SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATING A SELECTION OF CLOUD DATA DISTRIBUTION SERVICE FROM ALTERNATIVE PROVIDERS FOR STAGING DATA TO HOST CLOUDS

• US 20120221696A1
• Filed: 02/28/2011
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferris, James Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,375,203 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/145 trading network capacity or selecting route based on tariff
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for generating a selection of cloud data distribution service from alternative providers for staging data to host clouds. In aspects, a user can maintain a user premise network including servers, clients, local area networks, data stores, and/or other network assets. An administrator or other user of the premise network may wish to extract data from the premise network and transfer that data to host storage clouds to leverage cost, redundancy, consolidation, or other cloud advantages. A set of cloud data delivery (CDD) services can be established to stage the upload of the data payload to the set of destination host storage clouds. Uploads to the one or more intermediate CDD services can be made using a set of high-bandwidth managed or dedicated lines. The user can interrogate the set of alternative CDD services accessible to the premise network, and identify CDD services capable of staging the premise data to data stores in those intermediate services. Multiple CDDs can be rated and/or selected according to cost, schedule, capacity, and/or other transport parameters, and in cases the data payload can be divided for delivery over multiple CDD services.

Claims

1. A method of managing the transport of data, comprising:

identifying a data payload to be transported from a data source in a premise network;

identifying a set of alternative data distribution services accessible to the premise network;

transmitting a staging inquiry message to the set of alternative data distribution services, the staging inquiry comprising a set of transport parameters to be used transport the data payload from the premise network to the set of alternative data distribution services;

receiving one or more staging inquiry responses from the set of alternative data distribution services, the set of staging inquiry responses comprising an indication of the ability of respective ones of the set of alternative data distribution services to perform a transport of the data payload based on the set of transport parameters;

identifying at least one of the set of alternative data transport services to stage the data payload based on a comparison of the set of staging inquiry responses to the set of transport parameters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data source in the premise network comprises a set of premise data stores.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data payload comprises at least one of a set of selected databases, directories, or files stored in the set of premise data stores.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the set of alternative data distribution services has at least one associated set of dedicated staging connections from the premise network to the respective data distribution service.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the associated set of dedicated staging connections for each of the set of alternative data distribution services comprises at least one of a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or an optical network connection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the set of alternative data delivery services comprises a set of staged data stores.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the set of staged data stores are located within at least one of geographic proximity or network proximity of the premise network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the set of alternative data delivery services comprises a set of dedicated transport connections to a set of host storage clouds.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the set of host storage clouds comprises a set of local cloud data stores, and the data payload is configured to be transported from the at least one of the set of alternative data distribution services to the corresponding set of local cloud data stores via at least one of the set of dedicated transport connections.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of transport parameters comprises at least one of a data transport schedule, a set of cost factors, a set of data transport initiation conditions, a set of data transport bandwidth requirements, a set of storage capacity requirements, or a set of security settings for the data payload.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparison of the set of staging inquiry responses to the set of transport parameters comprises generating a rating of each of the set of alternative data transport services.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the identifying at least one of the set of alternative data transport services to stage the data payload comprises selecting a data distribution service having a highest rating.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying at least one of the set of alternative data transport services comprises identifying a plurality of the set of alternative data transport services.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating a division of the data payload to be delivered to the each of the plurality of alternative data transport services.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of alternative data transport services are identified based on the plurality of alternative data transport services having the highest ratings.

16. A system for managing the transport of data, comprising:

an interface to a set of alternative data distribution services; and

a processor, communicating with the set of alternative data distribution services via the interface, the processor being configured to-

identify a data payload to be transported from a data source in a premise network,

identify the set of alternative data distribution services accessible by the premise network,

transmit a staging inquiry message to the set of alternative data distribution services, the staging inquiry comprising a set of transport parameters to be used transport the data payload from the premise network to the set of alternative data distribution services,

receive one or more staging inquiry responses from the set of alternative data distribution services, the set of staging inquiry responses comprising an indication of the ability of respective ones of the set of alternative data distribution services to perform a transport of the data payload based on the set of transport parameters;

identify at least one of the set of alternative data transport services to stage the data payload based on a comparison of the set of staging inquiry responses to the set of transport parameters.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the data source in the premise network comprises a set of premise data stores.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein each of the set of alternative data distribution services has at least one associated set of dedicated staging connections from the premise network to the respective data distribution service.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein each of the set of alternative data delivery services comprises a set of dedicated transport connections to a set of host storage clouds.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the set of transport parameters comprises at least one of a data transport schedule, a set of cost factors, a set of data transport initiation conditions, a set of data transport bandwidth requirements, a set of storage capacity requirements, a set of regulatory compliance requirements, or a set of security settings for the data payload.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the comparison of the set of staging inquiry responses to the set of transport parameters comprises generating a rating of each of the set of alternative data transport services.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the identifying at least one of the set of alternative data transport services to stage the data payload comprises selecting a data distribution service having a highest rating.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein identifying at least one of the set of alternative data transport services comprises identifying a plurality of the set of alternative data transport services.