MULTI-TENANT CLOUD STORAGE SYSTEM

• US 20140215590A1
• Filed: 04/03/2014
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CTERA Networks Limited
• Original Assignee: CTERA Networks Limited
• Inventors: Brand, Aron
• Granted Patent: US 9,473,419 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• 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]

Abstract

A multi-tenant cloud storage system is provided. The cloud storage system a plurality of tenants, each tenant is configured to utilize an isolated logical partition of the cloud storage system accessible to a respective tenant portal, wherein the plurality of tenants includes at least a first type tenant and a second type tenant, each of the first type tenant and the second type tenant are configured to provision its respective set of members with a different storage policy.

Claims

1. A cloud storage system, comprising:

a plurality of tenants, each tenant is configured to utilize an isolated logical partition of the cloud storage system accessible to a respective tenant portal, wherein the plurality of tenants includes at least a first type tenant and a second type tenant, each of the first type tenant and the second type tenant are configured to provision its respective set of members with a different storage policy.

2. The cloud storage system of claim 1, wherein the different storage policy includes at least one reservation of storage resources and deduplication domains for each respective tenant and its respective members.

3. The cloud storage system of claim 1, wherein each of the first type tenant and the second type tenant are configured with a single subscription plan and with a plurality of add-on packages.

4. The cloud storage system of claim 1, wherein a tenant portal of the first type tenant is configured to include a plurality of tenant portals of the second type portals.

5. The cloud storage system of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one cloud connector configured to associate endpoints of members to their respective tenant portals.

6. The cloud storage system of claim 5, wherein the association of endpoints to a tenant portal is performed through an enrollment process, wherein the enrollment process is any one of:

a local enrollment process, and a remote enrollment process.

7. The cloud storage system of claim 6, wherein the cloud connector is configured to perform the local enrollment process by:

receiving an enrollment request generated by an endpoint, wherein the endpoint is preconfigured with a tenant portal to enroll to;

adding the endpoint to the tenant portal;

generating authentication credentials for the endpoint; and

providing the authentication credentials to the endpoint.

8. The cloud storage system of claim 5, wherein the cloud connector is configured to perform the remote enrollment process by:

receiving a parking request from an endpoint, wherein the parking request includes at least an enrollment code;

subsequently receiving an activation request from a tenant member, wherein the activation request includes at least an enrollment code;

subsequently searching for an endpoint previously provided a parking request including an enrollment code matching the enrollment code in the activation request;

associating the endpoint with the tenant portal and member when a match is found;

generating authentication credentials for the endpoint; and

providing the authentication credentials to the endpoint.

9. The cloud storage system of claim 5, wherein a single sign on protocol is utilized to provide authentication credentials required for the enrollment process.

10. The cloud storage system of claim 5, wherein a single endpoint allows a plurality of members to access one or more of the plurality of tenants, wherein each member of a tenant receives services based on its respective tenant storage policy.

11. A method for enrolling an endpoint in a cloud storage system, comprising:

determining a target tenant portal respective of the enrollment request, upon receiving a request to enroll an endpoint in the cloud storage system; and

associating the endpoint with a tenant portal in the CSS based in part on the identification of the target tenant portal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the association of the endpoint to the tenant portal is performed using any one of:

a local enrollment process, and a remote enrollment process.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the local enrollment process comprises:

receiving the enrollment request generated by an agent installed in the endpoint, wherein the agent is preconfigured with a tenant portal to enroll to;

adding the endpoint to the tenant portal;

generating credentials for the endpoint; and

providing the credentials to the endpoint.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the agent is generated per tenant portal on-the-fly.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein a single-sign-on protocol is utilized to provide authentication credentials required for the local enrollment process.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the remote enrollment process further comprises:

receiving a parking request from an endpoint, wherein the parking request includes at least an enrollment code;

subsequently receiving an activation request from a tenant member, wherein the activation request includes at least an enrollment code;

searching for an endpoint previously provided a parking request including an enrollment code matching the enrollment code in the activation request;

associating the endpoint with the tenant portal and member when a match is found;

generating authentication credentials for the endpoint; and

providing the authentication credentials to the endpoint.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the endpoint is pre-configured with at least an address of the CSS and the enrollment code contained in the parking request.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for causing one or more processing units to execute the method according to claim 11.

19. A system for enrolling an endpoint in a cloud storage system (CSS), comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory contains instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the system to;

enroll an endpoint in the cloud storage system;

determine a target tenant portal respective of the enrollment request, upon receiving an enrollment request; and

associate the endpoint with a tenant portal in the CSS based in part on the identification of the target tenant portal.