Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatuses are provided for a storage system that implements a hierarchical namespace service. A storage system includes a plurality of physical nodes and a plurality of sets of virtual nodes. Each set of virtual nodes is managed by a corresponding physical node. Each virtual node is configured to manage a respective set of directory blocks. Each directory block is a respective partition of a storage namespace and is managed by a corresponding single virtual node. Each virtual node maintains a directory block map. The directory block map maps file system object names in a hierarchical namespace to entity block identifiers in the flat namespace for entity blocks (files and folders) stored in directories corresponding to the managed set of directory blocks. Load balancing may be performed by moving virtual nodes between physical nodes, and by splitting directory blocks.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for providing file system functions on a cloud storage system based on blob storage. A cloud storage system comprises storage clusters, and each storage cluster comprises a plurality of storage nodes (each including a partition layer that stores data in blobs organized within containers, and a stream layer for streaming blob data), a hierarchical namespace service for implementing file system functions on the data stored in the blobs and, a front end layer for processing user requests to access and manage data stored on the blobs. The file system functions include flat namespace functions and hierarchical namespace functions. Further, the front end layer accesses the partition layer to access the blobs based on addresses of blobs and accesses the hierarchical namespace service to identify the blobs.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for providing multi-protocol access to a cloud storage system. One method includes an operation for providing a first application programming interface (API), by a cloud storage system that stores data in blobs organized within containers, and a second API, where the APIs provide operations for a flat namespace (FN) and a hierarchical namespace (HN) for accessing data. FN is for accessing data based on account, container, and blob and the HN is for accessing data based on account, directory, and file. When a command is received for FN, the command is performed utilizing containers and blob identifiers. When the command is received for HN, the hierarchical namespace service is accessed to translate directories and files included to one or more blob identifiers. Further, a response is sent to the user device.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and programs provide for executing distributed transactions in a cloud storage system with a hierarchical namespace. One method includes receiving a request with operations to be executed atomically. Further, nodes are identified for executing the operations, each node having a respective clock and having at least part of a transactions table for controlling updates to entities. Each clock is one of a loosely-synchronized, a strictly-synchronized clock, a logical, or a physical clock. Additionally, the nodes process the operations, which includes setting a commit timestamp (CS) to a value of the clock in the node if the node is a first node in the processing. One node coordinates the transactions, and may be one of the nodes executing transactions. If the clock in the node is less than a current value of the CS, the node waits for the clock to reach the current value of the CS and the CS is updated.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system and method to reduce the overall time taken to complete distributed process workflows. Each workflow can include multiple actions that are completed by or at different client devices. The actions of a workflow can be dependent on prior actions in the workflow. For example, a second client device may not be able to complete a second action until a first client device completes a first action in the workflow. The system can predict time periods and the geolocations where client devices are most likely to complete an assigned action. Using the selected time periods and geolocations, the system can transmit notifications to the client devices when the action is most likely to be completed.

Abstract: The systems and methods discussed herein provide for faster access to frequently utilized resources through intelligent bandwidth usage-based content pre-fetching. An intelligent acceleration and caching device may monitor bandwidth utilization over a time period and create a regression-based model to predict bandwidth utilization in subsequent time periods. When predicted utilization is below a threshold, the device may pre-fetch frequently accessed content, providing low-latency access and faster performance, without exceeding connection allocation limits.

Abstract: The present invention provides a system and a scalable method for switching automatically between multiple streams of multimedia data, preferably between live and on-demand streams and for automatically switching between a mix of live streams and on-demand/static streams at the client device. A client application polls the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to detect changes made by a service provider and in turn makes the switch between streams.