Dispersed Storage Network Memory Data Access Response Plan
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current distributed computing systems face challenges in securely and reliably storing and retrieving large amounts of data across geographically dispersed locations while ensuring data integrity and availability, particularly in the presence of failures and hacking attempts.
Innovation Solution
A distributed computing system that employs dispersed error encoding and decoding techniques to segment and distribute data across multiple storage units, using a pillar-based encoding scheme that allows for secure storage and retrieval of data, even in the event of failures, by encoding data into multiple slices that can be reconstructed from any subset meeting a decode threshold, and utilizing a network of distributed storage and task processing units for task execution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is stored in a dispersed storage network, then data availability and fault tolerance are improved, but data security and protection against hacking attempts deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments data into multiple data slices and distributes them across different storage nodes in the dispersed storage network. This segmentation enables fault tolerance by allowing reconstruction of data from remaining slices if some nodes fail, while the distribution across multiple nodes reduces the risk of any single node being compromised by hackers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a trusted third party (TTP) as an intermediary that manages authentication, authorization, and data retrieval operations. The TTP verifies user credentials and manages access control lists before allowing data retrieval, adding a layer of security between users and the distributed data storage system.
2Reliability
If data is encoded into multiple slices for distributed storage, then fault tolerance is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides data into multiple slices using error correction encoding, allowing the system to tolerate failures of individual storage nodes. The segmentation is implemented through standard encoding techniques that distribute redundancy across the network, achieving fault tolerance without requiring complex custom encoding schemes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a universal access control mechanism based on authentication and authorization frameworks that can be applied across different data retrieval scenarios. The trusted third party provides multi-functional services including user authentication, access control list management, and data retrieval coordination, reducing the need for multiple specialized components.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a trusted third party is used for authentication and authorization, then data security is improved, but processing time for data retrieval increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs authentication and authorization checks before data retrieval operations are initiated. The trusted third party verifies user credentials and validates access control lists in advance, ensuring security is established before the actual data retrieval begins. This preliminary action prevents security checks from delaying the retrieval process by performing them upfront.
Solution Approach 2:
The trusted third party acts as an intermediary that manages authentication and authorization efficiently. By centralizing these security functions in a dedicated service, the system avoids repeated security checks during data retrieval operations, reducing the time overhead while maintaining strong security controls.
Data Source
AI summary
A dispersed storage network memory includes a pool of storage nodes, where the pool of storage nodes stores a multitude of encoded data files. A storage node obtains and analyzes data access response performance data for each of the storage nodes to produce a modified data access response plan that includes identity of an undesired performing storage node and an alternative data access response for the undesired performing storage node. The storage nodes receive corresponding portions of a data access request for at least a portion of one of the multitude of encoded data files. The undesired performing storage node or another storage node processes one of the corresponding portions of the data access request in accordance with the alternative data access response.