Self-Describing Cloud Storage Shards for Data Resiliency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cloud-based storage systems face challenges in ensuring data resiliency and redundancy, particularly in maintaining data integrity and availability during power failures or system failures.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a cloud-based storage system with self-describing information for data shards, where each shard includes recoverability information, and storing both shards and this information in a secondary tier of cloud storage to ensure data resiliency and redundancy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is stored in cloud-based storage systems with redundancy mechanisms, then data availability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments data into distributed shards across multiple storage nodes, with each shard independently manageable. This segmentation enables redundancy without requiring a monolithic complex system, as each shard can be replicated independently to other nodes, improving data availability while distributing system complexity across manageable units.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces self-describing metadata as an intermediary layer that manages redundancy information. This metadata contains recoverability information about each shard, acting as a mediator between the storage system and recovery operations. This intermediary simplifies the overall system complexity by centralizing redundancy management in a structured format rather than requiring complex distributed coordination protocols.
2Reliability
If redundancy information is stored alongside data shards, then data resiliency is improved, but storage space consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the redundancy information directly with the data shard by embedding self-describing metadata within each shard structure. This combination eliminates the need for separate redundancy storage structures, as the metadata is integrated into the shard itself. This approach improves data resiliency by keeping recovery information readily available while minimizing additional storage consumption through consolidation rather than duplication.
3Reliability
If proactive data recovery mechanisms are implemented, then system reliability is improved, but processing overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-generating and storing self-describing metadata with recoverability information for each data shard. This metadata is prepared in advance and stored alongside the shard, enabling rapid recovery operations without requiring complex real-time computation. The preliminary preparation of recovery information reduces processing overhead during actual recovery events while maintaining high system reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables self-service recovery through self-describing metadata that contains all necessary recoverability information within each shard. When a failure occurs, the system can autonomously retrieve and reconstruct data using the embedded metadata without requiring external coordination or complex recovery algorithms. This self-service mechanism improves system reliability while minimizing processing overhead by eliminating the need for sophisticated recovery orchestration.
Data Source
AI summary
Data resiliency in a cloud-based storage system, including: receiving, for storage within a first tier of cloud storage of the cloud-based storage system, one or more segments of data; generating, for each of one or more shards of data of the one or more segments of data, self-describing information for recoverability of the one or more shards of data; and storing, within a second tier of cloud storage of the cloud-based storage system, both the one or more shards of data and the generated self-describing information for recoverability of the one or more shards of data.