Cloud Gateway for Cross-Provider Data Migration

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current deduplication file systems face inefficiencies when migrating data from older systems to newer systems supported by different cloud service providers, requiring time-consuming processes involving multiple reads and writes as data needs to be read from one cloud provider, replicated to an active tier, and then written to another.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of an enhanced collection replication (CREPL) process combined with garbage collection and container management, which efficiently reads and replicates data containers from one cloud provider to another, using garbage collection to identify and pack only live data and the container manager to handle data conditioning and writing to different cloud storage formats.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If traditional replication methods are used to migrate data between different cloud providers, then data can be transferred from source to destination, but the process requires multiple reads and writes through intermediate storage, significantly increasing migration time and resource overhead

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata migration speedVSAvoidmigration time
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a cloud gateway as an intermediary component that enables direct data transfer between different cloud providers. The cloud gateway establishes peer-to-peer connections between source and destination cloud storage systems, allowing data to bypass intermediate storage tiers and transfer directly, thus eliminating the time-consuming read-write cycles through active storage that characterize traditional replication methods

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments the data migration process into discrete data containers that can be independently transferred. Each data container is a self-contained unit that can be directly replicated from source to destination through the cloud gateway, allowing parallel processing and efficient resource utilization while reducing overall migration time compared to sequential read-write operations

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Productivity

If traditional replication methods are used to migrate data between different cloud providers, then data can be transferred from source to destination, but the process involves multiple reads and writes during migration, increasing resource overhead

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata migration efficiencyVSAvoidresource overhead
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The cloud gateway acts as a mediator that optimizes resource utilization by establishing direct transfer channels between cloud providers. This eliminates the need for source and destination systems to perform multiple read-write operations through intermediate storage, significantly reducing CPU, I/O, and network resource overhead while maintaining high migration efficiency

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing peer-to-peer connections and configuring data container formats before migration begins. This preparation work is done once, allowing subsequent data transfers to proceed efficiently without repeated setup overhead, reducing overall resource consumption during the migration process

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Adaptability or versatility

If cloud units from different cloud providers are migrated using existing replication technologies, then migration can be performed, but the meta-separated architecture does not work effectively when source and destination are supported by different cloud service providers

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecloud provider compatibilityVSAvoidmigration simplicity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The cloud gateway implements universal interfaces that can communicate with multiple different cloud provider APIs and storage formats. This multi-functionality allows the same gateway infrastructure to handle migrations between any cloud providers without requiring provider-specific customization, making the system both adaptable to different providers and easy to operate with a unified workflow

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically changes parameters such as data container formats, protocol configurations, and connection settings based on the specific source and destination cloud providers involved in the migration. This adaptive parameter adjustment allows seamless operation across different cloud environments while maintaining a consistent and simple user interface for the migration process

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentUS11822431B2Migrating deduplication file systems having cloud units from different cloud providers
Publication Date: 2023.11.21 DELL PROD LP
  • US11822431B2 patent drawing
  • US11822431B2 patent drawing
  • US11822431B2 patent drawing

AI summary

Embodiments of a system and method for migrating data from a first cloud network provided from a first cloud service provider (CSP) and a second cloud network provided by a second CSP. The method reads and packs only live data containers from the first cloud using a Garbage Collection (GC) process. It performs a collection replication process replicating a local container set (CSET) from the first cloud network to the second cloud network, and replicates data containers from the first cloud network to the second cloud network. It then uses a container manager process to write data containers on the second cloud network.