Cloud data storage location monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9264499-B2
Application number	US-201213715387-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2012
Priority date	Dec 14, 2012
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

Technologies for monitoring data storage location for cloud data include a cloud monitoring server configured to communicate with one or more cloud customer computing devices and cloud service providers. The cloud monitoring server receives monitoring requests from the cloud customer computing devices and retrieves provider information from the cloud service providers. The cloud monitoring server compiles response data based on the monitoring requests and the provider information, and sends response data to the cloud customer computing devices. Cloud customer computing devices may send on-demand monitoring requests and/or continuous, policy-based monitoring requests. For policy-based monitoring, the cloud monitoring server continually monitors the provider information and provides response data when one or more conditions specified in the policy are satisfied. The cloud monitoring server may also make recommendations and provide feedback based on the monitoring requests or the provider information. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A cloud monitoring server for monitoring customer data stored by one or more cloud services, the cloud monitoring server comprising:
a cloud customer interface module to receive a monitoring request from a cloud customer computing device, wherein the monitoring request comprises a request for geographic storage location information associated with customer data stored by a cloud service provider and a monitoring policy;
a cloud provider interface module to collect provider information from the cloud service provider in response to receipt of the monitoring request, the provider information to include geographic storage location information of the customer data stored by the cloud service provider; and
a data analysis engine to (i) determine whether a condition of the monitoring policy has been satisfied, wherein the condition of the monitoring policy comprises whether the geographic storage location information associated with the customer data has changed and (ii) compile response data based on the monitoring request and the geographic storage location information of the provider information, wherein the response data is indicative of a geographic location of the customer data stored by the cloud service provider;
wherein the cloud customer interface module is to send the response data to the cloud customer computing device in response to the determination that the condition of the monitoring policy has been satisfied.

2. The cloud monitoring server of claim 1 , wherein to collect the provider information comprises to collect provider information from each cloud service provider of a plurality of cloud service providers, in response to the receipt of the monitoring request.

3. The cloud monitoring server of claim 1 , wherein:
the cloud provider interface module is further to continue to collect provider information in response to receipt of the monitoring request that includes the monitoring policy.

4. The cloud monitoring server of claim 1 , wherein the condition of the monitoring policy further comprises whether the geographic storage location of the customer data has changed from a first country to a second country.

5. The cloud monitoring server of claim 1 , wherein the cloud provider interface module further comprises:
an information bus module to retrieve the provider information from an information bus provided by the cloud monitoring server.

6. The cloud monitoring server of claim 1 , wherein the data analysis engine is further to recommend an action to the cloud customer computing device based on the provider information.

7. The cloud monitoring server of claim 1 , wherein the data analysis engine is further to provide feedback information to the cloud service provider based on the monitoring request and the response data.

8. One or more non-transitory, machine readable media comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause a cloud customer computing device to:
construct a monitoring request for geographic storage location information of customer data stored by one or more cloud service providers, wherein the monitoring request includes a monitoring policy that defines a condition to be satisfied as a function of the storage location information, wherein the condition comprises whether the geographic storage location information associated with the customer data has changed;
send the monitoring request to a cloud monitoring server; and
receive response data from the cloud monitoring server in response to the monitoring request, wherein the response data is indicative of a geographic location of the customer data stored by the one or more cloud service providers.

9. The one or more non-transitory, machine readable media of claim 8 , further comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause the cloud customer computing device to:
receive from a user of the cloud customer computing device a selection of at least one of: the one or more cloud service providers to be monitored and the customer data to be monitored; and
wherein the response data is to be based on the selected one or more cloud service providers and the customer data to be monitored.

10. The one or more non-transitory, machine readable media of claim 8 , further comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause the cloud customer computing device to:
receive from a user of the cloud customer computing device the condition to be satisfied as a function of the storage location information;
wherein the response data is to be based on whether the condition of the monitoring request policy has been satisfied.

11. The one or more non-transitory, machine readable media of claim 10 , wherein the condition of the monitoring policy is to be satisfied upon a change in data storage location.

12. The one or more non-transitory, machine readable media of claim 8 , wherein the condition of the monitoring policy is to be satisfied when a data storage location of the customer data changes from a first geo-location to a second geo-location.

13. One or more non-transitory, machine readable media comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed result in a cloud monitoring server:
receiving a monitoring request from a cloud customer computing device, wherein the monitoring request comprises a request for geographic storage location information associated with customer data stored by a cloud service provider and a monitoring policy;
collecting provider information from a cloud service provider in response to receiving the monitoring request, the provider information to include geographic storage location information of the customer data stored by the cloud service provider;
determining whether a condition of the monitoring policy has been satisfied, wherein the condition of the monitoring policy comprises whether the geographic storage location information associated with the customer data has changed;
compiling response data based on the monitoring request and the geographic storage location information of the provider information, wherein the response data is indicative of a geographic location of the customer data stored by the cloud service provider; and
sending the response data from the cloud monitoring server to the cloud customer computing device in response to determining that the condition of the monitoring policy has been satisfied.

14. The machine readable media of claim 13 , wherein collecting provider information from the cloud service provider comprises collecting provider information from each cloud service provider of a plurality of cloud service providers, in response to receiving the monitoring request.

15. The machine readable media of claim 13 , further comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed result in the cloud monitoring server:
continuing to collect provider information in response to receiving the monitoring request that includes the monitoring policy.

16. The machine readable media of claim 13 , wherein determining whether the condition of the monitoring policy has been satisfied further comprises determining whether the geographic storage location of the customer data has changed from a first geo-location to a second geo-location.

17. The machine readable media of claim 13 , wherein collecting the provider information from the cloud service provider comprises retrieving the provider information from an information bus provided by the cloud monitoring server.

18. The machine readable media o

Assignees

• Li Hong
• Vicente John B
• Yarvis Mark D
• Blakley James R
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Li Hong
• Vicente John B
• Yarvis Mark D
• Blakley James R

Classifications

• H04L67/1097 Primary

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• H04L41/18

  Delegation of network management function, e.g. customer network management [CNM] · CPC title

• H04L67/18 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/2852

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/52

  specially adapted for the location of the user terminal · CPC title