Object storage

• US 8,626,793 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2010
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Cameron, Donald F., Strickland, Dancil C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pham, Michael
• Application Number:
  US12/696,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20100145995A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,439 Days
• Field of Search: 707/781
• US Class Current: 707/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0623 in relation to content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0652 Erasing, e.g. deleting, data cleaning, moving of data to a wastebasket
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method is provided that may include determining, at least in part, by a device comprised, at least in part, in storage, whether to request that the storage perform, at least in part, at least one operation. The at least one operation may involve, at least in part, at least one object stored in the storage. The determining may be based, at least in part, upon metadata associated with the at least one object. The metadata may be stored in the storage, and may indicate an earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one object and/or a latest permitted access time for the at least one object. Of course, many modifications, variations, and alternatives are possible without departing from this embodiment.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

storage including magnetic and semiconductor mass storage;

a device to determine, at least in part, whether to permit performance by the storage of a request to delete, at least in part, at least one object that includes at least one file stored in the storage, the device to determine, at least in part, whether to permit the performance by the storage of the request to delete based at least in part upon an earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file, the device to determine, based at least in part upon comparison, at one or more times, by the device, of a current time with a latest permitted access time for the at least one file, whether to issue from the device another request that the storage delete the at least one file, the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file and the latest permitted access time for the at least one file being to enforce one or more policies;

at least one name of the at least one file, at least one possessor of right to access the at least one file, at least one size of the at least one file, at least one creation time of the at least one file, at least one most recent access time of the at least one file, the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file, and the latest permitted access time for the at least one file being indicated by different respective values stored in metadata of the object in the storage;

the device to determine whether the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file is prior to the current time, and if the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file is prior to the current time, the device is to determine not to permit the performance by the storage of the request to delete; and

if the current time is later than the latest permitted access time for the at least one file, the device is to issue the another request that the storage delete the at least one file.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the storage comprises a redundant array of disks.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the storage is to communicate with a host via one or more of the following;

a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) over Internet Protocol (IP) protocol;

a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) protocol; and

a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (S-ATA) protocol.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the device is coupled to a host bus adapter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the device is to periodically examine the latest permitted access time for the at least one file to determine whether a current examination time is contemporaneous with or after the latest permitted access time for the at least one file.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the storage comprises a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) having a RAID level of 1;

the at least one file comprises blocks in the storage and is accessible via a network file system; and

the device comprises a storage controller that comprises a processor.

7. A method comprising:

determining, at least in part, by a device whether to permit performance by storage of a request to delete, at least in part, at least one object that includes at least one file stored in the storage, the device to determine, at least in part, whether to permit the performance by the storage of the request to delete based at least in part upon an earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file; and

determining by the device, based at least in part upon comparison, at one or more times, by the device, of a current time with a latest permitted access time for the at least one file, whether to issue from the device another request that the storage delete the at least one file, the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file and the latest permitted access time for the at least one file being to enforce one or more policies, the storage including magnetic and semiconductor mass storage;

at least one name of the at least one file, at least one possessor of right to access the at least one file, at least one size of the at least one file, at least one creation time of the at least one file, at least one most recent access time of the at least one file, the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file, and the latest permitted access time for the at least one file being indicated by different respective values stored in metadata of the object in the storage;

the device to determine whether the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file is priorto the current time, and if the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file is prior to the current time, the device is to determine not to permit the performance by the storage of the request to delete; and

if the current time is later than the latest permitted access time for the at least one file, the device is to issue the another request that the storage delete the at least one file.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the storage comprises a redundant array of disks.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the storage is to communicate with a host via one or more of the following;

a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) over Internet Protocol (IP) protocol;

a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) protocol; and

a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (S-ATA) protocol.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the device is coupled to a host bus adapter.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the device is to periodically examine the latest permitted access time for the at least one file to determine whether a current examination time is contemporaneous with or after the latest permitted access time for the at least one file.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the storage comprises a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) having a RAID level of 1;

the at least one file comprises blocks in the storage and is accessible via a network file system; and

the device comprises a storage controller that comprises a processor.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instructions that when executed by a machine result in operations comprising:

determining, at least in part, by a device whether to permit performance by storage of a request to delete, at least in part, at least one object that includes at least one file stored in the storage, the device to determine, at least in part, whether to permit the performance based at least in part upon an earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file; and

determining by the device, based at least in part upon comparison, at one or more times, by the device, of a current time with a latest permitted access time for the at least one file, whether to issue from the device another request that the storage delete the at least one file, the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file and the latest permitted access time for the at least one file being to enforce one or more policies, the storage including magnetic and semiconductor mass storage;

at least one name of the at least one file, at least one possessor of right to access the at least one file, at least one size of the at least one file, at least one creation time of the at least one file, at least one most recent access time of the at least one file, the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file, and the latest permitted access time for the at least one file being indicated by different respective values stored in metadata of the object in the storage;

the device to determine whether the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file is prior to the current time, and if the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file is prior to the current time, the device is to determine not to permit the performance by the storage of the request to delete; and

if the current time is later than the latest permitted access time for the at least one file, the device is to issue the another request that the storage delete the at least one file.

14. The memory of claim 13, wherein:

the storage comprises a redundant array of disks.

15. The memory of claim 13, wherein:

the storage is to communicate with a host via one or more of the following;

a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) over Internet Protocol (IP) protocol;

a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) protocol; and

a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (S-ATA) protocol.

16. The memory of claim 13, wherein:

the device is coupled to a host bus adapter.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 13, wherein:

the device is to periodically examine the latest permitted access time for the at least one file to determine whether a current examination time is contemporaneous with or after the latest permitted access time for the at least one file.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 13, wherein:

the storage comprises a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) having a RAID level of 1;

the at least one file comprises blocks in the storage and is accessible via a network file system; and

the device comprises a storage controller that comprises a processor to execute the operations.

19. A system comprising:

storage that comprises magnetic and semiconductor mass storage; and

a device including a processor and one or more instructions to be executed by the processor, the instructions when executed by the processor resulting in the device determining, at least in part, whether to permit performance by the storage of a request to delete, at least in part, at least one object that includes at least one file stored in the storage, the instructions when executed by the processor also resulting in the device determining, at least in part, whether to permit the performance based at least in part upon an earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file, the instructions when executed by the processor also resulting in the device determining, based at least in part upon comparison, at one or more times, by the device, of a current time with a latest permitted access time for the at least one file, whether to issue from the device another request that the storage delete the at least one file, the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file and the latest permitted access time for the at least one file being to enforce one or more policies;

at least one name of the at least one file, at least one possessor of right to access the at least one file, at least one size of the at least one file, at least one creation time of the at least one file, at least one most recent access time of the at least one file, the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file, and the latest permitted access time for the at least one file being indicated by different respective values stored in metadata of the object in the storage;

the device to determine whether the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file is prior to the current time, and if the earliest permitted deletion time for the at least one file is prior to the current time, the device is to determine not to permit the performance by the storage of the request to delete; and

if the current time is later than the latest permitted access time for the at least one file, the device is to issue the another request that the storage delete the at least one file.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the instructions when executed by the processor result in the device periodically examining the latest permitted access time for the at least one file to determine whether a current examination time is contemporaneous with or after the latest permitted access time for the at least one file.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the storage comprises a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) having a RAID level of 1;

the at least one file comprises blocks in the storage and is accessible via a network file system; and

the device comprises a storage controller that comprises the processor.