Method, system, and computer program product for distributed storage of data in a heterogeneous cloud

• US 10,171,585 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2015
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Borlick, Matthew G., Gupta, Lokesh M., Hathorn, Roger G., Nielsen, Karl A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elfervig, Taylor A
• Application Number:
  US14/961,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20170163731A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,121 Days
• Field of Search: 709213
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0622 in relation to access
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0629 Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0637 Permissions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Provided are a method, a system, and a computer program product in which a computational device stores a first part of data in a first cloud storage maintained by a first entity. A second part of the data is stored in a second cloud storage maintained by a second entity.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

associating, in a computational device, a plurality of identifiers with a plurality of data elements, wherein a first data element and a second data element of the plurality of data elements are both associated with a first identifier of the plurality of identifiers;

storing, by the computational device, the first data element with which the first identifier is associated, in a first cloud storage maintained by a first entity; and

storing, by the computational device, the second data element with which the first identifier is associated, in a second cloud storage maintained by a second entity, wherein the first cloud storage is different from the second cloud storage, and wherein data elements that are associated with an identical identifier are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities, wherein a user identifier and a corresponding password are associated with the identical identifier to indicate that the user identifier and the corresponding password are keys to a secure system, and wherein the user identifier is stored in the first cloud storage maintained by the first entity, and one part of the corresponding password is stored in the second cloud storage maintained by the second entity, and another part of the corresponding password is stored in a third cloud storage maintained by a third entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computational device is a storage controller coupled to a plurality of hosts, wherein the first cloud storage is separated at least by 10 kilometers from the second cloud storage, and wherein the first entity and the second entity are different vendors that provide cloud computing services to the storage controller for the plurality of hosts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of cloud storages maintained by a plurality of entities are structured as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) by a RAID management application that executes in the computational device, and wherein a data element is distributed across the RAID, and wherein in response to a compromise of one of the plurality of cloud storages, only a part of the data element is compromised.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein data information and parity information in the RAID are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities, wherein a customer provides a granularity of striping for structuring the RAID, and wherein in response to determining that a cloud storage is not operational, data or parity is read from one or more remaining cloud storages to reconstruct data in the cloud storage that is not operational.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein different types of entries of a database are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities, and wherein a first type of entry comprises names, and a second type of entry comprises addresses corresponding to the names, and wherein the names are stored in a third cloud storage provided by a third entity, and the addresses are stored in a fourth cloud storage provided by a fourth entity.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein different regions of a spreadsheet are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a third data element and a fourth data element of the plurality of data elements are both associated with a second identifier of the plurality of identifiers, the method further comprising;

storing, by a computational device, the third data element with which the second identifier is associated, in the first cloud storage maintained by the first entity; and

storing, by the computational device, the fourth data element with which the second identifier is associated, in the second cloud storage maintained by the second entity.

8. A system, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor performs operations, the operations comprising;

associating a plurality of identifiers with a plurality of data elements, wherein a first data element and a second data element of the plurality of data elements are both associated with a first identifier of the plurality of identifiers;

storing the first data element with which the first identifier is associated, in a first cloud storage maintained by a first entity; and

storing the second data element with which the first identifier is associated, in a second cloud storage maintained by a second entity, wherein the first cloud storage is different from the second cloud storage, and wherein data elements that are associated with an identical identifier are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities, wherein a user identifier and a corresponding password are associated with the identical identifier to indicate that the user identifier and the corresponding password are keys to a secure system, and wherein the user identifier is stored in the first cloud storage maintained by the first entity, and one part of the corresponding password is stored in the second cloud storage maintained by the second entity, and another part of the corresponding password is stored in a third cloud storage maintained by a third entity.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the system is a storage controller coupled to a plurality of hosts, wherein the first cloud storage is separated at least by 10 kilometers from the second cloud storage, and wherein the first entity and the second entity are different vendors that provide cloud computing services to the storage controller for the plurality of hosts.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein a plurality of cloud storages maintained by a plurality of entities are structured as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) by a RAID management application, and wherein a data element is distributed across the RAID, and wherein in response to a compromise of one of the plurality of cloud storages, only a part of the data element is compromised.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein data information and parity information in the RAID are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities, and wherein a customer provides a granularity of striping for structuring the RAID, and wherein in response to determining that a cloud storage is not operational, data or parity is read from one or more remaining cloud storages to reconstruct data in the cloud storage that is not operational.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein different types of entries of a database are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities, wherein a first type of entry comprises names, and a second type of entry comprises addresses corresponding to the names, and wherein the names are stored in a third cloud storage provided by a third entity, and the addresses are stored in a fourth cloud storage provided by a fourth entity.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein different regions of a spreadsheet are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein a third data element and a fourth data element of the plurality of data elements are both associated with a second identifier of the plurality of identifiers, the operations further comprising;

storing, by a computational device, the third data element with which the second identifier is associated, in the first cloud storage maintained by the first entity; and

storing, by the computational device, the fourth data element with which the second identifier is associated, in the second cloud storage maintained by the second entity.

15. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to perform operations in a computational device, the operations comprising:

associating, in the computational device, a plurality of identifiers with a plurality of data elements, wherein a first data element and a second data element of the plurality of data elements are both associated with a first identifier of the plurality of identifiers;

storing, by the computational device, the first data element with which the first identifier is associated, in a first cloud storage maintained by a first entity; and

storing, by the computational device, the second data element with which the first identifier is associated, in a second cloud storage maintained by a second entity, wherein the first cloud storage is different from the second cloud storage, and wherein data elements that are associated with an identical identifier are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities, wherein a user identifier and a corresponding password are associated with the identical identifier to indicate that the user identifier and the corresponding password are keys to a secure system, and wherein the user identifier is stored in the first cloud storage maintained by the first entity, and one part of the corresponding password is stored in the second cloud storage maintained by the second entity, and another part of the corresponding password is stored in a third cloud storage maintained by a third entity.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computational device is a storage controller coupled to a plurality of hosts, wherein the first cloud storage is separated at least by 10 kilometers from the second cloud storage, and wherein the first entity and the second entity are different vendors that provide cloud computing services to the storage controller for the plurality of hosts.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein a plurality of cloud storages maintained by a plurality of entities are structured as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) by a RAID management application that executes in the computational device, and wherein a data element is distributed across the RAID, and wherein in response to a compromise of one of the plurality of cloud storages, only a part of the data element is compromised.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein data information and parity information in the RAID are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities, wherein a customer provides a granularity of striping for structuring the RAID, and wherein in response to determining that a cloud storage is not operational, data or parity is read from one or more remaining cloud storages to reconstruct data in the cloud storage that is not operational.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein different types of entries of a database are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities, wherein a first type of entry comprises names, and a second type of entry comprises addresses corresponding to the names, and wherein the names are stored in a third cloud storage provided by a third entity, and the addresses are stored in a fourth cloud storage provided by a fourth entity, and wherein different regions of a spreadsheet are stored in cloud storages provided by different entities.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein a third data element and a fourth data element of the plurality of data elements are both associated with a second identifier of the plurality of identifiers, the operations further comprising;

storing, by a computational device, the third data element with which the second identifier is associated, in the first cloud storage maintained by the first entity; and

storing, by the computational device, the fourth data element with which the second identifier is associated, in the second cloud storage maintained by the second entity.