Tiering Data to a Cold Storage Tier of 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:

• identifying one or more old snapshots of a data set that reside in a first storage tier of a cloud object storage platform, wherein the one or more old snapshots are snapshots that are unlikely to be deleted from the cloud object storage platform within a period of N days, and wherein the period of N days corresponds to a minimum storage duration imposed on the second storage tier by a provider of the cloud object storage platform, the minimum storage duration being a minimum time period for which data should be maintained on the second storage tier prior to deletion in order to avoid an early deletion fee;
• and
• for each snapshot in the one or more old snapshots:
• identifying one or more data blocks in the snapshot that are superseded by a more recent snapshot in the one or more old snapshots;
• writing the one or more data blocks to a second storage tier of the cloud object storage platform that has a lower storage cost than the first storage tier;
• and
• causing the one or more data blocks to be deleted from the first storage tier.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program code that, when executed, causes the processor to:
• identify one or more old snapshots of a data set that reside in a first storage tier of a cloud object storage platform, wherein the one or more old snapshots are snapshots that are unlikely to be deleted from the cloud object storage platform within a period of N days, and wherein the period of N days corresponds to a minimum storage duration imposed on the second storage tier by a provider of the cloud object storage platform, the minimum storage duration being a minimum time period for which data should be maintained on the second storage tier prior to deletion in order to avoid an early deletion fee;
• and
• for each snapshot in the one or more old snapshots:
• identify one or more data blocks in the snapshot that are superseded by a more recent snapshot in the one or more old snapshots;
• write the one or more data blocks to a second storage tier of the cloud object storage platform that has a lower storage cost than the first storage tier;
• and
• cause the one or more data blocks to be deleted from the first storage tier.