Patent attributes
A storage system stores objects and copies of objects on the storage system and other storage systems external to the storage system. The storage system stores the copies in storage pools of volumes, which are organized into one or more tiers. The configuration settings of each tier and each pool within the tier may be configured according to a user's preferences. In one example, the number of copies of data content and the number copies of metadata associated with the data content an individual pool stores may be specified. When objects are migrated between tiers, the objects are stored among the storage pools of the tiers. If the number of data content copies or metadata copies is increased, the data or metadata is copied from a determined copy source and if the number of copies decreases, the data is removed from the volumes in the pools.
