Patent ID: 8055615

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for recreating a first storage node in a cluster comprising a plurality of storage nodes, the computer-implemented method being executed by one or more computing devices, the computer-implemented method comprising: creating a replica chain for each object stored in the cluster, the created replica chain indicating selected storage nodes in the cluster storing replicas of the object, the created replica chain further identifying a storage address of the object on each selected storage node, wherein each selected storage node has a designated source node in the created replica chain; identifying objects replicated on the first storage node with reference to other storage nodes of the plurality of storage nodes and without reference to the first storage node; recreating each of the identified objects on a second storage node with reference to the other storage nodes and without reference to the first storage node, wherein each identified object and its corresponding storage address are copied from the designated source node for the object on the first storage node among the other storage nodes according to the created replica chain for the identified object; and designating the second storage node as a replacement node for the first storage node.