| US 7,437,429 B2 | ||
| System and method for providing transparent access to distributed authoring and versioning files including encrypted files | ||
| Shishir Pardikar, Redmond, Wash. (US); Rohan Kumar, Seattle, Wash. (US); Yun Lin, Kirkland, Wash. (US); Praerit Garg, Bellevue, Wash. (US); and Jianrong Gu, Bellevue, Wash. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash. (US) | ||
| Filed on Jan. 17, 2002, as Appl. No. 10/52,039. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/268311, filed on Feb. 13, 2001. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2003/0046366 A1, Mar. 06, 2003 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06F 15/16 (2006.01); G06F 12/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 709—219 [709/203; 707/203] | 40 Claims |
| 1. In a computer network, a method of automatically and transparently handling WebDAV server and file access requests, the
method comprising:
maintaining at an I/O manager a predetermined, stored priority order that indicates which of a plurality of redirectors has
precedence to handle a WebDAV I/O request, wherein a plurality of suitably configured redirectors respond to the WebDAV I/O
request, each redirector being equally capable of redirecting the received WebDAV I/O request;
receiving at the I/O manager the WebDAV I/O request initiated from an application program, wherein the WebDAV I/O request
indicates a path and filename of a remote file accessible via WebDAV;
polling available redirectors to determine which redirectors are configured to handle the application program's WebDAV I/O
file request, each redirector suitably configured to handle the WebDAV I/O request including appropriate functionality for
receiving and redirecting WebDAV I/O file requests to corresponding WebDAV server computer systems that store the remote files;
receiving responses from the plurality of suitably configured redirectors, each suitably configured redirector being equally
capable of redirecting the received WebDAV I/O file request;
determining from the stored priority order which of the plurality of suitably configured redirectors has precedence to handle
the WebDAV I/O file request;
based on the determination, requesting a local file system of the redirector determined to have precedence to create the file
in response to the WebDAV I/O file request, downloading the file to a local cache of the redirector's file system, and returning
a file handle corresponding to the file in the local cache to the application program;
providing access to the file in the local cache of the file system via the file handle;
receiving a request to close the file via the file handle, and when received, uploading the file from the local cache of the
file system to the WebDAV server;
determining that the redirector determined to have precedence is configured to handle all similar WebDAV I/O requests to a
network share; and
bypassing any redirector polling for subsequent requests directed to the network share.
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