Multi-dimensional surrogates for data management

• US 20060179061A1
• Filed: 08/23/2005
• Published: 08/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mimosa Systems Incorporated (Iron Mountain Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mimosa Systems Incorporated (Iron Mountain Incorporated)
• Inventors: D'Souza, Roy P., Mehta, Sanjay, Pandit, Bhushan, Ravi, T.M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,778,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP

Abstract

Multi-dimensional surrogation systems and methods are provided that generate at least one data surrogate using information of data and numerous data changes received from at least one data source. The multi-dimensional surrogation transforms data of each data surrogate from a format of the data source to at least one alternative format. Original metadata is extracted from each data surrogate. New metadata is generated by combining portions of the original metadata and components of each data surrogate. The multi-dimensional surrogation generates an extended data surrogate comprising the data surrogate and the new metadata.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating at least one data surrogate using information of received data and a plurality of data changes received from at least one data source;

extracting original metadata of each data surrogate;

generating an extended data surrogate comprising at least one of the data surrogate and the original metadata; and

controlling access to data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate by at least one of applications and servers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the at least one data surrogate using information of at least one additional data change received from at least one data source.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the updating is performed at least one of upon receipt of the at least one additional data change, subsequent to receipt of a plurality of additional data changes, and following processing operations on the at least one additional data change.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transforming data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate among a plurality of density formats.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating new metadata by combining portions of the original metadata and components of each data surrogate.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the extended data surrogate includes the new metadata.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a data format of at least one of the applications;

transforming data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate in accordance with detected data format.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a data content of at least one of the applications;

transforming data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate in accordance with detected data content.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising archiving at least one instance of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate in at least one storage site.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one storage site includes a plurality of storage sites.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising archiving difference information of changes made in at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the archiving includes active archiving, wherein active archiving includes at least one of performing at least one operation on the data surrogate and placing at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate in at least one storage site as appropriate to a corresponding application.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the archiving includes passive archiving, wherein passive archiving includes archiving as reference data at least one instance of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate in at least one storage site.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the archiving includes deep archiving, wherein deep archiving includes archiving a plurality of instances of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate in at least one storage site, wherein data archived by deep archiving is accessed in accordance with at least one privilege.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising integrating at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate with at least one of the applications.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the applications include authentication applications, authorization applications, access control applications, tamper detection applications, tamper prevention applications, and audit applications.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the applications regulate access to the data surrogate by at least one of users, administrators, auditors, and policy managers.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring a portion of data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate to at least one server.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the transferring includes at least one of quality of service mechanisms, remote change detection mechanisms, batching of data transfers and optimizing of transfer schedules, wherein the transferring preserves bandwidth and optimizes latency.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the transferring includes at least one of applying privacy mechanisms and tamper resistance mechanisms.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the transferring complies with at least one of legal requirements and compliance requirements of retention, disposition., monitoring and supervision when multiple copies of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate result from the transferring.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one server includes at least one of local servers, remote servers, messaging servers, electronic mail servers, instant messaging servers, voice-over-Internet Protocol servers, collaboration servers, portals, customer relationship management (CRM) servers, enterprise resource planning (ERP) servers, business-to-business servers, content management servers, and database servers.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring a portion of data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate to at least one client application, wherein the at least one client application includes local client applications and remote client applications.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising enforcing access to at least one of the data surrogates and extended data surrogates through at least one of authentication, authorization, access control and non-repudiation in a manner that is integrated with at least one coupled enterprise.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising controlling access to at least one of the data surrogates and the extended data surrogates and maintaining privacy and tamper resistance of the data during the transferring and at rest.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate in at least one storage site in accordance with at least one application with which the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate is associated.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling access by at least one user to at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising moving at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate across a plurality of storage devices in accordance with at least one parameter including source, content, key words, age, size, user, policies, and frequency of access.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising restoring data of the data surrogate on a target server, wherein the target server is a source server of the received data.

