Metadata Manager in Seigr Ecosystem

The Metadata Manager is a core component within Seigr’s architecture responsible for creating, managing, and validating metadata for each .seigr file. It is designed to support metadata serialization, integrity verification, temporal tracking, and structured data management across the Seigr ecosystem. The Metadata Manager enables each capsule (data segment) in Seigr’s decentralized network to retain a self-contained structure while interacting seamlessly with other capsules.

Purpose and Role of Metadata Manager

The Metadata Manager handles the lifecycle of metadata within a Seigr capsule, from initial creation to validation, serialization, and adaptation over time. Its main responsibilities include:

Generating metadata for both file-level and segment-level components within a .seigr capsule.
Managing and embedding Temporal Layers, which track changes to a capsule over time.
Ensuring that all metadata is serialized in Protocol Buffers format for efficient storage and transmission.
Verifying metadata integrity to ensure data authenticity and protection against tampering.
Recording access patterns and data usage within each capsule to support Adaptive Replication and self-healing.

Metadata Components Managed

The Metadata Manager in Seigr operates at multiple levels, handling both file-level and segment-level metadata. These components are essential for the functionality and traceability of each capsule:

File-Level Metadata: Contains top-level attributes that define the .seigr capsule’s identity, including:

 * Version: Defines the version of the metadata schema, supporting backward compatibility.
 * Creator ID: Unique identifier for the capsule's creator, enabling traceability across nodes.
 * File Hash: The capsule’s unique hash generated by HyphaCrypt, validating the capsule’s integrity.
 * Temporal Layers: Represents snapshots of the capsule’s state over time, enabling historical data reconstruction and rollback functionality.
 * Access Context: Tracks capsule access patterns, supporting dynamic replication and retrieval paths.

Segment-Level Metadata: Each capsule is composed of segments with individually managed metadata, including:

 * Segment Hash: Unique identifier for each segment, used for segment-level validation and network referencing.
 * Index and Coordinate Index: Defines the spatial and temporal position of the segment, supporting Seigr’s four-dimensional indexing framework.
 * Primary and Secondary Links: Enable adaptive retrieval paths, with primary links for direct access and secondary links for redundancy.

Example Metadata Schema

The Metadata Manager generates metadata according to the following Protocol Buffers schema, which defines both the file and segment-level components within a .seigr capsule:

message FileMetadata {
    string version = 1;
    string creator_id = 2;
    string original_filename = 3;
    string original_extension = 4;
    string file_hash = 5;
    int32 total_segments = 6;
    AccessContext access_context = 7;
}

message SegmentMetadata {
    int32 segment_index = 1;
    string segment_hash = 2;
    string timestamp = 3;
    string primary_link = 4;
    repeated string secondary_links = 5;
    CoordinateIndex coordinate_index = 6;
}

Key Functionalities of Metadata Manager

The Metadata Manager performs several critical functions that ensure the integrity, adaptability, and traceability of metadata within Seigr’s decentralized data environment.

Metadata Generation

The Metadata Manager initializes metadata for each capsule and segment, generating all essential fields and applying default values where necessary. This process includes:

Computing the capsule’s primary hash using HyphaCrypt, which serves as the unique identifier within the network.
Setting the capsule’s initial Temporal Layer, establishing the first time-stamped snapshot.
Defining spatial and temporal positions using coordinate indexing for each segment, aligning with Seigr’s four-dimensional structure.

Metadata Serialization and Deserialization

To optimize data storage and transport, the Metadata Manager serializes metadata into Protocol Buffers, providing a compact binary representation of the metadata structure. Key steps include:

Serialization: Converts in-memory metadata objects into binary-encoded Protocol Buffers, allowing for efficient storage and transfer within Seigr’s decentralized network.
Deserialization: Interprets the binary-encoded metadata, restoring it to a structured form for network nodes to validate, manipulate, and decode.

Integrity Verification

The Metadata Manager performs multi-layered integrity checks using HyphaCrypt hashes and redundancy across Temporal Layers. Key components include:

File Hash Verification: Compares the stored file hash with a freshly computed hash to detect tampering.
Segment-Level Verification: Each segment’s hash is verified individually, allowing the detection and isolation of corrupted segments.
Access Logs and Integrity Markers: Verifies access patterns to ensure consistency, tracking any deviations from expected patterns.

Temporal Layering and Rollback Support

The Metadata Manager supports Seigr’s Temporal Layering feature by recording snapshots of metadata over time. This allows Seigr capsules to revert to previous states, aiding in data recovery and adaptability. Key functionalities include:

Snapshot Management: Creates a temporal snapshot each time a segment or capsule undergoes a major update, supporting adaptive rollback.
Historical Integrity Verification: Maintains cryptographic hashes for each snapshot, allowing historical data states to be validated.
Rollback Triggering: Interfaces with Seigr’s Rollback Mechanism, automatically reverting corrupted capsules to a previous secure state when necessary.

Adaptive Replication Support

By logging access patterns and dynamically scaling metadata, the Metadata Manager provides data to support Seigr’s Adaptive Replication protocol. This enables high-demand capsules to replicate based on usage patterns, ensuring optimized access and storage. Relevant functionalities include:

Access Tracking: Logs each interaction with the capsule, incrementing access counts and tracking nodes that request the capsule.
Replication Recommendations: Based on access patterns, the Metadata Manager can trigger additional replicas of high-demand capsules to minimize retrieval times.
Data Distribution Control: Ensures that capsule replicas are distributed across nodes in a manner that aligns with demand and minimizes redundancy.

Internal Structure and Class Definition

The Metadata Manager’s primary class, MetadataManager, includes methods for initializing, serializing, and validating metadata, as well as for handling access contexts and temporal layers. Below is a high-level outline of the class’s structure:

class MetadataManager:
    def __init__(self, creator_id: str, version: str = "1.0"):
        self.creator_id = creator_id
        self.version = version
    
    def generate_file_metadata(self, original_filename, segments):
        # Creates FileMetadata with hash, access context, and temporal layer.
    
    def generate_segment_metadata(self, index, segment_hash, primary_link=None, secondary_links=None):
        # Initializes SegmentMetadata with spatial and temporal properties.
    
    def serialize_metadata(self, metadata, file_path):
        # Serializes metadata into Protocol Buffers binary format.
    
    def deserialize_metadata(self, file_path):
        # Deserializes Protocol Buffers back into structured metadata.
    
    def validate_metadata(self, metadata):
        # Validates file and segment metadata, comparing hashes and structure.

Examples of Metadata Management Operations

Generating and Serializing Metadata

The following code snippet shows how the Metadata Manager generates and serializes metadata for a .seigr capsule, creating both file-level and segment-level metadata:

metadata_manager = MetadataManager(creator_id="user_123")
file_metadata = metadata_manager.generate_file_metadata("example_file.txt", segments)
metadata_manager.serialize_metadata(file_metadata, "path/to/metadata.pb")

Verifying Integrity

To ensure data consistency and authenticity, the Metadata Manager provides functions to verify both file-level and segment-level metadata:

metadata = metadata_manager.deserialize_metadata("path/to/metadata.pb")
if metadata_manager.validate_metadata(metadata):
    print("Metadata validated successfully.")
else:
    print("Metadata validation failed.")

Conclusion

The Metadata Manager is an essential component within Seigr’s decentralized ecosystem, providing metadata integrity, scalability, and adaptability. By supporting structured, versioned metadata with embedded temporal layers, the Metadata Manager enables Seigr capsules to adapt to changing demands while maintaining the highest levels of data traceability and authenticity.

For further exploration, see: