OPTIMIZATION OF PATH SELECTION FOR TRANSFERS OF FILES

• US 20130262660A1
• Filed: 03/31/2012
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Theroux, Michael Eric, Cefalo, Benjamin Patrick, Piazza, Jeffrey (Jeff) Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 10,367,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/243 using M+N parallel active paths
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

A system may include a file transfer manager that determines a file for transfer from a source location to a target location, the file being associated with file metadata characterizing the file, and with an organization. The file transfer manager may include an orchestrator that determines at least two transfer paths for the transfer, including at least a first transfer path utilizing a private wide area network (WAN) of the organization and a second transfer path utilizing a publicly available data hosting service, access transfer metadata characterizing the at least two transfer paths, and access organizational metadata characterizing organizational transfer path usage factors. The file transfer manager also may include a heuristics engine configured to execute path decision logic using the file metadata, the transfer metadata, and the organizational metadata, to select a selected transfer path from the at least two transfer paths.

Claims

1. A system including instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and executable by at least one processor, the system comprising:

a file transfer manager configured to cause the at least one processor to determine a file for transfer from a source location to a target location, the file being associated with file metadata characterizing the file, and with an organization, the file transfer manager including

an orchestrator configured to determine at least two transfer paths for the transfer, including at least a first transfer path utilizing a private wide area network (WAN) of the organization and a second transfer path utilizing a publicly available data hosting service, access transfer metadata characterizing the at least two transfer paths, and access organizational metadata characterizing organizational transfer path usage factors; and

a heuristics engine configured to execute path decision logic using the file metadata, the transfer metadata, and the organizational metadata, to thereby select a selected transfer path from the at least two transfer paths.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the file transfer manager comprises an interceptor configured to determine the file by intercepting a copy request sent to an operating system of a computing device at the source location.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the file metadata includes one or more of a description of contents of the file, a size of the file, a security level associated with the file, transfer latency requirements associated with the file, a usage/access history of the file, and an owner of the file.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the transfer metadata includes one or more of a network and/or bandwidth availability metric associated with the private WAN and/or the publicly available hosting service, security protocols/techniques utilized, cost per gigabyte of transferred data, a service level guarantee, current latency times, and/or current failures or other malfunctions currently being experienced by one or more nodes along each transfer path.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the file transfer manager further comprises a network monitor configured to monitor network conditions of the private WAN and the hosting service to obtain at least a portion of the transfer metadata.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the organizational metadata includes specified security levels, quality of service levels, latency requirements, priority levels related to individual members or classes of member of the organization, or constraints on file transfers.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least two transfer paths include at least two publicly available hosting services, and wherein the heuristics engine is configured to select therebetween.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the file transfer manager comprises a metadata manager configured to update one or more of the file metadata, the transfer metadata, and/or the organizational metadata.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the metadata manager is further configured to update file metadata based on the file transfer, to thereby include current state information regarding a state of the file therein.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the file transfer manager is further configured to transfer the file from the source location to the target location, using the selected transfer path.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the selected transfer path includes the hosting service, and wherein the file transfer manager is further configured to utilize configuration data required to upload the file to the hosting service.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the file transfer manager is further configured to provide the configuration data for use in downloading the file from the hosting service for provision thereof to the target location.

13. A method comprising:

determining a file for transfer from a source location to a target location, the file being associated with file metadata characterizing the file, and with an organization;

determining at least two transfer paths for the transfer, including at least a first transfer path utilizing a private wide area network (WAN) of the organization and a second transfer path utilizing a publicly available data hosting service;

accessing transfer metadata characterizing the at least two transfer paths;

accessing organizational metadata characterizing organizational transfer path usage factors; and

executing path decision logic using the file metadata, the transfer metadata, and the organizational metadata, to thereby select a selected transfer path from the at least two transfer paths.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein accessing the transfer metadata comprises monitoring network conditions of the private WAN and the hosting service to obtain at least a portion of the transfer metadata

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising transferring the file from the source location to the target location, using the selected transfer path

16. A computer program product including instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and configured to cause at least one processor to:

determine a file for transfer from a source location to a target location, the file being associated with file metadata characterizing the file, and with an organization;

determine at least two transfer paths for the transfer, including at least a first transfer path utilizing a private wide area network (WAN) of the organization and a second transfer path utilizing a publicly available data hosting service;

access transfer metadata characterizing the at least two transfer paths;

access organizational metadata characterizing organizational transfer path usage factors; and

execute path decision logic using the file metadata, the transfer metadata, and the organizational metadata, to thereby select a selected transfer path from the at least two transfer paths.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further configured to:

transfer the file from the source location to the target location, using the selected transfer path

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the selected transfer path includes the hosting service, and wherein the transfer of the file includes utilizing configuration data to upload the file to the hosting service.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the configuration data is provided for use in downloading the file from the hosting service for provision thereof to the target location.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the private WAN is associated with geographically-distributed datacenters including a local file store proximate to the source location and a remote file store proximate to the target location.