Distributed autonomic backup

• US 7,213,158 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Issued: 05/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Karidis, John Peter, Bantz, David Frederick, Challener, David Carroll
• Primary Examiner(s): Moise; Emmanuel L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH DIEU T
• Application Number:
  US10/185,788
• Publication Number:
  US 20040003272A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,768 Days
• Field of Search: 713/193, 711161-162, 714/6, 714/770, 707200-204, 707/10, 709/203, 709/219
• US Class Current: 713/193
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

The disclosed methods provide a reliable and secure method of automatically backing up a client'"'"'s data on a personal computer by using excess storage capacity on a set of one or more predetermined computers, without the need for dedicated servers, server disks, removable storage media, or intervention by a user to assist with the storage devices. The methods of the present invention permit a user, be it an individual or a large company, to inexpensively and securely back up information without the need to acquire additional expensive hardware.

Claims

1. A secure method for automatically backing up information resident on a user computer using excess capacity on a set of predetermined computers, comprising the steps of:

identifying a dataset from said information to be stored, compressing the identified dataset at predetermined compression rate into a compressed dataset,

redundantly encoding the compressed dataset for segmentation into a predetermined number of segments that does not exceed a number of the predetermined computers, such that a specified number of segments can recover the dataset and the specified number of segments is less than the predetermined number of segments,

segmenting the encoded dataset into the predetermined number of dataset segments, encrypting each dataset segment with an encryption key, encrypting the encryption key, and appending to each encrypted dataset segment the encrypted encryption key for recovering the dataset segment,

distributing each encrypted dataset segment to at least said set of predetermined computers,

retrieving the specified number of encrypted dataset segments,

decrypting the retrieved encrypted dataset segments, and

combining the decrypted dataset segments to form the compressed dataset.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing a copy of one or more encryption keys encrypted with a public key with the encrypted data segments.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said set of predetermined computers is the number of computers in communication with said user computer at a predetermined point in time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said encryption means includes security techniques provided in a TCPA chip.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said predetermined compression rate is at least a multiple of one and no greater than a multiple of seven.

6. A secure method for automatically backing up data of a user computer using excess capacity on a set of predetermined computers and thereafter selectively recovering said automatically backed up data from a subset of said set of predetermined computers, comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying at least one dataset of information resident on a user computer to be stored,

(b) compressing each identified dataset at a predetermined compression rate into a compressed dataset,

(c) redundantly encoding each compressed dataset for segmentation into a predetermined number of segments that does not exceed a number of the predetermined computers, such that a specified number of segments of each dataset can recover each dataset and the specified number of segments is less than the predetermined number of segments,

(d) segmenting each encoded dataset into the predetermined number of dataset segments,

(e) encrypting each dataset segment with one or more encryption keys, encrypting the encryption keys, and appending to each encrypted dataset segment the one or more encrypted encryption keys for recovering said data,

(f) distributing each encrypted dataset segment to said set of predetermined computers,

(g) storing by a storing means each unique identifier relating a location of each distributed encrypted dataset segment, respectively,

(h) recovering each stored unique identifier,

(i) retrieving at least the specified number of encrypted dataset segments previously distributed for each dataset,

(j) decrypting each retrieved encrypted dataset segment, and

(k) combining the decrypted dataset segments for each dataset to form the compressed dataset.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said predetermined number of predetermined dataset segments is at least equal to the number of computers in said set of predetermined computers.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said distributing of predetermined number of encrypted dataset segments is distributed to at least twice as computers in said set of predetermined computers as said number of predetermined encrypted dataset segments.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said predetermined number of encrypted dataset segments is in a range from ten to one hundred.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of generating an identifier having a unique definition of said user computer and storing said identifier in a secure storage location.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said identifier is metadata and is stored in a TCPA chip.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said unique definition is directly related and unique to said TCPA chip.

13. A computer usable medium embodying computer readable program code for causing a computer to identify user selected files of a computer system as preselected data back up preferences in an autonomic manner, identifying said data back up preferences in a file of said program code for execution a predetermined time, executing said program at said predetermined time, creating at least one dataset of information to be stored, compressing each identified dataset at a predetermined compression rate into a compressed dataset, redundantly encoding each compressed dataset for segmentation into a predetermined number of segments that does not exceed a number of the predetermined computers, such that a specified number of segments of each dataset can recover each dataset and the specified number of segments is less than the predetermined number of segments, segmenting each encoded dataset into the predetermined number of dataset segments, encrypting each dataset segment with an encryption key, encrypting the encryption key, and appending to each encrypted dataset segment the encrypted encryption key for recovering the dataset segment, distributing each encrypted dataset segment to a set of predetermined computers, storing by a storing means each unique identifier relating a location of each distributed encrypted dataset segment, respectively, recovering each stored unique identifier, retrieving at least the specified number of encrypted dataset segments previously distributed, decrypting each retrieved encrypted dataset segment, combining the decrypted dataset segments for each dataset to form the compressed dataset.

14. The medium of claim 13, wherein said medium is a preloaded software application.

15. The medium of claim 13, wherein said medium references a TCPA chip of the user computer.

16. The medium of claim 13, wherein said preselected data back up preferences include a user'"'"'s selection of a daily back up mode.

17. An autonomic computing system comprising a user computer having a data storage medium, a computer-usable medium embodying computer-readable program code, and a set of computers in communication with said user computer at a predetermined time, wherein said program code, on execution, provides for:

said user computer to identify user selected files of a computer system as preselected data back up preferences in an autonomic manner, identifying said data back up preferences in a file of said program code for execution a predetermined time, executing said program at said predetermined time, creating at least one dataset of information to be stored, compressing each identified dataset at a predetermined compression rate into a compressed dataset, redundantly encoding each compressed dataset for segmentation into a predetermined number of segments that does not exceed a number of the predetermined computers, such that a specified number of segments of each dataset can recover each dataset and the specified number of segments is less than the predetermined number of segments, segmenting each encoded dataset into the predetermined number of dataset segments, encrypting each dataset segment with an encryption key, encrypting the encryption key, and appending to each encrypted dataset segment the encrypted encryption key for recovering the dataset segment, distributing each encrypted dataset segment to a set of predetermined computers, storing by a storing means each unique identifier relating a location of each distributed encrypted dataset segment, respectively, recovering each stored unique identifier, retrieving at least the specified number of encrypted dataset segments previously distributed, decrypting each retrieved encrypted dataset segment, combining the decrypted dataset segments for each dataset to form the compressed dataset, decompressing the compressed dataset, and presenting said decompressed dataset to a user.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said medium is a software application.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein said system further comprises a TCPA chip.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein said preselected data back up preferences include a user'"'"'s selection of a daily back up mode using Wake-On-LAN.