US Patent 9336219 Distributed file system snapshot

Technology is disclosed for managing data in a distributed file system (“the technology”). The technology can gather metadata information associated with the data stored within the distributed file system, create a secondary namespace within a local file system of a local host using the gathered metadata information and store the gathered metadata information as files within the secondary namespace. Further, when a request to create a PPI of the distributed file system is received, the technology can create a PPI of the secondary namespace using a PPI creation feature of the local file system.