Moving Data Between Tiers In A Multi-Tiered, Cloud-Based Storage System

Abstract

Staging data in a cloud-based storage system, including: receiving, by a storage controller application executing on cloud computing resources in a cloud-based storage system, a data storage operation from a computer device, wherein the cloud-based storage system includes a first tier of cloud storage and a second tier of cloud storage; storing data corresponding to the data storage operation within the first tier of cloud storage provided using a first cloud storage service; and responsive to detecting a condition for transferring data between the first tier of cloud storage and the second tier of cloud storage, transferring the data in the first tier of cloud storage to a second tier of cloud storage provided using a second cloud storage service, wherein the first cloud storage service is different than the second cloud storage service.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a storage controller application executing on cloud computing resources in a cloud-based storage system, a data storage operation from a computer device, wherein the cloud-based storage system includes a first tier of cloud storage and a second tier of cloud storage;   storing data corresponding to the data storage operation within the first tier of cloud storage provided using a first cloud storage service; and   responsive to detecting a condition for transferring data between the first tier of cloud storage and the second tier of cloud storage, transferring the data in the first tier of cloud storage to a second tier of cloud storage provided using a second cloud storage service, wherein the first cloud storage service is different than the second cloud storage service.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the data stored using the first cloud storage service is in a first format and the data stored using the second cloud storage service is in a second format. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first tier of cloud storage includes cloud-based block storage resources and the second tier of cloud storage includes cloud-based object storage resources. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first tier of cloud storage includes cloud-based block storage resources offered by a first cloud block storage service and the second tier of cloud storage includes cloud-based block storage resources offered by a second cloud block storage service. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining a data storage optimization that is applicable to one or more portions of stored data within the first tier of cloud storage; and 
 modifying the one or more portions of stored data within the first tier of cloud storage to generate modified data. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising storing, after modifying the one or more portions of data, the modified data within the first tier of cloud storage. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising storing, after modifying the one or more portions of data, the modified data within the second tier of cloud storage. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the data storage optimization is one or more of: data compression, data deduplication, or garbage collection. 
     
     
         9 . A cloud-based storage system including:
 a first tier of cloud storage provided using a first cloud storage service;   a second tier of cloud storage provided using a second cloud storage service; and   one or more storage controller applications, each storage controller application executing in a cloud computing instance, wherein the one or more storage controllers are configured for:
 receiving a data storage operation from a computer device; 
 storing data corresponding to the data storage operation within the first tier of cloud storage provided using the first cloud storage service; and 
 responsive to detecting a condition for transferring data between the first tier of cloud storage and the second tier of cloud storage, transferring the data in the first tier of cloud storage to a second tier of cloud storage provided using a second cloud storage service, wherein the first cloud storage service is different than the second cloud storage service. 
   
     
     
         10 . The cloud-based storage system of  claim 9  wherein the data stored using the first cloud storage service is in a first format and the data stored using the second cloud storage service is in a second format. 
     
     
         11 . The cloud-based storage system of  claim 9  wherein the first tier of cloud storage includes cloud-based block storage resources and the second tier of cloud storage includes cloud-based object storage resources. 
     
     
         12 . The cloud-based storage system of  claim 9  wherein the first tier of cloud storage includes cloud-based block storage resources offered by a first cloud block storage service and the second tier of cloud storage includes cloud-based block storage resources offered by a second cloud block storage service. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the one or more storage controllers are further configured for:
 determining a data storage optimization that is applicable to one or more portions of stored data within the first tier of cloud storage; and 
 modifying the one or more portions of stored data within the first tier of cloud storage to generate modified data. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the one or more storage controllers are further configured for storing, after modifying the one or more portions of data, the modified data within the first tier of cloud storage. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the one or more storage controllers are further configured for storing, after modifying the one or more portions of data, the modified data within the second tier of cloud storage. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the data storage optimization is one or more of: data compression, data deduplication, or garbage collection. 
     
     
         17 . A computer program product disposed on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product including computer program instructions that, when executed, carry out the steps of:
 receiving, by a storage controller application executing on cloud computing resources in a cloud-based storage system, a data storage operation from a computer device, wherein the cloud-based storage system includes a first tier of cloud storage and a second tier of cloud storage;   storing data corresponding to the data storage operation within the first tier of cloud storage provided using a first cloud storage service; and   responsive to detecting a condition for transferring data between the first tier of cloud storage and the second tier of cloud storage, transferring the data in the first tier of cloud storage to a second tier of cloud storage provided using a second cloud storage service, wherein the first cloud storage service is different than the second cloud storage service.   
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 17  further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, carry out the steps of:
 determining a data storage optimization that is applicable to one or more portions of stored data within the first tier of cloud storage; and 
 modifying the one or more portions of stored data within the first tier of cloud storage to generate modified data. 
 
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 17  further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, carry out the step of storing, after modifying the one or more portions of data, the modified data within the first tier of cloud storage. 
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 17  further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, carry out the step of storing, after modifying the one or more portions of data, the modified data within the second tier of cloud storage.