Abstract: A cloud service provider supports immutable data on its servers and the immutable data is movable across multiple access tiers, in which each access tier affects access performance and cost. In typical implementations, the immutable data may be blobs of unstructured data such as text or binary data, multimedia, among other data types, which are organized into containers that provide a directory for user interaction with the data. Policies are applied at the container-level which regulates user interactions with the containers and the container's blobs. A policy can, for example, prohibit modification and deletion of blobs within a container until a policy's set retention period expires. After expiration of the retention period, the container and that container's blobs may be deleted, but blob modification may still be prohibited. A user interface is configured to enable a user to move containers to other access tiers while the container maintains its policy.

Abstract: A cloud storage system includes a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium to store blob table management instructions for execution by the processor. The blob table management instructions are configured to manage a plurality of storage requests for a blob stored in a storage stamp as snapshots in a blob table and selectively create a user snapshot of at least one of the snapshots in the blob table. When automatic snapshots are enabled, the blob table management instructions are configured to receive a first request to overwrite the blob. If the first request does not further specify a key of the one of the snapshots in the blob table, the blob table management instructions are configured to add a new snapshot to the blob table and maintain storage of a prior snapshot of the blob for a maximum period.

Abstract: A cloud service provider supports immutable data on its servers and the immutable data is movable across multiple access tiers, in which each access tier affects access performance and cost. In typical implementations, the immutable data may be blobs of unstructured data such as text or binary data, multimedia, among other data types, which are organized into containers that provide a directory for user interaction with the data. Policies are applied at the container-level which regulates user interactions with the containers and the container's blobs. A policy can, for example, prohibit modification and deletion of blobs within a container until a policy's set retention period expires. After expiration of the retention period, the container and that container's blobs may be deleted, but blob modification may still be prohibited. A user interface is configured to enable a user to move containers to other access tiers while the container maintains its policy.

Abstract: A cloud storage system includes a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium to store blob table management instructions for execution by the processor. The blob table management instructions are configured to manage a plurality of storage requests for a blob stored in a storage stamp as snapshots in a blob table and selectively create a user snapshot of at least one of the snapshots in the blob table. When automatic snapshots are enabled, the blob table management instructions are configured to receive a first request to overwrite the blob. If the first request does not further specify a key of the one of the snapshots in the blob table, the blob table management instructions are configured to add a new snapshot to the blob table and maintain storage of a prior snapshot of the blob for a maximum period.