System and Method for Managing User Data in a Plurality of Storage Appliances Over a Wide Area Network for Collaboration, Protection, Publication, or Sharing

Abstract

In various embodiments, the present invention relates to a method of operating a server to manage user data in a plurality of storage appliances. The method involves establishing in a database system, via the server, information for each registered user; establishing and storing in the database system a set of relationships, based on designations by the users, among registered storage appliances and container designations; and using a central service running on the server to deliver storage appliance-container relationship data to the storage appliances so as to enable the appliances to substantiate the containers therein, and to replicate user data with other storage appliances that have substantiated corresponding containers, in a manner consistent with the stored relationships, and wherein the central service operates without interaction with user data stored in the containers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of operating a server, coupled to a database system and to a wide area network, to manage user data in a plurality of storage appliances coupled to a wide area network, the method comprising:
 establishing in the database system, via the server, information for (1) a set of registered storage appliances, and (2) a container for storage of the user data, wherein the container is associated with at least one registered storage appliance in the set of registered storage appliances;   establishing and storing in the database system a set of relationships, each relationship corresponding to sharing privileges that have been granted to one of the registered storage appliances for the container; and   using a central service running on the server, coupled to the database system, to deliver relationship data, based on the set of relationships, to the storage appliances so as to (1) enable appliances with sharing privileges for the container to substantiate the container therein, and (2) replicate the user data in the container among storage appliances, on a peer-to-peer basis, in a manner consistent with the set of relationships, and   wherein the central service operates without interaction with the user data stored in the container.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the storage appliances is configured to substantiate the container therein and to replicate the user data without input via a local user interface. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein establishing in the database system further comprises:
 establishing account data for a user, wherein (i) the account data is configurable by the user and (ii) the account data specifies a set of registered storage appliances that have been granted sharing privileges to the container.   
     
     
         4 . A method of transmitting data to a storage appliance over a wide area network, the method comprising:
 on receipt at the server of the identity of the receiving user, providing via the server, to a host computer of a sender, a computer program that (1) provides a mechanism for selection, by the sender, of a file to be sent and, (2) upon the sender's command, causes the file to be transmitted directly over the wide area network from the host computer of the sender to a storage appliance of the receiving user on a peer-to-peer basis, without storage of the file at the server,   wherein the storage appliance is running a process that communicates with processes established by the computer program.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising
 providing, via a server, a web page configured to receive an identity of a receiving user.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein:
 providing the web page includes configuring the web page to receive a token identifying the receiving user.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein:
 providing the web page includes configuring the web page to enable a search for the receiving user.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 determining, by the storage appliance, that the sender is authorized to send the file to the storage appliance.   
     
     
         9 . A method of transmitting data over a wide area network from a storage appliance of a sending user, the method comprising:
 on receipt at a server of a link established by the sending user by commanding a sending program running on a host computer of the sending user to send a file selected by the sending user to a recipient, providing via the server to a host computer of the recipient, a receiving computer program downloadable via the URL that communicates with the sending user's storage appliance in causing the file to be transmitted directly from the storage appliance of the sending user to the host computer of the recipient on a peer-to-peer basis without storage of the file at the server.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the link is a URL. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the receiving computer program includes an identifier for the sending user's storage appliance. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 determining, by the storage appliance, that the recipient is authorized to receive the file from the storage appliance.   
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions, for a storage application, that, when executed on a computer coupled to a storage appliance, establish a storage client computer, the storage client computer having a user interface process enabling a user to select, for each particular one of a number of containers stored on the storage appliance, whether the particular container is accessed remotely via the storage appliance or cached locally by the storage client computer,
 wherein the storage appliance synchronizes contents of the particular container with contents of a corresponding container stored by at least one other storage appliance on a peer-to-peer basis in a manner consistent with relationship data from a central service, wherein the central service does not store the contents.   
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to  claim 13 , wherein a user interface is configured so that the user can dynamically toggle between remote access and local caching for each of the containers. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to  claim 14 , wherein in response to a user toggling a given one of the containers from local caching to remote access, the storage appliance commits changes stored in a copy of the given container that is cached locally to non-transitory storage of the storage appliance. 
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to  claim 13 , wherein the storage client computer further includes a process that, when local caching is selected for the particular container, copies the contents of the particular container from the storage appliance into a local cache and synchronizes any changes made in the local cache to the particular container with the corresponding copy of the container on the storage appliance. 
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to  claim 16 , wherein the storage appliance synchronizes any changes made to the particular container in the storage appliance with any other corresponding containers on other storage appliances on a peer-to-peer basis in a manner consistent with the relationship data from the central service. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to  claim 13 , wherein the storage client computer further includes a process that, when remote access is selected for the particular container, remotely accesses the contents of the particular container on the storage appliance in response to accesses to the particular container via the interface process.