Managing Versioning in a Distributed Storage Network

A method for execution in a storage unit of a storage network, the method comprising:

• receiving a read request for an encoded data slice of a set of encoded data slices associated with a data object;
• identifying one or more versions of the encoded data slice stored in the storage unit;
• for a version of the encoded data slice of the one or more versions of the encoded data slice, identifying metadata associated with the encoded data slice, wherein the metadata is based on the one or more versions identified;
• determining, based on the metadata, whether the metadata matches the version read request;
• and;
• in response to a determination that the version number matches the read request, send the encoded data slice to a storage unit entity.

A computing device of a group of computing devices of a storage network, the computing device comprises:

• an interface;
• a local memory;
• and
• a processing module operably coupled to the interface and the local memory, wherein the processing module functions to:
• a first module, when operable within a computing device, causes the computing device to:
• determine to generate a version number associated with a data object stored in the storage network, wherein the data object is dispersed storage error encoded to produce a set of encoded data slices;
• a second module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
• identify a number of versions associated with the data object;
• a third module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
• generate metadata associated with the data object, wherein the metadata is based on the number of versions identified and the generated version number associated with the data object;
• and
• a fourth module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
• issue a write request for one or more encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices to the set of storage units.