30. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for performing an operation on a partitioned object, wherein said operation changes a physical attribute of one or more partitions of said partitioned object, said sequences of instructions including instructions for performing the steps of: acquiring a first lock on a body of metadata associated with said one or more partitions; acquiring a data lock on said one or more partitions; while holding said data lock on said one or more partitions, releasing said first lock on said body of metadata; changing said one or more partitions; acquiring a second lock on said body of metadata; updating said body of metadata; releasing said data lock on said one or more partitions; and releasing said second lock on said body of metadata.
33. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein: said step of acquiring said data lock on said one or more partitions comprises the step of acquiring an exclusive data lock on said one or more partitions; and said step of releasing said data lock on said one or more partitions comprises the step of releasing said exclusive data lock on said one or more partitions.