Scalable networked digital video recordings via shard-based architecture

A method comprising:

• at a recording manager within a networked digital video recording system, receiving a request to store a plurality of copies of a designated digital media recording;
• for each of the plurality of copies of the designated digital media recording, selecting via a processor at the recording manager one of a plurality of shards for storing the copy of the designated digital media recording, each shard comprising:
• a storage system configured to store a plurality of digital media recordings,
• one or more recording writers, each recording writer being configured to store digital media recordings to the storage system, each recording writer being further configured to link a respective digital media recording with metadata identifying a user account associated with the respective digital media recording, and
• one or more on-demand recording servers, each recording server being configured to receive a request from a client device to provide a digital media recording as an on-demand media stream, to retrieve the requested digital media recording from the storage system, and to transmit the requested digital media recording as an on-demand media stream to the client device via a network;
• and
• transmitting an instruction to the selected shard to store the copy of the designated digital media recording.

One or more non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon for performing a method, the method comprising:

• at a recording manager within a networked digital video recording system, receiving a request to store a plurality of copies of a designated digital media recording;
• for each of the plurality of copies of the designated digital media recording, selecting via a processor at the recording manager one of a plurality of shards for storing the copy of the designated digital media recording, each shard comprising:
• a storage system configured to store a plurality of digital media recordings,
• one or more recording writers, each recording writer being configured to store digital media recordings to the storage system, each recording writer being further configured to link a respective digital media recording with metadata identifying a user account associated with the respective digital media recording, and
• one or more on-demand recording servers, each recording server being configured to receive a request from a client device to provide a digital media recording as an on-demand media stream, to retrieve the requested digital media recording from the storage system, and to transmit the requested digital media recording as an on-demand media stream to the client device via a network;
• and
• transmitting an instruction to the selected shard to store the copy of the designated digital media recording.