30. The method of claim 1, further comprising redirecting data of the data surrogate to a target server, wherein the target server is restored is a different server than the source server of the received data.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the target server is at least one of on a different network and located at a different site from the source server.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein generating at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate is in response to at least one of an automatic trigger, a timer notification, an event notification, a poll, and a request.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the automatic trigger includes a trigger automatically initiated in response to at least one pre-specified parameter.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the automatic trigger includes content of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the timer notification includes notifications corresponding to scheduled events including at least one of maintenance operations, user activities, server activities, and data population operations.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the event notification includes notifications corresponding to changes to data of the data source.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein the request includes at least one of access attempts and configuration attempts by the users, servers or applications.

38. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at least one parameter of the received data, the at least one parameter including at least one of size, age, frequency of access, and time of last access of the received data; and

replacing the received data with at least one pointer to at least one copy of the received data in the data surrogate in accordance with the parameter.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

intercepting subsequent access to received data by at least one of applications, servers, and users using the at least one pointer; and

providing the subsequent access by splicing data from at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate.

40. A data surrogate system (DSS) comprising:

a DSS server that receives data and a plurality of data changes;

an engine coupled to the DSS server that generates at least one data surrogate using information of the data and data changes; and

an extractor coupled to the engine that extracts original metadata of each data surrogate and generates an extended data surrogate that includes at least one of the data surrogate and the original metadata;

wherein the DSS server controls access to data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate by at least one of applications and servers.

41. The system of claim 40, further comprising a transformer coupled to the DSS server, the transformer transforming data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate from a format of the data to at least one alternative format.

42. The system of claim 40, further comprising at least one repository coupled to the DSS server, the repository storing at least one of the data, data change files, the data surrogate, the extended data surrogate, the original metadata, and new metadata.

43. The system of claim 40, wherein the DSS server updates the at least one data surrogate using information of at least one additional data change received from at least one data source.

44. The system of claim 40, wherein the DSS server generates new metadata by combining portions of the original metadata and components of each data surrogate.

45. The system of claim 40, wherein the DSS server detects at least one of a data format and a content of at least one of the applications and transforms data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate in accordance with at least one of the detected data format and detected content.

46. The system of claim 40, wherein the DSS server transfers a portion of data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate to at least one other server.

47. The system of claim 40, wherein the DSS server transfers a portion of data of at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate to at least one client application, wherein the at least one client application includes local client applications and remote client applications.

48. The system of claim 40, wherein the DSS server controls access by at least one user to at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate.

49. The system of claim 40, wherein the DSS server moves at least one of the data surrogate and the extended data surrogate across a plurality of storage devices in accordance with at least one parameter including source, content, key words, age, size, user, policies, and frequency of access.

50. The system of claim 40, wherein the DSS server restores data of the data surrogate on a target server, wherein the target server is a source server of the received data.

51. The system of claim 40, wherein the DSS server redirects data of the data surrogate to a target server, wherein the target server is restored is a different server than the source server of the received data.

52. The system of claim 40, further comprising at least one enterprise server coupled to the DSS server.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the at least one enterprise server includes at least one of local servers, remote servers, messaging servers, electronic mail servers, instant messaging servers, voice-over-Internet Protocol servers, collaboration servers, portals, customer relationship management (CRM) servers, enterprise resource planning (ERP) servers, business-to-business servers, content management servers, and database servers.

54. The system of claim 40, further comprising at least one network coupled to the DSS server.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein the at least one network includes local area networks (LANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), and storage area networks (SANs).

56. The system of claim 40, further comprising at least one filter coupled to the extractor for filtering the original metadata.

57. The system of claim 40, wherein the extractor identifies relationships among portions of the original metadata and components of each data surrogate.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein the extractor generates new metadata by selectively combining portions of the original metadata and the components of each data surrogate according to the relationships.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein the extended data surrogate includes the new metadata.