Patent ID: 8744997

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for generating and distributing replica removal requests for objects 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: for a respective object in a distributed storage system, identifying one or more replicas of the object to be removed from the distributed storage system based at least in part on replication policies for the object; generating replica removal requests for the one or more replicas of the object, wherein a respective replication policy includes criteria that are used to determine when to remove respective replicas, wherein a respective replica removal request instructs a respective instance of the distributed storage system to remove a respective replica of the respective object so as to at least partially satisfy replication policies for the respective object, and wherein generating the replica removal requests for the one or more replicas of the object includes: identifying violated replication policies for the object; selecting the one or more replicas of the object to be removed from instances of the distributed storage system based on last access times of replicas of the respective object and the current storage space available at the instances of the distributed storage system including the replicas of the respective object; and generating the replica removal requests for the one or more selected replicas of the respective object; and distributing the replica removal requests for the one or more replicas of the object in the distributed storage system to respective instances of the distributed storage system corresponding to the replica removal requests for execution.