Deletion and restoration of archived data in cloud/object storage

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program code executable by a computer system, the program code embodying a method comprising:

• deleting a snapshot of a data set archived in cloud storage, the deleting comprising:
• identifying data blocks that are part of the snapshot and are referred to by an incremental child snapshot of the snapshot;
• creating 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 snapshot where the data block is stored;
• and
• associating the new metadata object with the incremental child snapshot in the cloud storage;
• and
• concurrently with the deleting of the snapshot, restoring the data set from the incremental child snapshot without locking any data objects of the snapshot.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program code that causes the processor to:
• delete a snapshot of a data set archived in cloud storage, the deleting comprising:
• identifying data blocks that are part of the snapshot and are referred to by an incremental child snapshot of the snapshot;
• creating 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;
• and
• associating the new metadata object with the incremental child snapshot in the cloud storage;
• and
• concurrently with the deleting of the snapshot, restore the data set from the incremental child snapshot without locking any data objects of the snapshot.