Halo based file system replication

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a first module configured to store a storage policy used in storing a plurality of datasets at a plurality of storage servers in a distributed computer network, wherein at least some of the storage servers are configured to store a replica of a dataset of the datasets stored in another storage server of the storage servers, the storage policy including a halo parameter, the halo parameter including a set of tags associated with the storage servers, each of the set of tags describing a first attribute associated with the storage servers;
• a second module that is configured to work in cooperation with the processor to receive a request from a client in the distributed computer network to store a first dataset of the datasets in the distributed computer network;
• a third module that is configured to work in cooperation with the processor to identify a first set of the storage servers having one or more tags that match with the set of tags in the halo parameter as “online” storage servers and a second set of the storage servers whose one or more tags do not match with the set of tags in the halo parameter as “stand-by” storage servers;
• and
• a fourth module that is configured to work in cooperation with the processor to synchronously replicate the first dataset to the “online” storage servers and asynchronously replicate the first dataset to the “stand-by” storage servers, the first dataset concurrently replicated to the “online” storage servers and the “stand-by” storage servers.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions, comprising:

• instructions for receiving, at a first client in a distributed computer network having a plurality of storage servers, a request to store a first dataset in the distributed computer network, the storage servers configured to be read-write storage servers;
• instructions for identifying, by the first client and based on a storage policy, a first set of the storage servers to which the first dataset is to be replicated synchronously, the identifying based on a halo latency parameter of the storage policy and a number of replicas parameter of the storage policy, the halo latency parameter indicating a permissible latency threshold between the first client and a storage server of the storage servers to replicate the first dataset synchronously, the latency being a time period elapsed between a dispatch of a request from the first client to the storage server and a receipt of the response from the storage server by the first client, the number of replicas parameter indicating a number of replicas of the first dataset to be stored in the distributed computer network;
• and
• instructions for replicating the first dataset to:
• the first set of the storage servers synchronously, and
• a remaining set of the storage servers asynchronously, the first dataset concurrently replicated to the first set and the remaining set.