Abstract: Systems and methods for optimizing operation of a physical device in a virtualized computing environment are provided. The method comprises monitoring instructions issued by an application running on a virtual machine's (VM) operating system, wherein the VM is hosted by a hypervisor providing access to a physical device connected to a virtualized computing environment; wherein a device driver supported by the operating system issues one or more instructions to an emulated device supported by the hypervisor to control the physical device according to the issued instructions, wherein the emulated device's registers are implemented in memory of the hypervisor and the instructions issued by the device driver are stored in said registers, wherein the hypervisor handles the instructions, in response to learning that the instructions are stored in said registers.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for handling a client request in a hierarchical multi-tenant data storage system, the method comprising processing a request in subtasks, wherein a subtask is executed with a minimal set of privileges associated with a specific subtenant; extracting a claimed n-level hierarchy of a tenant and sub-tenant identities from the request; extracting authentication signatures or credentials that correspond to a level in the hierarchy; for a first level in the hierarchy, sending the request to a dedicated subtenant authenticator with privilege to validate credentials for a subtenant at the first level; and receiving a confirmation from the dedicated subtenant authenticator, whether the request is authentic.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for handling a client request in a hierarchical multi-tenant data storage system, the method comprising processing a request in subtasks, wherein a subtask is executed with a minimal set of privileges associated with a specific subtenant; extracting a claimed n-level hierarchy of a tenant and sub-tenant identities from the request; extracting authentication signatures or credentials that correspond to a level in the hierarchy; for a first level in the hierarchy, sending the request to a dedicated subtenant authenticator with privilege to validate credentials for a subtenant at the first level; and receiving a confirmation from the dedicated subtenant authenticator, whether the request is authentic.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for recovering data objects in a distributed data storage system, the method comprising storing one or more replicas of a first data object on one or more clusters in one or more data centers connected over a data communications network; recording health information about said one or more replicas, wherein the health information comprises data about availability of a replica to participate in a restoration process; calculating a query-priority for the first data object; querying, based on the calculated query-priority, the health information for the one or more replicas to determine which of the one or more replicas is available for restoration of the object data; calculating a restoration-priority for the first data object based on the health information for the one or more replicas; and restoring the first data object from the one or more of the available replicas, based on the calculated restoration-priority.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for recovering data objects in a distributed data storage system, the method comprising storing one or more replicas of a first data object on one or more clusters in one or more data centers connected over a data communications network; recording health information about said one or more replicas, wherein the health information comprises data about availability of a replica to participate in a restoration process; calculating a query-priority for the first data object; querying, based on the calculated query-priority, the health information for the one or more replicas to determine which of the one or more replicas is available for restoration of the object data; calculating a restoration-priority for the first data object based on the health information for the one or more replicas; and restoring the first data object from the one or more of the available replicas, based on the calculated restoration-priority.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for recovering data objects in a distributed data storage system, the method comprising storing one or more replicas of a first data object on one or more clusters in one or more data centers connected over a data communications network; recording health information about said one or more replicas, wherein the health information comprises data about availability of a replica to participate in a restoration process; calculating a query-priority for the first data object; querying, based on the calculated query-priority, the health information for the one or more replicas to determine which of the one or more replicas is available for restoration of the object data; calculating a restoration-priority for the first data object based on the health information for the one or more replicas; and restoring the first data object from the one or more of the available replicas, based on the calculated restoration-priority.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for recovering data objects in a distributed data storage system, the method comprising storing one or more replicas of a first data object on one or more clusters in one or more data centers connected over a data communications network; recording health information about said one or more replicas, wherein the health information comprises data about availability of a replica to participate in a restoration process; calculating a query-priority for the first data object; querying, based on the calculated query-priority, the health information for the one or more replicas to determine which of the one or more replicas is available for restoration of the object data; calculating a restoration-priority for the first data object based on the health information for the one or more replicas; and restoring the first data object from the one or more of the available replicas, based on the calculated restoration-priority.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for task management in a computer implemented system. The method comprises registering a task with brokers residing on one or more nodes to manage the execution of a task to completion, wherein a first broker is accompanied by a first set of worker threads co-located on the node on which the first broker is executed, wherein the first broker assigns responsibility of execution for the task to the one or more worker threads in the first set of co-located worker threads, wherein in response to a failure associated with a first worker thread in the first set, the first broker reassigns the responsibility of execution for the task to a second worker thread in the first set, wherein in response to a failure associated with the first broker, a second broker assigns responsibility of execution for the task to one or more co-located worker threads.

