Policy-based management of a redundant array of independent nodes
First Claim
1. In a redundant array of independent nodes networked together, wherein each node executes an instance of an application that provides object-based storage, a storage management method, comprising:
- as given fixed content data is written to a given node, generating a data object that encapsulates the given fixed content data together with metadata that includes policy data;
storing the data object in the given node; and
enforcing a set of one or more policies against the policy data in the data object'"'"'s metadata during the life cycle of the archive object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An archive cluster application runs in a distributed manner across a redundant array of independent nodes. Each node preferably runs a complete archive cluster application instance. A given nodes provides a data repository, which stores up to a large amount (e.g., a terabyte) of data, while also acting as a portal that enables access to archive files. Each symmetric node has a set of software processes, e.g., a request manager, a storage manager, a metadata manager, and a policy manager. The request manager manages requests to the node for data (i.e., file data), the storage manager manages data read/write functions from a disk associated with the node, and the metadata manager facilitates metadata transactions and recovery across the distributed database. The policy manager implements one or more policies, which are operations that determine the behavior of an “archive object” within the cluster. The archive cluster application provides object-based storage. Preferably, the application permanently associates metadata and policies with the raw archived data, which together comprise an archive object. Object policies govern the object'"'"'s behavior in the archive. As a result, the archive manages itself independently of client applications, acting automatically to ensure that all object policies are valid.
235 Citations
20 Claims
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1. In a redundant array of independent nodes networked together, wherein each node executes an instance of an application that provides object-based storage, a storage management method, comprising:
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as given fixed content data is written to a given node, generating a data object that encapsulates the given fixed content data together with metadata that includes policy data;
storing the data object in the given node; and
enforcing a set of one or more policies against the policy data in the data object'"'"'s metadata during the life cycle of the archive object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. In a redundant array of independent nodes, wherein each node comprises given hardware on which a given operating system executes, the given hardware including a local file system, the improvement comprising:
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a set of data objects, wherein a given data object is associated with given fixed content data that has been written to the local file system of the node, the given data object encapsulating the given fixed content data together with metadata that includes policy data; and
an application instance executing on the given hardware on the given node, comprising;
file system code that provides access to data objects stored in the local file system of the given node;
request manager code that processes requests associated with a given data object;
storage manager code that stores the data objects in the local file system of the node;
metadata manager code that manages the data objects across a set of cooperating nodes including the given node; and
policy manager code that enforces a set of one or more policies against the policy data in the data object'"'"'s metadata during a life cycle of the archive object.
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10. A system comprising a redundant array of independent nodes, wherein each node comprises given hardware on which a given operating system executes, the given hardware including a local file system, comprising:
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a set of data objects, wherein a given data object is associated with given fixed content data that has been written to the local file system of the node, the given data object encapsulating the given fixed content data together with metadata that includes policy data; and
an application instance executing on the given hardware on the given node, comprising;
file system code that provides access to data objects stored in the local file system of the given node;
request manager code that processes requests associated with a given data object;
storage manager code that stores the data objects in the local file system of the node;
metadata manager code that manages the data objects across a set of cooperating nodes including the given node; and
policy manager code that enforces a set of one or more policies against the policy data in the data object'"'"'s metadata during a life cycle of the data object. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification