Method For Data Maintenance

• US 20130061252A1
• Filed: 09/02/2011
• Published: 03/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Compuverde AB (Pure Storage, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ILT Innovations AB
• Inventors: Bernbo, Stefan, Melander, Christian, Persson, Roger, Petersson, Gustav
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,978 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1834 implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella p2p communication protocols H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/184 implemented as replicated file system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]

Abstract

A method for data storage implemented in a data storage system is disclosed. Data storage nodes may be interconnected by means of a communications network. The method may include sending a request for a first data item to a plurality of storage nodes. The first data item may include a reference to a second data item stored in the storage system. The method may include receiving the first data item from at least one storage node, and sending a request for the second data item to the plurality of storage nodes based on the reference included in the first data item.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining data in a data storage system, the data storage system including data storage nodes interconnected by means of a communications network, the method comprising:

sending a request for a first data item to at least one of the plurality of storage nodes, said first data item including a reference to a second data item stored in the storage system;

receiving the first data item from at least one storage node of the plurality of storage nodes; and

sending a request for the second data item to a subset of the plurality of storage nodes, wherein the subset is determined based on the reference included in the first data item.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the request for the first and second data entities are sent by multicast.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first data item is associated with a first unique key and the second data item is associated with a second unique key.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein each of the first unique key and second unique key comprises a cluster address and a data item identifier, wherein the cluster address identifies a subset of said storage nodes within the system and the data item identifier identifies a data item stored on the subset of storage nodes.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising sending the first and second request from an application programming interface (API).

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the API is implemented on a server in communication with the storage system.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the API is implemented on a storage node within the storage system.

8. The method according to claim 3, further comprising identifying the second data item based on the first unique key from the received first data item.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first data item is received at the API, and the first unique key is identified in the API.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second data item includes a reference to a third data item.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second data item includes payload data.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the payload data is an image file.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first data item is received by unicast message.

14. A method for adding data to a data storage system including data storage nodes interconnected by via a communications network, the method comprising:

storing a first data item in a first storage node; and

updating a second data item, stored in a second storage node, wherein updating the second data item comprises adding a reference to the first data item in the second data item.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the first storage node and the second storage node are the same.

16. A method for deleting data from a data storage system including data storage nodes interconnected via a communications network, the method comprising:

deleting a first data item stored in a first storage node; and

updating a second data item, stored in a second storage node, wherein updating the second data item comprises deleting a reference to the first data item in the second data item.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the first storage node and the second storage node are the same.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein deleting a reference to the first data item in the second data item comprises sending a request to the second storage node, the request instructing the second storage node to delete the reference to the first data item in the second data item.

19. A data storage node in a data storage system that includes other data storage nodes interconnected via a communications network, the data storage node comprising:

a communication interface configured to communicate via the communications network; and

an application programming interface (API) configured to;

send a request for a first data item to a plurality of storage nodes via the communications interface,

receive the first data item from at least one storage node of the plurality of storage nodes via the communications interface, said first data item including a reference to a second data item stored in the storage system,

determine a subset of the plurality of storage nodes to send a request for the second data item based on the reference included in the first data item, and

send the request for the second data item to the subset of the plurality of storage nodes.