System and method for storing data off site

• US 20120173822A1
• Filed: 01/06/2011
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: StorSimple, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Testardi, Richard, Cometto, Maurilio, Kulangare, Kuriakose George
• Granted Patent: US 9,372,809 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/135
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0808 with cache invalidating means G06F12/0815 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/122 of the least frequently used [LFU] type, e.g. with individual count value
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0641 De-duplication techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A system and method for efficiently storing data both on-site and off-site in a cloud storage system. Data read and write requests are received by a cloud data storage system. The cloud storage system has at least three data storage layers. A first high-speed layer, a second efficient storage layer, and a third off-site storage layer. The first high-speed layer stores data in raw data blocks. The second efficient storage layer divides data blocks from the first layer into data slices and eliminates duplicate data slices. The third layer stores data slices at an off-site location.

Claims

1. A data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information, said data storage system comprising:

a first data storage layer, said first data storage layer comprising data stored in data blocks;

a second data storage layer, said second data storage layer comprising data slices created by dividing data blocks from said first storage layer, said second data storage layer eliminating duplicates of redundant data slices;

a third data storage layer, said third data storage layer comprising modified data slices from said second data storage layer that are stored off-site.

2. The data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 1 wherein a statistically unique fingerprint is calculated for each data slice in said second data storage layer and data slices having the same statistically unique fingerprint are deemed to be duplicates.

3. The data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 2 wherein said statistically unique fingerprint comprises a SHA-256 fingerprint.

4. The data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 1 wherein said data slices in said second data storage layer are variable sized.

5. The data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 4 wherein said data slices in said second data storage layer are creating by calculating a Rabin fingerprint.

6. The data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 1 wherein said modified data slices are encrypted.

7. The data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 1 wherein said modified data slices are compressed.

8. The data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 1 wherein rarely accessed data blocks are evicted from said first data storage layer to said second data storage layer.

9. The data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first data storage layer comprises a storage map that identifies each data block with a pointer to a data block or a set of data slices that comprise said data block.

10. The data storage system for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 9 wherein each data slice in said set of data slices is identified with a statistically unique fingerprint value.

11. A method of storing large amounts of digital information, said method comprising:

receiving a data write request having a first data item;

storing said first data item in a first data storage layer;

evicting said first data item from said first data storage layer in accordance with a first cache replacement policy;

storing said first data item as a set of data slices in a second data storage layer, said second data storage layer improving storage efficiency by finding and eliminating redundant data slices;

evicting a first data slice from said second data storage layer in accordance with a second cache replacement policy; and

modifying said first data slice into a first modified first data and transmitting said modified first data slice to an off-site data storage site.

12. The method for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 11 wherein a statistically unique fingerprint is calculated for each data slice in said second storage layer and data slices having the same statistically unique fingerprint are deemed to be duplicates.

13. The method for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 12 wherein said statistically unique fingerprint comprises a SHA-256 fingerprint.

14. The method for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 11 wherein said data slices in said second data storage layer are variable sized.

15. The method for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 14 wherein said data slices in said second data storage layer are creating by calculating a Rabin fingerprint.

16. The method for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 11 wherein said first modified data slice is encrypted.

17. The method for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 11 wherein said first modified data slice is compressed.

18. The method for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 11 wherein said first data storage layer comprises a storage map that identifies each data block with a pointer to a data block or a set of data slices that comprise said data block.

19. The method for storing large amounts of digital information as set forth in claim 18 wherein each data slice in said set of data slices is identified with a statistically unique fingerprint value.