Backup Storage Compliance Data Deletion via Metadata Linking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing backup systems face challenges in efficiently deleting compliance-sensitive data to comply with regulations like GDPR, which can impact their ability to provide other services due to computational resource limitations.

Innovation Solution

The system separates compliance-sensitive data from metadata, deleting the associations between them to render the data inaccessible, and uses garbage collection during high computing resource availability to remove the data, thereby ensuring compliance without impairing system functionality.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the system deletes compliance-sensitive data immediately to comply with regulations like GDPR, then data compliance is improved, but system performance deteriorates due to computational resource limitations

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata complianceVSAvoidsystem performance

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by separating compliance-sensitive data from metadata and deleting association records immediately to ensure compliance. The actual data removal is deferred to garbage collection cycles when computational resources are available, thus maintaining both compliance and performance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system segments backup data into compliance-sensitive data portions and metadata portions, storing them separately. This segmentation allows independent handling: association records can be deleted immediately for compliance while the actual data is removed later during low-load periods, resolving the contradiction between immediate compliance and system performance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If the system performs full data deletion to ensure complete compliance, then compliance reliability is improved, but computational resource consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompliance reliabilityVSAvoidcomputational resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs partial deletion by removing association records between compliance-sensitive data and metadata, which is sufficient to render data inaccessible and meet compliance requirements. Full data deletion is performed later during garbage collection, avoiding excessive computational resource consumption during compliance operations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Solution Approach 2:

The system discards association records immediately to ensure compliance, then recovers computational resources for the actual data deletion process during garbage collection cycles. This approach ensures compliance reliability while optimizing computational resource usage by performing deletions during appropriate system states.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #34Discarding and recovering

Data Source

PatentUS11475159B2System and method for efficient user-level based deletions of backup data

Publication Date: 2022.10.18 EMC IP HLDG CO LLC

AI summary

A backup storage for providing backup services includes storage and a compliance manager. The storage includes backups. The compliance manager obtains a compliance request for data; makes a determination, in response to obtaining the compliance request, that the data is stored as part of a backup of the backups; in response to making the determination: deletes linking data that associates a portion of a compliance sensitive data portion stored in backup metadata of the backup with a portion of modified backup data of the backup to make the linking data unavailable; and removes the modified backup data using garbage collection.