Vmware, Inc.

Ilya Langouev

Satish Kumar Kashi Visvanathan

Pooja Sarda

Arun Kandambakkam

Michael Zucca

Techniques for managing overwrites when archiving data in cloud/object storage are provided. In one set of embodiments, a computer system can overwrite a chunk of data residing in cloud/object storage, where the cloud/object storage only guarantees eventual consistency for overwrites, and where the overwriting is associated with a sequence number. Upon overwriting the chunk of data, the computer system create a new instance of a file in the cloud/object storage, where the new instance of the file has a version number corresponding to the sequence number.

Managing overwrites when archiving data in cloud/object storage

Techniques for archiving data in cloud/object storage using local metadata staging are provided. In one set of embodiments, a computer system residing at an on-premises site comprising on-premises storage can receive a snapshot of a dataset to be archived. The computer system can package data in the snapshot into one or more fixed-size data chunks and upload the one or more fixed-size data chunks to cloud/object storage. Further, concurrently with the packaging and the uploading, the computer system can stage metadata for the snapshot in the on-premises storage. Then, upon uploading all of the data of the snapshot, the computer system can upload the metadata staged in the on-premises storage to the cloud/object storage.

Archiving data in cloud/object storage using local metadata staging

Techniques for handling fragmentation of archived data in cloud/object storage are provided. In one set of embodiments, a computer system can upload a new snapshot of a data set to the cloud/object storage, where the new snapshot comprises a plurality of data blocks, and where the new snapshot is uploaded as one or more data objects and one or more metadata objects. For each data block in the plurality of data blocks, the computer system can identify an existing data object in the cloud/object storage where the data block is currently stored. The computer system can further select, from among the identified existing data objects, a subset of the existing data objects that are part of a snapshot created in the cloud/object storage at least a predefined number of snapshots before the new snapshot, and select one or more data blocks of one or more data objects in the subset that have not be overwritten by another snapshot. The computer system can then upload the one or more data blocks as part of the new snapshot.

Handling fragmentation of archived data in cloud/object storage

Techniques for deleting a snapshot of a data set archived in cloud/object storage are provided. In one set of embodiments, a computer system can identify data blocks that are part of the snapshot and are referred to by an incremental child snapshot of the snapshot. The computer system can further create a new metadata object that includes metadata entries for the identified data blocks, each metadata entry comprising an identifier of the incremental child snapshot, an identifier of a data block, and an identifier of a data object of the incremental child snapshot where the data block is stored. The computer system can then associate the new metadata object with the incremental child snapshot in the cloud/object storage.

Deletion and restoration of archived data in cloud/object storage

Techniques for archiving a data set in cloud/object storage are provided. In one set of embodiments, a computer system can receive an incremental snapshot of the data set and package the incremental snapshot into one or more data objects and one or more metadata objects. The one or more data objects can include data blocks of the incremental snapshot, and the one or more metadata objects can include a metadata entry for each data block, the metadata entry comprising an identifier of the incremental snapshot, an identifier of the data block, and an identifier of a data object in which the data block is stored. The computer system can then write the one or more data objects and the one or more metadata objects to the cloud/object storage.

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Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America

Ilya Langouev