Patent ID: 7805417

Claim:
A method for operating a data storage system that includes an active data store comprising stored data, a rules engine, and a unified container layer, wherein the method comprises: receiving, by the rules engine, a first portion of the stored data in the active data store; applying, by the rules engine, at least one rule to the received first portion of the stored data in the active data store to modify the received first portion of the stored data in the active data store, resulting in a generation of modified data by the rules engine; receiving and validating, by the unified container layer, the modified data generated by the rules engine; transmitting, by the unified container layer, the validated modified data to the active data store; validating, by the unified container layer, external data received by the unified container layer from an external source that is external to the data storage system that includes the active data store comprising the stored data, the rules engine, and the unified container layer, transmitting, by the unified container layer, the validated external data to the active data store; publishing, by the unified container layer, a message to a broker located external to the data storage system by transmitting the message across a data communications mechanism to the broker, wherein the message is derived from the modified data generated by the rules engine, wherein a first list of subscribers is stored in a data store of the broker, and wherein each subscriber listed on the first list of subscribers subscribes to a topic associated with the message; validating, by a validator comprised by the unified container layer, the published message received from the broker; and filtering, by a filter comprised by the unified container layer, the validated published message.