Patent ID: 9298736
Filing Date: 2016-03-29
CPC Classification: G06F,G06G,H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method for allocating object replicas in a distributed storage system, comprising: at a computer system including one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors: identifying a plurality of objects in the distributed storage system, wherein each object has an associated storage policy that specifies a target number of object replicas stored at distinct instances of the distributed storage system, and wherein each storage policy includes criteria selected from the group consisting of: identifying an object of the plurality of objects whose number of object replicas exceeds the target number of object replicas specified by the storage policy associated with the object; selecting a first replica of the object for removal based on last access times for replicas of the object; and transmitting a request to a first instance of the distributed storage system that stores the first replica, the request instructing the first instance to remove the first replica of the object.