CLIENT, BROKERAGE SERVER AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING CLOUD STORAGE

• US 20100325199A1
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: PARK, Seong-yeol, Kim, Byung-woan, Hwang, Min-kyung, Chang, Kyung-ah
• Granted Patent: US 8,762,480 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers

Abstract

A system for providing resources of a cloud infrastructure is provided. In the system, a client terminal may dynamically span its storage to heterogeneous cloud storages as necessary. A client determines, when receiving a file access request from an application, whether to process the file access request as a local file access request for access to a local storage of the client or as a cloud file access request for access to a cloud storage connected through the Internet. A brokerage server receives the file access request and supports the client by brokering a connection to a cloud infrastructure in response to the file access request.

Claims

1. A client comprising:

an application execution unit to execute at least one application; and

a client storage manager to determine, when a file access request is received from the application, whether to process the file access request as a local file access request for access to a local storage of the client or as a cloud file access request for access to a cloud storage connected through the Internet.

2. The client of claim 1, further comprising a cache to store a list of files stored in the cloud storage.

3. The client of claim 2, wherein the list of files stored in the cloud storage is received from a brokerage server for supporting brokerage between the client and at least one cloud storage, and the list of files is updated according to information received from the brokerage server.

4. The client of claim 2, wherein the client storage manager combines the list of files stored in the cloud storage with a list of files stored in the local storage, and provides the result of the combination to the application execution unit.

5. The client of claim 2, wherein, if the file access request is a file read request, the client storage manager determines whether to process the file read request as a file read request for the local storage or as a file read request for the cloud storage, according to the list of files stored in the cloud storage.

6. The client of claim 1, further comprising a brokerage unit to select at least one cloud storage suitable to process the cloud file access request from among a plurality of cloud storages connected through the network if the client storage manager determines to process the file access request as the cloud file access request for access to the cloud storage, and to support brokerage between the selected cloud storage and the client storage manager.

7. The client of claim 1, wherein the client storage manager determines whether to process the file access request as the local file access request or as the cloud file access request with respect to at least one selected from a group consisting of a preset policy, a current status of the local storage, device environments, the kind and characteristics of contents, the proximity to a computing module, the size of the file, and any combinations thereof.

8. A brokerage server for supporting a client connecting to a cloud storage, comprising:

a server storage manager to receive a cloud file access request for accessing the cloud storage from the client; and

a storage broker to select at least one cloud storage suitable for processing the cloud file access request from among a plurality of cloud storages connected through the network,

wherein the brokerage server supports brokerage between the selected at least one cloud storage and the client.

9. The brokerage server of claim 8, further comprising:

a metadata manager to manage metadata including information about files stored in the cloud storage; and

an interface adaptor to convert the file access request received from the client into file operation of the cloud storage and to convert the result of execution on the file operation into a data format interpretable by the client,

wherein the server storage manager transfers the result of processing the file access request to the client.

10. The brokerage server of claim 9, wherein the metadata is classified and managed according to individual clients or according to users of individual clients, and the metadata is transferred to a cache of the client using the cloud storage.

11. The brokerage server of claim 9, wherein the metadata manager stores and is manages information regarding a writing operation as metadata in response to the client writing a file in the cloud storage.

12. The brokerage server of claim 9, wherein the storage broker monitors the plurality of cloud storages and selects the at least one cloud storage suitable for processing the cloud file access request according to cost and performance for the client, with regard to at least one of data attributes included in the file access request and the metadata.

13. The brokerage server of claim 9, wherein the interface adaptor converts the cloud file access request from the client into a file processing request for the cloud storage by one-by-one mapping of file operations and by modifying file operation parameters according to a result of the mapping, and

if an error occurs, the interface adaptor converts the file access request into the file processing request by configuring a virtual file operation function for the file processing request according to a basic Application Programming Interface (API) installed in the cloud storage.

14. The brokerage server of claim 8, wherein the brokerage server is included in the client or in a cloud infrastructure.

15. A method of providing a cloud storage, comprising:

receiving a cloud file access request for access to a cloud storage from a client;

selecting at least one cloud storage suitable for processing the cloud file access request from among a plurality of cloud storages; and

supporting brokerage between the selected cloud storage and the client.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining, when a file access request is received from an application of the client, whether to process the file access request as a local file access request for access to a local storage or as a cloud file access request for access to a cloud storage; and

transferring, if the file access request is to be processed as the cloud file access request, the cloud file access request to a brokerage server for brokering a provision of the cloud storage between the client and the cloud storage.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising determining, if the file access request is a file read request, whether to process the file read request as a file read request for the local storage or as a file read request for the cloud storage, according to a list of files stored in the cloud storage, wherein the list of files stored in the cloud storage is stored in a cache of the client.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining of whether to process the file access request as the local file access request or as the cloud file access request further comprises determining with respect to at least one selected from a group consisting of a preset policy, a current status of the local storage, device environments, the kind and characteristics of contents, the proximity to a corresponding computing module, the size of the file, and any combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the selecting of the at least one cloud storage suitable for processing the cloud file access request further comprises selecting at least one cloud is storage from among the plurality of cloud storages with respect to cost and performance for the client.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

combining, at the client, a list of files stored in the cloud storage with a list of files stored in a local storage; and

providing the combined file list to an application that issued the file access request.