Deferred data storage

• US 8,595,314 B1
• Filed: 06/13/2012
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Silver Peak Systems Incorporated (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Hughes, David Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Hussain, Imad
• Application Number:
  US13/517,575
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• Field of Search: 709/212
• US Class Current: 709/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/215 Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

A method, system, and computer readable storage medium for deferred data storage are disclosed. Data sent via a local-area network is intercepted at a first hardware appliance of a plurality of hardware appliances in response to a first request for the data. A determination is performed of whether the data is locally accessible to the first hardware appliance. Instructions are transmitted to the first hardware appliance to retrieve the data locally accessible to the hardware appliance. The data is stored on at least one temporary page at a hardware appliance. The first hardware appliance and the second hardware appliance are in communication via the local-area network.

Claims

1. A method for reducing fragmentation of stored data, comprising:

intercepting data addressed to a server or to a computer via a communication network at a central appliance in response to a request for the data;

determining whether a portion of the intercepted data is locally accessible to a branch appliance;

generating instructions to build a response data if a portion of the intercepted data is locally accessible to the branch appliance, the response data including a combination of the intercepted data and locally accessible data;

storing the response data on at least one temporary page in memory at the central appliance, wherein a temporary page is a memory page for which a determination has not been made whether to store or discard the data; and

transmitting from the central appliance to the branch appliance a deferred store instruction, wherein the deferred store instruction comprises;

exchanging a message between the branch appliance and central appliance to determine whether to store the temporary page in memory, and

storing the contents of the temporary page at both the central appliance and branch appliance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the deferred store instruction further comprises an address associated with the at least one temporary page at the central appliance having at least a portion of the response data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the deferred store instruction further comprises an instruction to the branch appliance to store the response data in a location in a database corresponding to a location in a database in the central appliance.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an acknowledgement at the central appliance from the branch appliance that the contents of the at least one temporary page are stored in memory at both the central appliance and the branch appliance.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the acknowledgement is an integrity check or hash.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing the response data on at least one temporary page at the central appliance further comprises:

determining whether a first temporary page is full; and

storing the response data on a second temporary page if the first temporary page is full.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first temporary page is considered full if a predetermined period of time has elapsed since instructions were received.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a location in a database to the at least one temporary page.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising indexing the contents of the at least one temporary page.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the indexing further comprises populating at least one signature hash table, the signature hash table being a fine signature hash table or a coarse signature hash table.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rebuilding the response data at the branch appliance;

storing the response data on a temporary page in memory based on the deferred store instruction;

transmitting the response data to the server or computer.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the exchanging a message between the branch appliance and central appliance to determine whether to store the temporary page in memory further comprises:

determining that a first temporary page is full; and

determining, based in part on an analysis of possible data fragmentation in storage, whether to store the contents of the temporary page in data storage.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether a portion of the intercepted data is locally accessible to a branch appliance comprises determining whether a portion of the intercepted data has a similar pattern to data locally accessible to the branch appliance.

14. A system comprising:

a branch appliance and a central appliances in communication with each other, the central appliance comprising;

a processor that intercepts data addressed to a server or to a computer via a communication network at the central appliance in response to a request for the data, performs a determination of whether and where a portion of the intercepted data is locally accessible to the branch appliance, generates instructions to build a response data if a portion of the intercepted data is locally accessible to the branch appliance, the response data including a combination of the intercepted data and locally accessible data, stores the response data on at least one temporary page in memory at the central appliance, wherein a temporary page is a memory page for which a determination has not been made whether to store or discard the data, transmits to the branch appliance a deferred store instruction, the deferred store instruction exchanging a message with the branch appliance to determine whether to store the temporary page in memory, and storing the contents of the temporary page at both the central appliance and branch appliance, and

a memory device configured to store the at least one temporary page at the central appliance and branch appliance.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor instructs the branch appliance to store the response data in a location in a database corresponding to a location in a database in the central appliance.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor determines whether a first temporary page is full, and stores the response data on a second temporary page if the first temporary page is full.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first temporary page is considered full if a predetermined period of time has elapsed since instructions were received.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor for performing a method, the method comprising:

intercepting data addressed to a server or to a computer via a communication network at a central appliance in response to a request for the data;

determining whether a portion of the intercepted data is locally accessible to a branch appliance;

generating instructions to build a response data if a portion of the intercepted data is locally accessible to the branch appliance, the response data including a combination of the intercepted data and locally accessible data;

storing the response data on at least one temporary page in memory at the central appliance, wherein a temporary page is a memory page for which a determination has not been made whether to store or discard the data; and

transmitting from the central appliance to the branch appliance a deferred store instruction, wherein the deferred store instruction comprises;

exchanging a message between the branch appliance and central appliance to determine whether to store the temporary page in memory, and

storing the contents of the temporary page at both the central appliance and branch appliance.