Multi-Tier File Transfer System for Audit Data
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing security systems face challenges in efficiently and reliably transmitting large audit files across distributed, multi-tier networks to a central location, leading to operational hampers and complications due to data transfer volumes and redundant server setups.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a multi-tier file transfer system with file transfer managers at each tier to divide and stage audit files, allowing block-by-block transmission through intermediate computers, ensuring fault-tolerant and efficient transfer to a central audit server.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If audit files are transmitted directly from local machines to the central location, then the file security system can maintain a simple transfer structure, but the large data transfer volume hampers system operation and reduces transfer efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces intermediate machines as mediators in the file transfer path. Local machines transfer audit files to intermediate machines, which then forward them to the central location. This multi-tier intermediate structure breaks the direct transfer bottleneck, improving overall transfer efficiency while distributing the complexity across multiple manageable components rather than concentrating it in a single direct transfer mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The transfer structure is segmented into multiple tiers: local machines, intermediate machines, and central location. This segmentation divides the large data transfer volume into smaller, manageable segments handled by different machines in the hierarchy, allowing parallel processing and reducing the burden on any single transfer path, thereby improving overall productivity.
2Reliability
If the system uses multiple redundant servers in multiple tiers, then the system can provide fault tolerance and reliable transfer, but the device complexity and difficulty of managing distributed systems increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements fault tolerance mechanisms in advance by deploying redundant servers at intermediate tiers. These redundant components serve as pre-prepared cushions against potential failures. If one server fails, another can take over, ensuring continuous operation. This beforehand cushioning approach maintains high reliability while organizing complexity into structured, manageable tiers rather than ad-hoc redundancy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of server distribution from a single centralized server to multiple distributed servers across different tiers. This parameter change enables fault tolerance through geographical and structural distribution, while the hierarchical organization manages the resulting complexity by establishing clear roles for each tier (local, intermediate, central).
3Productivity
If audit files are divided and staged at intermediate tiers, then the file transfer becomes more efficient and fault-tolerant, but the transfer process complexity and coordination requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Audit files are segmented into blocks and distributed across multiple intermediate machines. Each intermediate machine handles specific segments independently, allowing parallel processing and improving transfer efficiency. The segmentation also enables fault isolation, where failures in one segment do not necessarily affect others, managing complexity through modular organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by staging file segments at intermediate machines before final consolidation at the central location. This preliminary distribution and staging allows intermediate machines to prepare and validate segments independently, reducing the coordination burden at the final consolidation stage and improving overall transfer efficiency through distributed preliminary processing.
Data Source
AI summary
Improved techniques for transferring files through a multi-tier computing environment are disclosed. The transfer of files across the multiple tiers of the computing environment can use staging at intermediate tiers to facilitate the file transfer. Each tier can include at least one computing machine that includes a file transfer manager. The file transfer managers at the computing machines in each of the multiple tiers serve to effectuate the file transfer through the multi-tier computing environment. In one embodiment, the multi-tier computing environment is a multi-tier file security system and the files being transferred are audit files.