Patent Abstract:
Methods and systems for the in-place or post-facto migration of data to a cloud-based data storage service or other virtual storage environment, include a Cloud Storage Import Utility (CSIU) device having a file selection module and configured to generate a user interface. The user interface allows a storage administrator to select one or more files, file folders, or shares to be published to the cloud and optionally migrated from a current storage device to another storage service, and for providing an indication of the selection. The CSIU is configured to capture metadata for the selected files or file folders. The CSIU also provides one or more commands understandable by the cloud-based data storage service, to migrate the metadata to the cloud-based data storage service independently of the files or file folders, so that they are usable by the cloud-based storage service without being moved to the cloud-based storage service.

Full Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/212,881, entitled System and Method for In-Place Data Migration, filed on Aug. 18, 2011, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/378,516, entitled System and Method for In-Place Data Migration, filed on Aug. 31, 2010, the contents both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to data storage and digital content management and more particularly, to a cost-effective system and method for in-place or post-facto migration of data to cloud-based storage services. 
     BACKGROUND INFORMATION 
     It is important for companies to find cost effective ways to manage their digital file storage. Although it may seem that file storage is inexpensive, 80% or more of the total cost of ownership is in managing and administering that storage. Most organizations&#39; need for file storage is growing at 40% to 50% per year, along with the cost to manage that storage. Today, many companies have so much data that moving it from place to place can be cost-prohibitive. 
     A number of storage software vendors provide solutions that will store and organize data. Examples of such solutions in include conventional NAS, SAN or DAS storage devices which are typically deployed and maintained by an enterprises IT department. In addition, there is currently a trend towards public and private cloud-based or virtual data stores and associated name spaces supported internally and externally, and accessed by users via a Wide Area Network such as the Internet and by legacy protocols such as CIFS and NFS. Examples of these approaches include the Microsoft® SharePoint™, ByCast, and Xanet services, etc. 
     One of the drawbacks the Storage Industry has today is that, unlike in the past when file data was comparatively small could be easily copied from one location to another, today&#39;s enterprises often have too much data to move other than by necessity. This may be particularly problematic for relatively large users attempting to migrate from conventional user-supported NAS, SAN or DAS storage devices, to the aforementioned cloud-based or virtual data stores. Indeed, for an enterprise-class customer that may have several terabytes (or more) of data, such movement may not be realistically feasible, since the resources required for such a data migration may approach or exceed the available resources of their IT infrastructure. 
     For example, the US military has recently attempted to standardize on SharePoint™. In total there are approximately 3 million users, hundreds of petabytes of data and trillions of files. Currently, it may be possible to load a trillion records into a database. Indeed, in some applications it may be possible to manipulate a billion records using a conventional desktop computer. However, it is impractical, if not substantially impossible, to move 100 petabytes of data electronically from point A to point B in any reasonable period of time or affordable cost. 
     Accordingly, what is needed is a cost-effective system and method for the virtual, or post-facto migration of relatively large amounts of data to cloud-based data sharing services or other content management systems. 
     SUMMARY 
     Aspects of the present invention include methods and systems for the in-place or post-facto migration of data to a cloud-based data storage service or other virtual storage environment. The system includes a Cloud Storage Import Utility (CSIU) device including a file selection module and configured to generate a user interface. The user interface is configured for allowing a storage administrator to select one or more files, file folders, or shares to be to be published to the cloud and optionally migrated from a current storage device to another storage service, and for providing an indication of said selection. The CSIU is configured to capture metadata for the selected files or file folders. The CSIU also provides one or more commands understandable by the cloud-based data storage service, to cause the metadata to be migrated to the cloud-based data storage service independently of the files or file folders, so that they are usable by the cloud-based storage service without being moved to the cloud-based storage service. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood by reading the following detailed description, taken together with the drawings wherein: 
         FIGS. 1 and 2  are block diagrams of systems of the prior art; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system and method of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of an alternate embodiment of a system and method of the present invention; and 
         FIGS. 5-15  are screen displays of an exemplary operation of an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     An aspect of the invention was the realization that data storage for large scale, enterprise-level applications presents issues that are substantially different from those of relatively small scale applications. The instant inventor also realized that contrary to conventional wisdom among much of the relevant industry, metadata and the underlying data to which it pertains, may be separated from one another without sacrificing desired functionality. 
     Turning now to  FIG. 1 , can be seen that in order to use conventional cloud-based data storage services  28 , all of the data, i.e., the underlying data bits and their corresponding metadata, must be moved from an original location (e.g., data store  14 ) into the cloud-based service  28 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , once in service  28 , the data may be transferred to a remote data store, such as via Sharepoint&#39;s Remote Blob Storage feature, shown at  14 ′, where it may be accessed by service  28 . However, both of these scenarios require the initial upload of the underlying data, as well as its corresponding metadata, to service  28 . 
