Distributed storage in a computing environment

• US 20080077638A1
• Filed: 09/21/2006
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Monk, David Hugh, Alverson, Kenneth Lloyd, Budig, John
• Application Number:
  US11/525,007
• Publication Number:
  US 20080077638A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1727 Details of free space management performed by the file system saving storage space on storage systems G06F3/0608; management of blocks in storage devices G06F3/064

Abstract

Embodiments provide an amount of distributed storage by using a number of computing devices which are distributed throughout a computing environment. Each computing device can be associated with a group policy and can provide an amount of storage to the computing environment. For example, each computing device can provide a maximum amount of free space to the computing environment. The amount of storage provided by each computing device can be collected and combined to provide an amount of combined distributed space. The combined distributed space across the computing environment can be associated with each computing device as a mapped drive. The combined distributed space can be used to provide a certain level or amount of redundancy for data stored in the computing environment. The combined distributed space also provides a cost benefit by utilizing unused space of each computing device.

Claims

1. A system to manage an amount of storage comprising:

a number of computing devices communicatively coupled in a computing environment, wherein each computing device includes an amount of free storage;

a domain controller to collect and combine the amount of free storage associated with each computing device, wherein the domain controller provides an amount of the combined free storage to the computing environment; and

,

a database to store information associated with the combined free storage.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the domain controller is configured to redundantly store data using the combined free storage.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the database further comprises a file mapping database including mapping information to track data stored in the combined free storage.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each computing device is configured to map the combined free storage as a network drive.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the amount of free storage associated with each computing device comprises an amount of free space of a hard drive.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the domain controller is configured to collect and combine the amount of free space of each hard drive and provide an amount of the combined hard drive free space to each computing device associated with the computing environment.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the domain controller is configured to communicate a group policy to each computing device associated with the computing environment.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the domain controller is further configured to communicate one or more executables to each computing device associated with the group policy, wherein the one or more executables can execute once a computing device properly joins the computing environment.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the domain controller is configured to replicate data on one or more computing devices in the computing environment based on a desired amount of redundancy associated with the data.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the domain controller is further configured to store data as one or more fragments, wherein the one or more fragments comprise independent network coded representations.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the domain controller is configured to use the database to locate stored data, wherein the located data can be provided based on at least one of a location of the stored data and a requesting location.

12. A computer readable medium including executable instructions which, when executed, locate data by:

associating a number of computing devices with a group policy, wherein the group policy is associated with a domain;

determining one or more fragments that correspond to a data request, wherein the one or more fragments are distributed in an amount of storage of the number of computing devices associated with the group policy;

locating the one or more fragments in the domain; and

reconstructing the requested data from the one or more located fragments.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, locate data by querying a file mapping database to determine the one or more fragments that correspond to the data request and to locate the one or more fragments in hard drive storage of the number of computing devices.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, locate data by performing a validating hash on the one or more fragments located in the hard drive storage of the number of computing devices.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, locate data by reconstructing the requested data from the one or more located fragments by using one or more fragments from the hard drive storage of the number of computing devices according to a location associated with one or more of the number of computing devices.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, locate data by performing a hash on the data reconstruction, wherein the requested data is returned if the hash is valid.

17. A method of providing storage for data comprising:

associating a number of computing devices with a domain;

determining an amount of available storage of the number of computing devices associated with the domain;

collecting the amount of available storage; and

creating a cloud storage from the collected amount of available storage, wherein the cloud storage is available to the number of computing devices associated with the domain.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining and collecting an amount of available hard drive storage of the number of computing devices associated with the domain, wherein the cloud storage includes the collected amount of hard drive storage.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising redundantly distributing data to the cloud storage, such that the data is distributed to provide a redundant virtual file system for the domain.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising retrieving data from the cloud storage based on a location of a particular computing device associated with the data.