Patent ID: 8812801

Claim:
A method of data replication in a distributed data storage system comprising network devices that are at least used as storage devices, wherein said method comprising: for each storage of a data item, selection of a replication set, said replication set representing a predetermined number k of storage devices in said distributed data storage system that are selected for storing of said data item, said predetermined number k representing a so-called replication level; for each storage device in said replication set, referred to as replication storage device, determination of a timeout value for a timer associated to said replication storage device, that is started upon disconnection of said replication storage device from said distributed data storage system and that is stopped upon reconnection of said replication storage device to said distributed data storage system, said replication storage device being detected as being disconnected upon expiration of said timer, said timeout value being determined as a function of a distribution of downtime data measured for said replication storage device, said downtime data representing time durations when said replication storage device was unavailable for said distributed data storage system; when said replication storage device is being detected as being disconnected, and if a number of connected replication storage devices in said replication set is inferior to a predetermined threshold, restoring of said replication level by selection of at least one second storage device new to said replication set, and by creating of a new data item from said data item on said at least one second storage device, and adding of said at least one second storage device to said replication set; and adapting said timeout value according to a factor of criticalness determined for said replication set, said factor of criticalness being determined according to a difference between said number of connected replication storage devices in said replication set and said replication level.