     Turning now to  FIG. 3 , an embodiment of the present invention will be described in connection with an exemplary system  10 . As shown, system  10  may be accessed by a storage administrator, via a user device  12 , which may take the form of a computer, laptop, PDA, Smart phone or the like. Other examples of user devices  12  include a workstation, personal computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless telephone, or any other suitable computing device including a processor, a computer readable medium upon which computer readable program code (including instructions and/or data) may be disposed, and a user interface, all of which require or may be used by a storage administrator to migrate data to a cloud-based or virtual data storage service for primary and/or archiving storage. A similar device usable by an end-user, shown as end-user device  12 ′, may be used in a conventional manner to access files administered by embodiments of the present invention. 
     As shown, the user device  12  is communicably couplable via a network  18 , e.g., a Wide Area Network such as the Internet, to a storage device  14  that may be used for primary (day to day) storage, and/or that may also be used for long term storage or archiving. The primary storage and long-term or archiving storage may be performed on two different areas of the same physical storage device  14  or alternatively, may be performed on two physically different and/or remotely located storage devices  14 . 
     Storage device  14  may include any number of storage devices, including, but not limited to, Network Attached Storage (NAS) such as those available from EMC Corporation (Hopkinton, Mass., USA) and NetApp (Sunnyvale, Calif., USA), Storage Area Network (SAN) devices such as, but not limited to, those from EMC Corporation (Hopkinton, Mass., USA), and direct attached storage devices (DAS) such as, but not limited to, devices running the Microsoft Windows Server operating system. 
     A cloud-based (virtual) data store/storage system  28  is also shown communicably coupled to network  18 . This storage system  28  may take the form of any number of commercially available services, such as the aforementioned Microsoft® SharePoint™, ByCast, and Xanet services, etc. For ease of explication, the embodiments disclosed herein will be shown and described with respect to the Microsoft® Sharepoint™ service, with the understanding that these embodiments/descriptions are applicable to substantially any cloud-based or other virtual storage environment data store/storage system currently available or which may be developed in the future. 
     As also shown, system  10  includes a Cloud Storage Import Utility (CSIU)  30 . This CSIU  30  is located on a server (e.g., a webserver) that may enable user access via webpage(s). This server may also perform other functions and may provide various other features to the network such as database hosting, etc. The CSIU  30  enables users, such as storage administrators, to select files, e.g., by accessing a file selection application  15 , to select files for in-place-migration from a storage device  14  to a Sharepoint system  28 . The CSIU  30  receives file selections from the file selection application  15  and then captures information (e.g., metadata) associated with the selected files. CSIU  30  is configured to then insert this captured metadata into the metadata database of the Sharepoint data store  28 . The CSIU  30  may also be configured to index (or to enable communication with Sharepoint enabling it to index) the files selected by file selection application  15 , e.g., to enable end-users to effect content-based, full text searching of the selected files via the Sharepoint interface. 
     It should be recognized that the file selection application  15  may be a software application, such as a version of the NTP Software Storage Investigator™ available from NTP Software (Nashua N.H.) and incorporated herein by reference, that may be modified in accordance with the teachings hereof, to permit users to designate specific files or categories of files for use by CSIU  30 . The file selection application  15  may reside directly on the server hosting CSIU  30 , or on another server or platform, including, optionally, user device  12 . It should also be recognized that storage device  14  may be substantially any data store which is remote from the Sharepoint store  28 , including, for example, a data store connected via Sharepoint&#39;s Remote Blob Storage, shown as  14 ′ in  FIG. 4 . 
     As mentioned hereinabove, user device  12 ,  12 ′, storage device  14 ,  14 ′, cloud storage service  28 , and the server that holds CSIU  30 , are communicably coupled to one another over a network communication path  18 , such as the Internet. The user device  12 ,  12 ′ may be any form of computing or data processing device capable of communicating via network  18 . 
     Terms such as “server”, “application”, “engine”, “module” and the like are each intended to refer to a computer-related component, including hardware, software, and/or software in execution. For example, an engine may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor including an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and a computer. Moreover, the various components may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. The term “cloud-based data storage” will be used herein to refer to substantially any virtual storage environment. The term “in-place migration” and/or “post-facto migration” refers to publishing or otherwise making data usable by the cloud-based storage service without having to first move the data to the cloud-based storage service. 
     In various embodiments, the CSIU  30  and/or file selection application  15  may provide a user interface that takes any of various forms including, but not limited to, a standard web browser based application that operates with web browsers such as, but not limited to, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) and Mozilla Firefox. 
     The CSIU  30  is an application configured to effectively translate selections made using the File Selection Application  15  e.g., using lookup tables, database, hard coded programming, configuration files or the like, into instructions or commands usable by CSIU  30  as discussed hereinabove. CSIU  30  is also configured to capture information (e.g., metadata) associated with the file selections and effectively package it with these instructions/commands for use by cloud-based service  28 . CSIU  30  may also handle appropriate security requirements, e.g., to ensure that the particular user at device  12  has requisite permissions, etc. 
     In particular embodiments, CSIU  30  may include a version of the NTP Software ODA™ engine commercially available from NTP Software, Inc. (Nashua, N.H., USA) and incorporated herein by reference, and which has been modified in accordance with the teachings hereof. 
