Hierarchical Secret Sharing in Distributed Storage Nodes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing distributed storage networks face challenges in efficiently storing and retrieving data while maintaining data integrity and security, especially in the presence of storage unit failures and unauthorized access, without the need for redundant copies.
Innovation Solution
A dispersed storage network (DSN) utilizing computing devices with dispersed storage error encoding and decoding capabilities, managed by a managing unit and integrity processing unit, employs error encoding functions like Cauchy Reed-Solomon to distribute data across multiple storage units, ensuring data integrity and security through error correction and secure storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If data is stored in distributed storage networks, then storage capacity and accessibility are improved, but data integrity and security deteriorate in the presence of storage unit failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides data into multiple data segments and encodes them using error correction codes before distributing to storage units. This segmentation allows the system to tolerate failures of individual storage units while maintaining data integrity, as the encoded segments can be reconstructed from surviving units.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies error correction encoding to data before storage, proactively preparing the data to withstand potential failures. The encoding process adds redundancy in advance, enabling the system to detect and correct errors without requiring redundant physical storage copies.
2Reliability
If redundant copies of data are stored, then data integrity is improved, but storage efficiency and security deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates encoded copies of data segments rather than exact redundant copies. The error correction encoding generates multiple versions of data that can be reconstructed from any sufficient subset, providing data integrity without requiring full redundant copies at every storage location.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the storage approach from storing identical redundant copies to storing error-corrected encoded versions. This parameter change in how data is replicated allows the system to achieve reliability through encoding rather than through multiple physical copies, improving storage efficiency.
3Reliability
If error correction encoding is applied to data, then data integrity is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces error correction encoding as an intermediary layer between data creation and storage. This intermediary process transforms the data into an encoded format that is more robust to errors, managing the complexity centrally rather than requiring complex distributed coordination across all storage units.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for a storage network begins by encoding a data file to generate a set of encoded data shares using a first threshold based secret sharing scheme in accordance with first secret sharing parameters, selecting a set of storage units of the storage network for storing the set of encoded data shares and sending the set of encoded data shares to the set of storage units. The method continues with a storage unit of the set of storage units receiving a first encoded data share of the set of encoded data shares and encoding the first encoded data share using a second threshold based secret sharing scheme to generate a set of encoded data sub-shares. Finally, the method continues with the storage unit storing the set of encoded data sub-shares in a set of memory devices of the first storage unit.