Selecting A Processing Unit In Accordance With A Customizable Data Processing Plan

Abstract

A method includes determining, by a computing device of a plurality of computing devices of a storage network, a data processing plan for processing an access request based on a data type of the access request and one or more storage access requirements of the access request. The method further includes identifying two or more processing units of a plurality of processing units of the storage network based on the data processing plan. The method further includes determining processing capabilities of each of the two or more processing units. The method further includes selecting a processing unit of the two or more processing units to process the access request based on a favorable comparison of the processing capabilities of the processing unit and the data processing plan. The method further includes sending the access request to the processing unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprises:
 determining, by a computing device of a plurality of computing devices of a storage network, a data processing plan for processing an access request based on a data type of an access request and one or more storage network access requirements of the access request;   identifying, by the computing device, two or more processing units of a plurality of processing units of the storage network based on the data processing plan;   determining, by the computing device, processing capabilities of each of the two or more processing units;   selecting, by the computing device, a processing unit of the two or more processing units to process the access request based on a favorable comparison of the processing capabilities of the processing unit and the data processing plan; and   sending, by the computing device, the access request to the processing unit.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the data processing plan comprises:
 selecting, by the computing device, dispersed storage error encoding parameters for storing data of the access request in accordance with a desired level of security requirement.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the data processing plan comprises:
 selecting, by the computing device, dispersed storage error encoding parameters for storing data of the access request in accordance with a desired level of performance requirement.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the data processing plan comprises:
 selecting, by the computing device, dispersed storage error encoding parameters for storing data of the access request in accordance with a desired level of access requirement.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying the two or more processing units comprises:
 accessing, by the computing device, a virtual storage network table that includes, for the plurality of processing units, information regarding availability and one or more of: the data type, a data size, an access request processing type, a security indicator, a performance indicator, and a status indicator.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the identifying the two or more processing units further comprises:
 when the information is obtained, correlating, by the computing device, the information regarding the one or more of: the data type, the data size, the security indicator, the performance indicator, and the status indicator with the data processing plan; and   identifying, by the computing device, processing units having information that correlates with the data processing plan as the two or more processing units.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the identifying the two or more processing units comprises:
 receiving, by the computing device, messages from processing units of the plurality of processing units in response to a query-response protocol to obtain the information.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying the two or more processing units comprises:
 receiving, by the computing device, a command identifying the two or more processing units.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying the two or more processing units comprises:
 performing, by the computing device, a lookup of available processing units of the plurality of processing units.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying the two or more processing units comprises:
 identifying, by computing device, a predetermined two or more processing units as the two or more processing units.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processing capabilities comprises a current capacity and a current loading. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processing capabilities comprises an uptime history and a performance history. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processing capabilities comprises data types supported and data types not supported. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processing capabilities comprises access requests supported. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processing capabilities comprises security restrictions. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processing capabilities comprises encryption algorithms supported. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying the two or more processing units is further based on availability information regarding the plurality of processing units. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1  further comprises:
 selecting, by the computing device, one or more processing options of the processing unit to process the access request according to the data processing plan; and 
 sending the selection of the one or more processing options to the processing unit, wherein the processing unit processes the access request in accordance with the one or more processing options. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the processing options comprises compression type and rebuilding options. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the processing options comprises encryption type and encoding function type.