Shared Vault Storage Failure Abatement by Decode Threshold
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current dispersed storage networks face challenges in maintaining data integrity and availability due to storage unit failures, as they often require redundant copies and are vulnerable to data loss and unauthorized access.
Innovation Solution
A dispersed storage network (DSN) that employs error encoding using Cauchy Reed-Solomon encoding, distributing data across multiple storage units, and a managing unit that coordinates vault creation, error detection, and failure abatement, allowing for secure and indefinite data storage without redundant copies, and tolerates a significant number of storage unit failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundant copies of data are stored to ensure data availability and integrity, then data security and reliability are improved, but storage space is wasted and device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments data into multiple slices and disperses them across different storage units. Instead of storing complete redundant copies, the system divides data into fragments and distributes them throughout the network, allowing data reconstruction from any sufficient subset of slices rather than requiring full duplicate copies.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs error encoding schemes that transform data into an encoded form with specific mathematical properties. By changing the representation parameters of data through encoding, the system enables reliable data recovery without storing traditional redundant copies, optimizing the balance between reliability and storage efficiency.
2Reliability
If multiple redundant copies of data are maintained across storage units, then data availability is improved, but the system becomes more vulnerable to unauthorized access and data loss
Solution Approach 1:
By fragmenting data into multiple slices and distributing them across different storage units, the patent ensures that no single storage unit contains a complete copy of the data. This segmentation approach prevents unauthorized access to full data while maintaining availability, as data can be reconstructed only when sufficient slices are gathered and properly decoded.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces error encoding and decoding mechanisms as intermediaries between the stored slices and the original data. These encoding schemes act as a protective layer that requires specific computational processing to reconstruct the original data, adding security against unauthorized access while ensuring data availability through reliable reconstruction from dispersed slices.
3Reliability
If storage units are dispersed across multiple locations to improve security and availability, then resistance to single-point failures is improved, but system complexity and difficulty of managing failures increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates monitoring and detection mechanisms that provide feedback about the status of storage units and data slices. This feedback system enables the network to track which storage units are operational and which slices are available, facilitating automated failure management and data reconstruction without requiring complex manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The error encoding scheme enables the system to automatically detect and correct errors, and to reconstruct data from available slices without external intervention. The mathematical properties of the encoding allow the system to self-manage failure recovery by identifying missing or corrupted slices and reconstructing data from sufficient remaining slices, reducing the complexity of failure management.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes detecting, by a vault management device, a failed storage unit common to a first vault and a second vault. The first vault is associated with a first set of storage units and the second vault is associated with a second set of storage units. The failed storage unit is in each of the first and second sets of storage units. The method further includes identifying a number of non-failed storage units of the first and second sets of storage units and comparing the number of non-failed storage units with first and second decode threshold numbers to determine a failure impact level. The first decode threshold number is associated with the first vault and the second decode threshold number is associated with the second vault. The method further includes determining a failure abatement approach based on the failure impact level and facilitating the failure abatement approach.