HIGHLY AUTONOMOUS DISPERSED STORAGE SYSTEM RETRIEVAL METHOD

摘要

A method for accessing data in a directory-less dispersed storage (DS) network. In various embodiments, the method begins when a DS processing unit receives a read request for data stored in accordance with a dispersed storage error encoding function. Estimated storage metadata is determined based on the identity of the data, the identity of the requesting unit, and data storage preferences of the requesting unit. The estimated storage metadata is used to determine a target set of storage units. Next, a retrieval request is sent to one or more storage units of the target set. If a favorable response is received (e.g., a read threshold number of storage units return encoded data slices), the data is decoded and forwarded to the requestor. Otherwise, the storage metadata is re-estimated and used to determine a second target set of storage units for solicitation. This process continues until a favorable response is received.

主权项

1. A method for accessing data in a directory-less dispersed storage network, the method comprises:
receiving a read request for the data, the data stored in the directory-less dispersed storage network and previously encoded in accordance with a dispersed storage error encoding function to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices, wherein the read request includes the identity of a requesting unit and the identity of the data; estimating storage metadata regarding the data based on the identity of the data, the identity of the requesting unit, and data storage preferences of the requesting unit; determining a first target set of storage units of the dispersed storage network based on the estimated storage metadata; sending a retrieval request to a storage unit of the first target set of storage units, wherein the retrieval request is regarding at least one encoded data slice of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices; and when an unfavorable response is received from the storage unit of the first target set of storage units:
re-estimating the storage metadata based on the identity of the data, the identity of the requesting unit, the data storage preferences of the requesting unit, and the unfavorable response;determining a second target set of storage units of the dispersed storage network based on the re-estimated storage metadata;sending a new retrieval request to a storage unit of the second target set of storage units regarding at least one encoded data slice of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices; andwhen a favorable response is received from the storage unit of the second target set of storage units, decoding at least a portion of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to reproduce the data.