DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK WITH PARAMETER SEARCH AND METHODS FOR USE THEREWITH

• US 20140310310A1
• Filed: 06/26/2014
• Published: 10/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bissell Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cleversafe Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Resch, Jason K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,501,366 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2048 where the redundant components share neither address space nor persistent storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/172 Caching, prefetching or hoarding of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1028 Distributed, i.e. distributed RAID systems with parity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A method begins with a processing module selecting one of a plurality of dispersed storage (DS) processing modules for facilitating access to a dispersed storage network (DSN) memory. The method continues with the processing module sending a DSN memory access request to the one of the plurality of DS processing modules. The method continues with the processing module selecting another one of the plurality of DS processing modules when no response is received within a given time frame or when the response to the access request does not include an access indication. The method continues with the processing module sending the DSN memory access request to the another one of the plurality of DS processing modules.

Claims

1. A method for execution by one or more processing modules of one or more computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), the method comprises:

receiving at least one search parameter at the DSN; and

searching a data object stored in the DSN for the at least one search parameter by;

(a) determining a data segment of the data object;

(b) retrieving a plurality of slices corresponding the data segment;

(c) regenerating the data segment from the plurality of slices corresponding the data segment;

(d) determining when the data segment satisfies the at least one search parameter; and

(e) when the data segment satisfies the at least one search parameter, retrieving the data object from the DSN.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein retrieving the data object from the DSN includes:

determining remaining data segments of the data object that have not been regenerated;

retrieving a plurality of slices corresponding to each of the remaining data segments;

reconstructing the remaining data segments from the plurality of slices corresponding to each of the remaining data segments; and

reconstructing the data object from the data segment and the remaining data segments.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein searching the data object stored in the DSN for the at least one search parameter further includes:

(f) determining when the data segment fails to satisfy the at least one search parameter; and

(g) when the data segment fails to satisfy the at least one search parameter, repeating (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) for another data segment of the data object.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein regenerating the data segment from the plurality of slices corresponding the data segment includes regenerating metadata corresponding to the data segment.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein determining when the data segment satisfies the at least one search parameter includes comparing the at least one search parameter to the metadata corresponding to the data segment.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the metadata corresponding to the data segment includes at least one of:

a type of data, a keyword, a phrase, a pattern, a priority indicator, a security indicator, a user identifier, or a timestamp.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

comparing the at least one search parameter to a metadata of a DSN memory; and

determining the data object to search based on the comparison of the at least one search parameter to the metadata of a DSN memory.

8. A dispersed storage (DS) processing unit for use in a dispersed storage network (DSN) comprises:

at least one module, when operable within a computing device, that causes the computing device to;

receive at least one search parameter at the DSN; and

search a data object stored in the DSN for the at least one search parameter by;

(a) determining a data segment of the data object;

(b) retrieving a plurality of slices corresponding the data segment;

(c) regenerating the data segment from the plurality of slices corresponding the data segment;

(d) determining when the data segment satisfies the at least one search parameter; and

(e) when the data segment satisfies the at least one search parameter, retrieving the data object from the DSN.

9. The DS processing unit of claim 8 wherein retrieving the data object from the DSN includes:

determining remaining data segments of the data object that have not been regenerated;

retrieving a plurality of slices corresponding to each of the remaining data segments;

reconstructing the remaining data segments from the plurality of slices corresponding to each of the remaining data segments; and

reconstructing the data object from the data segment and the remaining data segments.

10. The DS processing unit of claim 8 wherein searching the data object stored in the DSN for the at least one search parameter further includes:

(f) determining when the data segment fails to satisfy the at least one search parameter; and

(g) when the data segment fails to satisfy the at least one search parameter, repeating (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) for another data segment of the data object.

11. The DS processing unit of claim 8 wherein regenerating the data segment from the plurality of slices corresponding to the data segment includes regenerating metadata corresponding to the data segment.

12. The DS processing unit of claim 11 wherein determining when the data segment satisfies the at least one search parameter includes comparing the at least one search parameter to the metadata corresponding to the data segment.

13. The DS processing unit of claim 11 wherein the metadata corresponding to the data segment includes at least one of:

a type of data, a keyword, a phrase, a pattern, a priority indicator, a security indicator, a user identifier, or a timestamp.

14. The DS processing unit of claim 8 wherein the at least one module, when operable within the computing device, further causes the computing device to:

compare the at least one search parameter to a metadata of a DSN memory; and

determine the data object to search based on the comparison of the at least one search parameter to the metadata of the DSN memory.

15. A computer readable storage medium comprises:

at least one memory section that stores operational instructions that, when executed by one or more processing modules of one or more computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), causes the one or more computing devices to;

receive at least one search parameter at the DSN; and

search a data object stored in the DSN for the at least one search parameter by;

(a) determining a data segment of the data object;

(b) retrieving a plurality of slices corresponding the data segment;

(c) regenerating the data segment from the plurality of slices corresponding the data segment;

(d) determining when the data segment satisfies the at least one search parameter; and

(e) when the data segment satisfies the at least one search parameter, retrieving the data object from the DSN.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein retrieving the data object from the DSN includes:

determining remaining data segments of the data object that have not been regenerated;

retrieving a plurality of slices corresponding to each of the remaining data segments;

reconstructing the remaining data segments from the plurality of slices corresponding to each of the remaining data segments; and

reconstructing the data object from the data segment and the remaining data segments.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein searching the data object stored in the DSN for the at least one search parameter further includes:

(f) determining when the data segment fails to satisfy the at least one search parameter; and

(g) when the data segment fails to satisfy the at least one search parameter, repeating (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) for another data segment of the data object.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein regenerating the data segment from the plurality of slices corresponding to the data segment includes regenerating metadata corresponding to the data segment, and wherein determining when the data segment satisfies the at least one search parameter includes comparing the at least one search parameter to the metadata corresponding to the data segment.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein the metadata corresponding to the data segment includes at least one of:

a type of data, a keyword, a phrase, a pattern, a priority indicator, a security indicator, a user identifier, or a timestamp.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the operational instructions, when executed by the one or more processing modules of the one or more computing devices of the dispersed storage network (DSN), further causes the one or more computing devices to:

compare the at least one search parameter to a metadata of a DSN memory; and

determine the data object to search based on the comparison of the at least one search parameter to the metadata of the DSN memory.