guarantee sound operation. To demonstrate our approach, we implemented two prototypes of a snapshot-able PVFS (snapPVFS). The performance measurements indicate that an administrator can take snapshots of an entire parallel file system and properly access any previous versions of files or directories in the future without serious performance degradation.