| IRON MOUNTAIN, INCORPORATED Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20110246735 | REAL TIME BACKUP STORAGE NODE ASSIGNMENT - A method of assigning a storage node from a storage grid to a server is presented. The storage grid includes multiple storage nodes capable of backing up a policy stored on the server. The method includes receiving an assignment request which requests assignment of one of the multiple storage nodes of the storage grid to the server to backup the policy stored on the server. The method also includes performing a storage node assignment operation in an automated manner in response to the assignment request, the storage node assignment operation providing an assignment result identifying a storage node assigned to backup the policy stored on the server, the assignment result being based on an assessment of storage space requirements of the policy and available storage space resources of the storage grid. The method further includes notifying the server of the assignment result to effectuate backing up of the policy stored on the server by the storage node. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110246424 | AUTOMATED RELOCATION OF IN-USE MULTI-SITE PROTECTED DATA STORAGE - Methods of providing access to data are presented. The method includes providing a storage grid which includes a source chain of storage nodes and a target chain of storage nodes, the source chain including a primary source node and a secondary source node which operates as a data minor of the primary source node, and the target chain including a primary target node and a secondary target node which operates as a data mirror of the primary target node. The method also includes initially storing data on the source chain, the primary source node of the source chain maintaining a primary source copy of the data, and the secondary source node of the source chain maintaining a secondary source copy of the data. The method further includes relocating the data from the source chain to the target chain, the primary target node of the target chain maintaining a primary target copy of the data, and the secondary target node of the target chain maintaining a secondary target copy of the data, access to the data being continuously provided from the storage grid to an external device before, during, and after relocation of the data from the source chain to the target chain. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110208755 | DATA RESTORATION UTILIZING FORWARD AND BACKWARD DELTAS - A restoration technique includes storing a collection of blocks having (i) a first baseline of blocks defining a file at a first time within a predefined window, (ii) older blocks, and (iii) newer blocks. The technique further includes providing a direction signal to restore the file at a particular time from the collection of blocks. The direction signal has an older direction value when the particular time is older than the first time and (ii) a newer direction value when the particular time is newer than the first time. The technique further includes forming, from the collection of blocks, a second baseline of blocks from the first baseline of blocks and additional blocks. The additional blocks are either (i) the older blocks or (ii) the newer blocks depending on the direction value. The second baseline defines the file at the particular time. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110202506 | FOLDERING BY STABLE QUERY - Instead of adding resources into a folder by specifying a list of identifiers, client applications add resources to a folder by specifying a search query that matches the resources to be added. The virtual folder is, therefore, a collection of search queries rather than a collection of resource identifiers. This allows the data archive systems to easily store folder information in a database. A client application can then search by specifying the folder as its search criteria to list all content associated with the folder. Additionally, to ensure that the list of results associated with a particular query does not change after the query is added into a folder, the data archive system also captures generation information associated with the particular query (i.e., the iteration of the search indexes at the time the query is received) and stores the generation information with the query as part of the folder. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110131448 | PERFORMING A WORKFLOW HAVING A SET OF DEPENDANCY-RELATED PREDEFINED ACTIVITIES ON A PLURALITY OF TASK SERVERS - A technique of performing a workflow on a plurality of task servers involves starting a plurality of task server processes on the plurality of task servers. Each task server provides an operating system which is constructed and arranged to locally run a respective task server process. The technique further involves receiving a workflow which includes a set of dependency-related predefined activities, and placing task identifiers in a queue structure based on the received workflow. The task identifiers identify tasks to be performed in a distributed manner by the plurality of task server processes started on the plurality of task servers. Each task is a specific execution of a dependency-related predefined activity of the workflow. Progress in performing the workflow is made as the plurality of task server processes (i) claim task identifiers from the queue structure and (ii) perform the tasks identified by the claimed task identifiers. | 06-02-2011 |
| 20110119382 | TECHNIQUES FOR DEPLOYING VIRTUAL MACHINES USING A DHCP SERVER TO ASSIGN RESERVED IP ADDRESSES - An improved technique involves providing a set of reserved address assignments to a DHCP server, each reserved address assignment including a unique MAC address and a reserved IP address which are associated with each other via that reserved address assignment. The technique further involves providing a base virtual machine image and a set of unique MAC addresses, and generating multiple virtual machines from the base virtual machine image and the set of unique MAC addresses. Each virtual machine (i) provides a particular unique MAC address of the set of unique MAC addresses to the DHCP server and obtains a particular reserved IP address from the DHCP server via an exchange of DHCP messages between that virtual machine and the DHCP server, and (ii) operates as a networked standalone computer using the particular unique MAC address and the particular reserved IP address. | 05-19-2011 |
| 20110113207 | DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM WITH APPLICATION-CONTROLLED ALLOCATION OF FILE STORAGE SPACE - A data processing system stores data in a data file by first identifying the data file as a large file type known to require an amount of storage space substantially greater than a system allocation unit size. As data is to be written to the data file beginning at a location identified by a file pointer, the system determines whether it is necessary to allocate storage space of the data processing system to store the data to be written, and if so then commands are issued to the file system including (i) one or more first commands to set an end of file marker for the data file to a new value greater than a current value of the end of file marker by at least an application allocation unit size which is at least twice the system allocation unit size, and (ii) one or more second commands to mark a region of the data file extending between the current and new values of the end of file marker as holding valid data. Subsequently the data is written to the data file at the location identified by the file pointer. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110016093 | OPERATING SYSTEM RESTORATION USING REMOTE BACKUP SYSTEM AND LOCAL SYSTEM RESTORE FUNCTION - A computer performs a backup operation copying user files and system files to a separate backup system for persistent storage. The system files include restore-point files from a system area of a source system storage device, the restore-point files created by the computer's operating system and being copies of constituent files of the operating system at a point in time. In a subsequent restoration operation, the computer is operated in a limited-functionality recovery mode including (a) executing a recovery program from a recovery storage device to restore the restore-point files from the recovery storage device to a system area of a target system storage device, and (b) executing a system restore function with selected restored restore-point files to restore the operating system. Subsequently, the computer is operated in a full-functionality operating mode including (a) executing the restored operating system, and (b) executing the recovery program to restore the user files from the recovery storage device to the computer. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20100318534 | INTELLIGENT RETRIEVAL OF DIGITAL ASSETS - A technique enables intelligent retrieval of digital assets. The technique involves gathering metadata based on a scan of the digital assets. The gathered metadata includes metadata entries, each metadata entry identifying a particular digital asset and a particular set of digital asset properties of that particular digital asset. The technique further involves storing the digital assets in encrypted form within a digital asset repository of the electronic system after gathering the metadata, and updating a metadata database of the electronic system based on the metadata entries, the metadata database being distinct from the digital asset repository. Accordingly, while the digital assets are stored in the digital asset repository in encrypted form, specific digital assets within the digital asset repository are identifiable in response to a database search of the metadata database since the database search is able to use digital asset properties as searching criteria. | 12-16-2010 |
