POLICY DRIVEN CLOUD STORAGE MANAGEMENT AND CLOUD STORAGE POLICY ROUTER

• US 20110022642A1
• Filed: 07/24/2009
• Published: 01/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lincoln, Blaine, Mahajani, Ravindra, Ferriera, David Brian, Viswanathan, Ramkumar, deMilo, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,322 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for a policy driven cloud storage management broker and a cloud storage policy router, along with methods for registering tenant applications with the cloud storage management broker and for sending (and retrieving) files to/from a cloud storage service. A tenant application may be configured to generate a user interface that allows a user to specify metadata to associate with a file along with a link to a cloud storage service to which the file is uploaded. The tenant application may collect and store the metadata attributes (along with a reference to the file stored in the cloud) in an enterprise database, while the file itself may be transmitted to the cloud storage service directly. The cloud storage policy router may learn the capabilities of different cloud storage providers using an advertisement routing protocol.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for storing a file, comprising:

receiving, by a tenant application hosted on a storage broker, a request to store the file using a cloud storage service;

identifying one or more metadata attributes to associate with the file;

generating a user interface configured to prompt a user to supply values for the one or more metadata attributes;

generating a network link configured to allow the user to upload the file to the cloud storage service;

transmitting the network link and the user interface to the user'"'"'s computer system;

receiving the metadata attributes; and

storing the metadata attributes and a reference to the file in a database system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to storing the metadata attributes, receiving a confirmation that the file has been uploaded to the cloud storage service, wherein the confirmation includes the reference to the file.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, transmitting an encryption key to the user'"'"'s computer system, wherein the file is encrypted using the encryption key prior to being uploaded to the cloud storage service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference to the file stored in the database comprises a reference used to access the file form the cloud storage service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage broker is configured to select the cloud storage service from a plurality of cloud storage services based on a policy associated with the tenant application.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the policy specifies at least one of a regulatory requirement, a data retention requirement, a location requirement, and a service availability requirement for the selected could storage service.

7. A system, comprising,

a processor;

a network interface; and

a memory containing a multi-tenant storage broker, which, when executed on the processor, performs an operation for storing a file, the operation comprising;

receiving, over the network interface, a request to store the file using a cloud storage service,

identifying one or more metadata attributes to associate with the file,

generating a user interface configured to prompt a user to supply values for the one or more metadata attributes,

generating a network link configured to allow the user to upload the file to the cloud storage service,

transmitting the network link and the user interface to the user'"'"'s computer system,

receiving the metadata attributes, and

storing the metadata attributes and a reference to the file in a database system.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the operation further comprises, prior to storing the metadata attributes, receiving a confirmation that the file has been uploaded to the cloud storage service, wherein the confirmation includes the reference to the file.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the operation further comprises, transmitting an encryption key to the user'"'"'s computer system, wherein the file is encrypted using the encryption key prior to being uploaded to the cloud storage service.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the reference to the file stored in the database comprises a reference used to access the file form the cloud storage service.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the storage broker is configured to select the cloud storage service from a plurality of cloud storage services based on a policy associated with the tenant application.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the policy specifies at least one of a regulatory requirement, a data retention requirement, a location requirement, and a service availability requirement for the selected could storage service.

13. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program, which, when executed on a processor, performs an operation for storing a file, the operation comprising:

receiving, over the network interface, a request to store the file using a cloud storage service;

identifying one or more metadata attributes to associate with the file;

generating a user interface configured to prompt a user to supply values for the one or more metadata attributes;

generating a network link configured to allow the user to upload the file to the cloud storage service;

transmitting the network link and the user interface to the user'"'"'s computer system;

receiving the metadata attributes; and

storing the metadata attributes and a reference to the file in a database system.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising, receiving, from the user interface, a confirmation that the file has been uploaded to the cloud storage service.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising, transmitting an encryption key to the user'"'"'s computer system, wherein the file is encrypted using the encryption key prior to being uploaded to the cloud storage service.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the reference to the file stored in the database comprises a reference used to access the file form the cloud storage service.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the storage broker is configured to select the cloud storage service from a plurality of cloud storage services based on a policy associated with the tenant application.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the policy specifies at least one of a regulatory requirement, a data retention requirement, a location requirement, and a service availability requirement for the selected could storage service.

19. A routing device configured to transmit a file to one of a plurality of cloud storage services, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing a routing application, which, when executed on the processor, performs an operation, comprising;

receiving a file to be forwarded to one of the cloud storage services;

receiving one or more storage parameters specifying requirements for a cloud storage service selected to store the file;

evaluating the storage parameters to identify a cloud storage service, of the plurality, which satisfies the specified requirements;

forwarding the file to the selected cloud storage service.

20. The routing device of claim 19, wherein the routing application is configured to store advertised capabilities received from the plurality of cloud storage services.

21. The routing device of claim 20, wherein evaluating the storage parameters comprises matching the specified requirements against the advertised capabilities received from the plurality of cloud storage services.

22. The routing device of claim 19, wherein the storage parameters specify at least one of a regulatory requirement, a data retention requirement, a location requirement, and a service availability requirement for the selected could storage service.