Weakly synchronized garbage collection and compaction for aggregated, replicated object stores

A computer system for managing consistency of object replicas in a distributed storage system, comprising:

• a first instance and a second instance, each having
• one or more processors;
• memory;
• and
• one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions executable by the one or more processors;
• wherein the one or more programs at the first instance include instructions for:
• performing garbage collection and compaction on a first shard comprising a first plurality of object chunks, thereby removing a second plurality of object chunks from the first shard and leaving a third plurality of object chunks in the first shard, wherein the first plurality of object chunks is the union of the second and third pluralities of object chunks;
• sending a first list of identifiers to a second instance of the distributed storage system, wherein the second instance has a replica of the first shard and wherein the first list of identifiers specifies the object chunks in the third plurality of object chunks;
• and
• wherein the one or more programs at the second instance include instructions for:
• compacting the replica of the first shard to remove all object chunks that are not included in the first list.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more processors of a computer system to manage consistency of object replicas in a distributed storage system having a first instance and a second instance, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

• at the first instance:
• performing garbage collection and compaction on a first shard comprising a first plurality of object chunks, thereby removing a second plurality of object chunks from the first shard and leaving a third plurality of object chunks in the first shard, wherein the first plurality of object chunks is the union of the second and third pluralities of object chunks;
• sending a first list of identifiers to a second instance of the distributed storage system, wherein the second instance has a replica of the first shard and wherein the first list of identifiers specifies the object chunks in the third plurality of object chunks;
• and
• at the second instance:
• compacting the replica of the first shard to remove all object chunks that are not included in the first list.