     In a representative method of operating system  10 , a user (e.g., storage administrator) may use device  12  to access  40  the file selection application  15  of the CSUI  30  and select files or folders on primary data store  14 . The CSIU  30  may then capture information (e.g., metadata) for the selected files and/or folder(s), and translates the intended actions into instructions, including metadata, to be conveyed  42  to the Sharepoint service  28  for incorporation into the Sharepoint metadata file(s), to effect the desired in-place-migration of the selected files/folders. Thereafter, an end-user  12 ′ may query  44  the Sharepoint data store  28 , to retrieve 46 data files stored on remote data store  14 . 
     Turning now to  FIG. 4 , an alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown as exemplary system  10 ′. System  10 ′ is substantially similar to system  10  of  FIG. 3 , while also including another remote data store  14 ′ which may serve as a new repository for the underlying source data for the files/folders selected by the user via device  12 . During operation of this system  10 ′, a user (e.g., storage administrator) may use device  12  to access and select 40 files using the file selection application  15  of the CSUI  30 . The CSIU  30  may then capture information (e.g., metadata) for the selected files/folder(s), translate the intended actions into instructions, and convey  42  this information, including the metadata, to the Sharepoint service  28 . The underlying data may also be moved  43  (e.g., in response to a command sent via device  12 ) from data store  14  to the other data store  14 ′ (e.g., via Sharepoint Remote Blob Storage), where it may be handled by cloud-based service  28 . In this manner, system  10 ′ effects the desired in-place-migration of the files selected by the user, by moving them to target data store  14 ′ where they may be accessed via service  28  without ever having to be moved to the service  28 . Thereafter, an end-user  12 ′ may query  44  the Sharepoint data service  28 , to retrieve 46 data files stored on remote data store  14 ′. 
     A more detailed example of in-place-migration in accordance with the present invention will now be shown and described with reference to  FIGS. 5-15 . Turning now to  FIG. 5 , user device  12  may be used to access a particular end-user&#39;s home directory on data store  14 . In this example, the entire contents of this home directory will be selected for (in-place) migration into this user&#39;s Home Documents site on SharePoint  28 . 
     It should be recognized that the data files shown in this home directory on data store  14  are indexed, e.g., by the CSIU  30  using any number of conventional indexing approaches, to enable end-users to search the contents based on keywords. For example, as shown in  FIG. 6 , the word “royalty” has been used to search for the EULA.doc file. The index(es) of this home directory may thus be imported into service  28  as part of the migration process, and/or the data files may be indexed by service  28  after receiving the metadata, as will be discussed in greater detail hereinbelow. 
     As shown in  FIG. 7 , in this example, prior to file migration, the contents of the end-user&#39;s Home Documents site on Sharepoint  28  is empty. 
     As shown in  FIG. 8 , the CSIU  30 , e.g., accessed by a storage administrator via device  12 , displays a dialog screen by which the user may select data files, e.g., by entering the source directory path of the end-user&#39;s home directory on the file server  14 , along with that of the target SharePoint site  28 . Clicking the “import” button causes the utility to perform the import by capturing and forwarding the corresponding metadata, while leaving the underlying data files in place at data store  14 . After the import/in-place-migration is complete, the SharePoint site  28  contains “links” to each file imported, such as shown in  FIG. 9 . 
     To illustrate the items in SharePoint  28  are simply “links” to the files on file server  14 , the screenshot of  FIG. 10  shows the contents of a “DragImg” Word document. This document was launched (e.g., by the end-user device  12 ′) from the “link” in the user&#39;s Home Documents site on Sharepoint  28 . 
     Thereafter, as shown in  FIG. 11 , the title of the DragImg document file is modified from the end-user&#39;s Home directory on the original file server  14  (i.e., not through SharePoint  28 ), and then stored back to the file server  14 . 
     Then, the same file is opened through its “link” on SharePoint  28 . As can be seen in  FIG. 12 , the title of this document shows the change made outside of Sharepoint  28 . Thus, it can be seen that the contents of the file still resides on the original file server  14 , not in the SharePoint database  28 . 
     Turning now to  FIG. 13 , once they have been published or “migrated” as described herein, Sharepoint  28  may use its indexing service, e.g., as part of its external “Blob Storage” feature to index the files. This indexing service may be run on a schedule set by the storage administrator. Alternatively, the indexing process may be initiated manually using the “Start Full Crawl” feature as shown. 
     Turning to  FIG. 14 , the end-user may verify successful indexing by returning to his SharePoint home directory site  28  and perform a search for the word “royalty”. As shown in  FIG. 15 , the search results indicate the search string was located in the EULA.doc file, illustrating successful indexing of the files imported using the in-place-migration of the present invention. 
     In this manner, the present invention can interface with and can be programmed to interface with essentially any archiving application that will allow it&#39;s command set/command interface to be made known to third parties for interfacing with that archiving application. 
     It should be recognized that information, e.g., commands, instructions, metadata, etc., may be passed between the various components (modules) disclosed herein by any convenient means, including conventional push or pull technology, without departing from the scope of the present invention. Moreover, modifications and substitutions by one of ordinary skill in the art are considered to be within the scope of the present invention, which is not to be limited except by any allowed claims and their legal equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6