Intelligent data routing and storage provisioning

• US 9,569,476 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2013
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dejana, Ryan G., Deluca, Lisa Seacat, Goodman, Brian D., Krook, Daniel C.
• Primary Examiner(s): WILLOUGHBY, ALICIA M
• Application Number:
  US13/855,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20140297695A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,414 Days
• Field of Search: 707/812
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1827 Management specifically adapted to NAS management of storage area networks [SAN] G06F3/067
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 Management of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Approaches for routing data to storage are provided. An approach includes determining implicit metadata from explicit metadata received with a request from a user to store a file. The approach also includes determining a storage resource based on the explicit metadata, the implicit metadata, and a registry of storage resources. The approach additionally includes routing data of the file to the determined storage resource.

Claims

1. A method for routing data to storage comprising:

receiving a request from a user to store a file;

determining implicit metadata from explicit metadata received with the request, the implicit metadata including data type, data size, confidentiality type, legal type, location type, access type, user type and device type;

accessing a registry of storage resources;

determining a storage resource based on the explicit metadata, the implicit metadata, and the registry of storage resources,

wherein the registry of storage resources includes information describing characteristics of available storage resources and the determining comprises comparing the implicit metadata and the explicit metadata to the characteristics of the available storage resources, wherein the characteristics of the available storage resources are regularly updated, and wherein the explicit metadata comprises information provided by the file to be stored and information provided by the user in the request;

routing data of the file to the determined storage resource;

re-determining whether the determined storage resource is suitable to store the data of the file based on the implicit metadata; and

dynamically provisioning an additional storage resource to store the data of the file based on the implicit metadata when the determining or re-determining determines that the determined storage resource is not suitable

wherein the determining implicit metadata and the determining the storage resource are performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the implicit metadata comprises determining information about the user, the request, and the file.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining implicit metadata uses one or more predefined policies corresponding to the explicit metadata.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the storage resource comprises selecting one of a plurality of storage resources from the registry of storage resources.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least two of the plurality of storage resources are provided by remote storage services operated by different entities.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the storage resource comprises dynamically provisioning a new storage resource based on the implicit metadata and the explicit metadata.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the provisioning the new storage resource comprises configuring the new storage resource from a pool of available storage resource elements.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the provisioning the new storage resource comprises converting one of the plurality of storage resources.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports a computer infrastructure that determines the implicit metadata, determines the storage resource, and routes the data of the file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein steps of claim 1 are provided by a service provider on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the explicit metadata comprises a plurality of explicit metadata and the implicit metadata comprises a plurality of implicit metadata;

the registry of storage resources comprises predefined information describing characteristics of available storage resources; and

the determining comprises comparing the plurality of explicit metadata and the plurality of implicit metadata to the predefined information describing characteristics of available storage resources.

12. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having readable program code embodied in the storage medium, the computer program product includes at least one component configured to:

receive a request from a user to store data, the request including explicit metadata;

derive information, utilizing a request parser, comprising implicit metadata from the request from the user to store data, the implicit metadata including data type, data size, confidentiality type, legal type, location type, access type, user type and device type;

accessing a storage registry including information describing characteristics of a plurality of registered storage resources, wherein the storage registry is regularly updated;

determine whether at least one of the plurality of registered storage resources is suitable to store the data based on the derived information by comparing the explicit metadata and the implicit metadata to the storage characteristics;

route the data to a suitable one of the plurality of registered storage resources based on the derived information and the determining; and

re-determine whether the at least one of the plurality of storage resources is suitable to store the data based on the derived information,

wherein the computer program product further includes at least one component configured to dynamically provision an additional storage resource to store the data based on the derived information when the determining or re-determining determines that at least one of the plurality of registered storage resources is not suitable.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further including at least one component operable to provision the additional storage resource from a pool of available storage resource elements.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, further including at least one component operable to provision the additional storage resource from one of the plurality of registered storage resources.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the routing the data comprises providing the data to a storage resource of the plurality of registered storage resources determined to be most suitable based on the explicit metadata and the implicit metadata.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein at least two of the storage resources are provided by remote storage services operated by different entities.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, further including at least one component operable to:

iteratively monitor a plurality of registered storage resources;

determine that one or more of the plurality of registered storage resources can be recycled; and

store identifiers of elements of the one or more of the plurality of registered storage resources in a resource pool and mark the elements as available.

18. A system for routing data to storage, the system comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU), a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage media;

program instructions to receive a request from a user to store a file, the request including explicit metadata;

program instructions to determine implicit metadata from the explicit metadata;

program instructions to access a registry of storage resources, including information describing characteristics of a plurality of registered storage resources, wherein the storage registry is regularly updated;

program instructions to determine that an appropriate storage resource for storing the file is unavailable from at least one of a predefined pool of remote storage providers based on comparing the explicit metadata received with the request and the implicit metadata determined from the explicit metadata to the characteristics of the plurality of registered of storage resources, wherein the implicit metadata includes data type, data size, confidentiality type, legal type, location type, access type, user type and device type;

program instructions to provision a new remote storage resource when it is determined that the appropriate storage resource is unavailable;

program instructions to store the file in the new remote storage resource; and

program instructions to determine whether the new remote storage resource is suitable to store the data based on the implicit metadata;

wherein each of the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.