Storage Tier Manager for Backup Retention Periods
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cloud backup solutions lack efficient management of data retention periods and lifecycle management, leading to difficulties in controlling data access, security compliance, and jurisdiction-specific data privacy, especially when migrating data between different storage tiers with varying performance capabilities.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a storage tier manager that creates multiple representations of a dataset backup with distinct retention periods, allowing for local caching and cloud storage, enabling deduplication, compression, and encryption, while maintaining separate metadata structures for efficient data retrieval and migration across different storage tiers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single cloud backup representation is created with a fixed retention period, then storage simplicity is maintained, but flexibility in data retention management and compliance with jurisdictional requirements deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides a single backup representation into multiple representations, each with distinct retention periods. The storage tier manager creates a first representation with a first retention period and a second representation with a second retention period, allowing different data to be retained for different durations based on compliance requirements and access patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a temporal dimension to backup management by introducing multiple retention periods. Instead of a single retention timeframe, the system now manages backups across multiple time dimensions (first retention period, second retention period), enabling compliance with jurisdictional requirements that specify different retention durations.
2Quantity of substance
If data is migrated between storage tiers with varying performance capabilities, then storage efficiency is improved, but data access latency and migration complexity worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating different representations of the same backup data optimized for different storage tiers. The first representation is optimized for frequent access with shorter retention, while the second representation is optimized for long-term archival with extended retention. Each representation resides in storage tiers matched to its access patterns and retention requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage tier manager acts as an intermediary that handles the complexity of migration between storage tiers. It automatically manages the creation, maintenance, and migration of backup representations across different storage tiers based on retention periods and access patterns, shielding users from the complexity of tiered storage management.
3Reliability
If multiple representations with different retention periods are created, then compliance with jurisdictional data privacy requirements is improved, but storage and management complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the retention period parameter to create different representations. By varying this key parameter (first retention period vs. second retention period), the system can comply with different jurisdictional requirements without creating fundamentally different backup systems. Each representation is configured with specific retention parameters matched to compliance requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage tier manager implements self-service by automatically managing the creation, maintenance, and deletion of multiple backup representations. The system autonomously handles the complexity of tracking retention periods, migrating data between tiers, and ensuring compliance with jurisdictional requirements without requiring manual intervention for each backup operation.
4Speed
If local caching is implemented before cloud migration, then recovery speed is improved, but storage cost and data duplication worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by implementing local caching only for the first representation with the shorter retention period. Not all backup data is cached locally - only the portion that requires fast access and short-term retention. The second representation with longer retention is stored directly in cloud storage, avoiding unnecessary local storage consumption while maintaining fast recovery for recently backed up data.
Data Source
AI summary
A storage tier manager creates different representations of a dataset backup for different retention periods. Each of the representations of the dataset backup is distinctly identifiable despite initially representing a same dataset backup. The representations are structured metadata corresponding to the dataset backup. One representation is a cached backup version of the dataset backup (“cached backup” or “cached representation”) provided for low latency access while residing at a storage tier of the backup appliance for a relatively short retention period according to a lifecycle management policy. The other representation is a cloud backup version of the dataset backup (“cloud backup” or “cloud representation”) provided for persisting into cloud storage for a longer retention period according to the lifecycle management policy.