Nutanix, Inc.
PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION IN DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEMS

Abstract:

A method commences upon receiving a first one of a series of commands corresponding to various operations (e.g., in a test or development setting) that are intended to access protected health information (PHI). Initially, the protected health information is stored in a protected source datastore that is logically represented by source metadata. Rather than copy PHI, the method clones the metadata, leaving the PHI uncopied and unmodified. Execution of a read-only operation over the protected health information is performed by referencing the cloned metadata to access the protected health information. In the event of an occurrence of an operation (e.g., a testing operation), a temporary, ephemeral datastore is formed. Responsive to received write operations pertaining to the protected health information, the data pertaining to the intended write operations are pre-staged into the ephemeral datastore. After use, ephemeral data is overwritten, purged from caches, and then the ephemeral datastore is deleted.