Policy-based information management

• US 8,180,742 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2004
• Issued: 05/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Claudatos, Christopher Hercules, Andruss, William Dale
• Primary Examiner(s): Chempakaseril, Ann
• Application Number:
  US11/027,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20060004868A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,692 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/102, 707/200, 707/204, 709/201
• US Class Current: 707/694
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for managing an object are disclosed. In an embodiment, this comprises managing an object having content, in a system having a dynamic policy selector configured with at least one analytic policy applied to evaluate the content of the object. The object is associated to an information management policy. Classification levels may be used, in which classification levels are associated to information management policies and objects are associated with classification levels. Objects containing certain elements or related elements may be associated to form an information group, to which information management policies may be applied as a group. Storage pools may be used for managing objects with similar classification levels or information protection policies.

Claims

1. A method of managing a plurality of objects, each object of the plurality of objects having content, the method comprising:

applying a first analytic policy to evaluate content of a first object of the plurality of objects, wherein applying the first analytic policy to evaluate the content of the first object includes identifying presence of a first element in the content of the first object;

determining, whether to evaluate a second object of the plurality of objects for relevant data based on whether content of the second object includes a second element, wherein the first element is related to the second element, wherein metadata of the first object indicates the second object for evaluation;

based on the evaluation of the contents of the first and second objects, associating the first object with the second object to form an information group if the second element is present in the content of the second object, wherein the information group is associated with an information management policy;

generating metadata indicating the information management policy to be applied on the first and second objects;

updating the metadata of the first object to indicate the association of the first object with the second object;

associating the first object to the generated metadata relating to the information management policy; and

storing the generated metadata indicating the association between the first and second objects in a storage device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising applying a second analytic policy to evaluate the content of the second object, based on the result of applying the first analytic policy to evaluate the content of the first object.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first object has the metadata, and the method further comprises determining a type of the first object from the metadata.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein applying the first analytic policy to evaluate the content of the first object includes using the type of the first object to evaluate the content of the first object.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information management policy includes an action to be performed relating to the first object, and the method further comprises performing the action.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the information management policy includes a time during which the action is to be performed, and the method further comprises performing the action at the time specified in the information management policy.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information management policy includes a service level to be assigned, and the method further comprises assigning the service level to the first object.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising associating the first object to the generated metadata indicating the service level.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising associating to the first object, based on the service level, at least one parameter selected from the group comprising performance, latency, bandwidth, security, availability, backup frequency, level of encryption, number of copies, compression, media type, data migration, retention period, or access control.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one first analytic policy includes a term during which the information management policy is to be associated with the first object, and wherein the metadata of the first object includes information about the term.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising revoking the association of the information management policy to the first object when the term has expired.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising associating the first object to another information management policy without change in the result.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising revoking the association of the first object with the information management policy, and associating the first object to a second information management policy, without change in the result.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising storing the first object on the storage device in accordance with the information management policy.

15. A system for managing a lifecycle of a plurality of objects, each object of the plurality of objects having content, comprising a dynamic policy selector configured with a first analytic policy, and a processor configured to:

apply the first analytic policy to evaluate content of a first object of the plurality of objects, wherein applying the first analytic policy to evaluate the content of the first object includes identifying presence of a first element in the content of the first object;

determine, whether to evaluate a second object of the plurality of objects for relevant data based on whether content of the second object includes a second element, wherein the first element is related to the second element, wherein metadata of the first object indicates the second object for evaluation;

based on the evaluation of the contents of the first and second objects, associate the first object with the second object to form an information group if the second element is present in the content of the second object, wherein the information group is associated with an information management policy;

generate metadata indicating the information management policy to be applied on the first and second objects; and

update the metadata of the first object to indicate the association of the first object with the second object.

associate the first object to the generated metadata relating to the information management policy; and

store the generated metadata indicating the association between the first and second objects in a storage device.

16. A computer program product for managing a plurality of objects, each object of the plurality of objects having content, in a system having a dynamic policy selector configured with a first analytic policy, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having machine readable code embodied therein for:

applying a first analytic policy to evaluate content of a first object of the plurality of objects, wherein applying the first analytic policy to evaluate the content of the first object includes identifying presence of a first element in the content of the first object;

determining, whether to evaluate a second object of the plurality of objects for relevant data based on whether content of the second object includes a second element, wherein the first element is related to the second element, wherein metadata of the first object indicates the second object for evaluation;

based on the evaluation of the contents of the first and second objects, associating the first object with the second object to form an information group if the second element is present in the content of the second object, wherein the information group is associated with an information management policy;

generating metadata indicating the information management policy to be applied on the first and second objects;

updating the metadata of the first object to indicate the association of the first object with the second object;

associating the first object to the generated metadata relating to the information management policy; and

storing the generated metadata indicating the association between the first and second objects in a storage device.