Abstract: Embodiments relate to digital data retention management. An aspect includes calculating a retention date associated with a data object in a storage system. Another aspect includes generating a cryptographic checksum for metadata relating to said data object, the metadata comprising the retention date. Another aspect includes storing said metadata and said cryptographic checksum.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for I/O monitoring in a plurality of compute nodes and a plurality of service nodes utilizing a Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe) are provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises assigning at least one virtual function to a services node and a plurality of compute nodes by the PCIe interconnect and a multi-root I/O virtualization (MR-IOV) adapter. The MR-IOV adapter enables bridging of a plurality of compute node virtual functions with corresponding services node virtual functions. A front-end driver on the compute node requests the services node virtual function to send data and the data is transferred to the services node virtual function by the MR-IOV adapter. A back-end driver running in the services node receives and passes the data to a software service to modify/monitor the data. The back-end driver sends the data to another virtual function or an external entity.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for handling a client request in a hierarchical multi-tenant data storage system, the method comprising processing a request in subtasks, wherein a subtask is executed with a minimal set of privileges associated with a specific subtenant; extracting a claimed n-level hierarchy of a tenant and sub-tenant identities from the request; extracting authentication signatures or credentials that correspond to a level in the hierarchy; for a first level in the hierarchy, sending the request to a dedicated subtenant authenticator with privilege to validate credentials for a subtenant at the first level; and receiving a confirmation from the dedicated subtenant authenticator, whether the request is authentic.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for controlling access to data stored on shared storage, servicing a plurality of tenants, the method comprising receiving a request from a first process to access a first data item associated with a first tenant in a multi-tenant data storage system, and providing access to the data item through a gatekeeper, in response to determining that the first process is associated with the first tenant.

Abstract: A method for managing data, the method includes: providing a write-back cache unit coupled to at least one storage unit; receiving a request to write a new data version to a certain cache data allocation unit; determining, in response to a data storage policy, whether to overwrite a cached data version being cached in the certain cache data allocation unit or to perform a destage of the cached data version to a first storage unit before writing the new data version to the certain cache allocation unit; receiving a request to read a data version that corresponds to a certain point in time and scanning a first data structure representative of write operations and a second data structure representative of revert operations to determine a location of the requested data version.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for increasing data resiliency in a computing system, the method comprising distinguishing between first data and second data stored in one or more data storage mediums, wherein the first data is more vulnerable than the second data for the purpose of recovering lost data; and recovering the first data before recovering the second data. Increasing redundancy protection for the first data to increase chances for data recovery by way of data reconstruction; and decreasing redundancy protection for the first data, after the first data has been backed up at least once.

Abstract: A method for executing a migrated execution context by a storage controller, the method includes: determining, by a management entity, to migrate an execution context from a source computer to the storage controller in response to a fulfillment of a first criterion; and migrating the execution context to the storage controller; wherein the source computer is coupled to the storage controller.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for deploying one or more virtual machines on a host computing system, the method comprising: receiving mapping information from a data storage system, wherein the mapping information associates a first data chunk stored in the data storage system with a unique identifier; utilizing the mapping information to determine whether any copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into a memory of the host computing system in association with deployment of a first virtual machine or a second virtual machine on the host computing system; and in response to determining that no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory: retrieving the first data chunk from the data storage system; loading the first data chunk into the memory; and utilizing the first data chunk to deploy the first virtual machine on the host computing system.

Abstract: Machines, systems and methods for task management in a computer implemented system. The method comprises registering a task with brokers residing on one or more nodes to manage the execution of a task to completion, wherein a first broker is accompanied by a first set of worker threads co-located on the node on which the first broker is executed, wherein the first broker assigns responsibility of execution for the task to the one or more worker threads in the first set of co-located worker threads, wherein in response to a failure associated with a first worker thread in the first set, the first broker reassigns the responsibility of execution for the task to a second worker thread in the first set, wherein in response to a failure associated with the first broker, a second broker assigns responsibility of execution for the task to one or more co-located worker threads.

Abstract: Systems and methods for optimizing deduplication in a data storage system are provided. The method comprises associating a first name with first data blocks including first content stored in a data storage system, wherein the first name is associated with the first data blocks by way of a reference to a first meta file that points to a data file which points to the first data blocks; storing a first signature derived from the first content in an indexing data structure, wherein the first signature is used to associate the first name with the first data blocks and as means to verify whether a second content is a duplicate of the first content, based on value of a second signature derived from the second content.

Abstract: The method comprises receiving mapping information from a data storage system. The mapping information associates a first data chunk stored in the data storage system with a unique identifier to support deployment of a first virtual machine on a host computing system. Once the mapping information is received, the mapping information is utilized to determine whether any copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into a memory of the host computing system in association with deployment of the first virtual machine or a second virtual machine on the host computing system. If no copies of the first data chunk have already been loaded into the memory, the first data chunk is retrieved from the data storage system, loaded into the memory, and utilized to deploy the first virtual machine on the host computing system.

Abstract: A method for monitoring performance includes monitoring packet traffic on at least one socket that is associated with an application running on a computer and is communicated over a data network. First and second instances of a performance indicator of the packet traffic are measured respectively during first and second monitoring intervals. An alert is issued upon making a determination that a change between the first instance and the second instance exceeds a predetermined threshold.