Systems and methods for facilitating access to private files using a cloud storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9251114-B1
Application number	US-201314053357-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 14, 2013
Priority date	Oct 12, 2012
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

A method for providing access to objects associated with a particular client in a cloud storage system is disclosed. The method includes the steps of establishing a connection with a user, providing a client namespace associated with the client to the user, where the client namespace represents objects stored on the cloud storage system and objects stored on a private storage system apart from the cloud storage system, receiving a request from the user to access an object stored on the private storage system, and providing information to the user to facilitate access to the object stored on the private storage system by said user. Other systems and methods are also disclosed. Important advantages of the present invention are facilitated by separating the logic for user access (control plane) from the actual storage (Storage plane). Private file system access can still be managed from the cloud, while keeping the client data private.

First claim

We claim:

1. In a cloud storage system, a method for providing access to objects associated with a particular client, said method comprising:
establishing a connection with a user associated with said client over a network;
providing a client namespace associated with said client to said user, said client namespace representing objects stored on said cloud storage system and objects stored on a private storage system apart from said cloud storage system;
receiving a request from said user to access an object stored on said private storage system; and
providing information to said user to facilitate access to said object stored on said private storage system by said user; and wherein
said step of providing said client namespace to said user includes
providing a first portion of said client namespace to said user based on objects stored on said cloud storage system and
providing information to said user to enable said user to retrieve a second portion of said client namespace from said private storage system, thereby also providing at least a portion of said information to facilitate access to said object on said private storage system by said user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said information includes connection information enabling said user to establish a separate connection with said private storage system.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said connection information includes HTTP(S) endpoint information associated with said private storage system.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said endpoint information indicates a read-only endpoint.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising redirecting said user to said private storage system in response to receiving said request from said user to access said object.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing a second connection with said private storage system;
requesting access to said object on behalf of said user via said second connection;
gaining access to said requested object via said second connection; and
providing access to said requested object to said user via said connection.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
said step of providing said client namespace includes providing a client namespace further representing objects stored on a second private storage system apart from said cloud storage system; and said method further comprises
receiving a request from said user to access an object stored on said second private storage system; and
providing information to said user to facilitate access to said object stored on said second private storage system by said user.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said step of providing said client namespace to said user includes:
providing a first portion of said client namespace to said user based on objects stored on said cloud storage system;
providing information to said user to enable said user to retrieve a second portion of said client namespace from said private storage system; and
providing information to said user to enable said user to retrieve a third portion of said client namespace from said second private storage system.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said step of establishing said connection with said user includes establishing said connection with said user via said private storage system.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of providing said client namespace to said user includes generating the entirety of said client namespace from information stored on said cloud storage system.

11. A non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to perform a method for providing access to objects associated with a particular client, said code being operative to cause said electronic device to:
establish a connection with a user associated with said client over a network;
provide a client namespace associated with said client to said user, said client namespace representing objects stored on a cloud storage system and objects stored on a private storage system apart from said cloud storage system;
receive a request from said user to access an object stored on said private storage system; and
provide information to said user to facilitate access to said object stored on said private storage system by said user; and wherein
to provide said client namespace to said user includes, said code is further operative to cause said electronic device to
provide a first portion of said client namespace to said user based on objects stored on said cloud storage system and
provide information to said user to enable said user to retrieve a second portion of said client namespace from said private storage system, thereby also providing at least a portion of said information to facilitate access to said object on said private storage system by said user.

12. The non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein said information includes connection information enabling said user to establish a separate connection with said private storage system.

13. The non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein said connection information includes HTTP(S) endpoint information associated with said private storage system.

14. The non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein said endpoint information indicates a read-only endpoint.

15. The non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein said code is further operative to cause said electronic device to redirect said user to said private storage system in response to receiving said request from said user to access said object.

16. The non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein said code is further operative to cause said electronic device to:
establish a second connection with said private storage system;
request access to said object on behalf of said user via said second connection;
gain access to said requested object via said second connection; and
provide access to said requested object to said user via said connection.

17. The non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein said code is further operative to cause said electronic device to:
provide a client namespace further representing objects stored on a second private storage system apart from said cloud storage system;
receive a request from said user to access an object stored on said second private storage system; and
provide information to said user to facilitate access to said object stored on said second private storage system by said user.

18. The non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein, to provide said client namespace to said user, said code is operative to cause said electronic device to:
provide a first portion of said client namespace to said user based on objects stored on said cloud storage system;
provide information to said user to enable said user to retrieve a second portion of said client namespace from said private storage system; and
provide information to said user to enable said user to retrieve a third portion of said client namespace from said second private storage system.

19. The non-transitory, electronically-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein, to establish said connection with said user, said code is operative to cause said electronic device to establish said connection with said user via said private storage system.

20. The non-transi

Assignees

• Egnyte Inc

Inventors

• Ancin Hakan
• Chen Xi
• Jassal Amrit
• Jung Daniel H
• Neustaetter Gregory B
• Puttergill Sean H
• Sundararaj Ramakrishnan
• Vedanthan Sanjay
• Yalangi Chandra
• Kavasseri Ramanathan
• Wijayaratne Ravi
• Sharma Shishir

Classifications

• G06F21/6227 Primary

  where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries · CPC title

• G06F16/14

  Details of searching files based on file metadata · CPC title

• G06F16/1844

  Management specifically adapted to replicated file systems · CPC title

• G06F15/17331 Primary

  Distributed shared memory [DSM], e.g. remote direct memory access [RDMA] · CPC title

• H04L63/20

  for managing network security; network security policies in general (filtering policies H04L63/0227) · CPC title