Systems and methods for automated aggregation of information-source metadata

• US 10,073,864 B1
• Filed: 12/05/2014
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Koeten, Robert, Carter, Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): Casanova, Jorge A
• Application Number:
  US14/561,244
• Time in Patent Office: 1,376 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24561 Intermediate data storage techniques for performance improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

The disclosed computer-implemented method for automated aggregation of information-source metadata may include (1) receiving metadata of an information asset, the metadata of the information asset having been generated by a data-management system, (2) determining that the metadata of the information asset includes metadata of an information source that contains the information asset, (3) extracting the metadata of the information source from the metadata of the information asset, (4) storing the metadata of the information source in an information-source metadata repository such that the metadata of the information source is associated with the information source, and (5) providing access to the metadata of the information source stored in the information-source metadata repository to (a) the data-management system, (b) an additional data-management system, and/or (c) the entity. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for automated aggregation of information-source metadata, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:

receiving, at a global information-source metadata repository, a digital representation of an information asset, wherein;

the digital representation of the information asset comprises metadata of the information asset;

the metadata of the information asset was received from and generated by a first data-management system that is configured to scan an information-asset source containing information assets of an entity;

the information-asset source is unknown to the global information-source metadata repository and a second data-management system that is configured to scan information assets of the entity;

the first data-management system and the second data-management system are different types of data-management systems that manage information assets of the entity in different fields of data management;

the first data-management system, the second data-management system, and the global information-source metadata repository are separate and distinct systems that are configured to operate independently; and

the metadata of the information asset has not been previously seen at the global information-source metadata repository;

transforming, at the global information-source metadata repository, the digital representation of the information asset into a digital representation for the information-asset source by;

discovering the information-asset source at the global information-source metadata repository by discovering metadata of the information-asset source within the metadata of the information asset, the metadata of the information-asset source having never been seen previously at the global information-source metadata repository;

extracting, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the information-asset source from the metadata of the information asset;

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, a digital representation of the information-asset source; and

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the information-asset source in association with the digital representation of the information-asset source such that the global information-source metadata repository contains a more complete view of the entity'"'"'s information-asset sources; and

enabling the second data-management system to discover the information-asset source by providing, at the global information-source metadata repository, access to the metadata of the information-asset source to the second data-management system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the global information-source metadata repository from the second data-management system, a digital representation of an additional information asset, wherein;

the digital representation of the additional information asset comprises metadata about the additional information asset; and

the metadata of the additional information asset was generated by the second data-management system and not previously seen at the global information-source metadata repository;

transforming, at the global information-source metadata repository, the digital representation of the additional information asset into a digital representation for an additional information-asset source by;

discovering, at the global information-source metadata repository within the metadata of the additional information asset, metadata of the additional information-asset source that contains the additional information asset, the metadata of the additional information-asset source having never been seen previously at the global information-source metadata repository;

extracting, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the additional information-asset source from the metadata of the additional information asset;

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, a digital representation of the additional information-asset source; and

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the additional information-asset source in association with the digital representation of the additional information-asset source such that the global information-source metadata repository contains a more complete view of the information-asset sources of the entity; and

enabling the first data-management system to discover the additional information-asset source by providing, at the global information-source metadata repository, access to the metadata of the additional information-asset source to the first data-management system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the second data-management system, a digital representation of an additional information asset, wherein;

the digital representation of the additional information asset comprises metadata about the additional information asset; and

the metadata of the additional information asset was generated by the second data-management system;

determining that the metadata of the additional information asset comprises additional metadata of the information-asset source;

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, the additional metadata of the information-asset source in association with the digital representation of the information-asset source; and

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the additional information asset in association with the digital representation of the information-asset source.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second data-management system is configured to request a list of information-asset sources from the global information-source metadata repository.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the metadata of the information-asset source comprises providing a list of information-asset sources to the second data-management system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data-management system generates the metadata of the information asset while performing routine operations on the information-asset source.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the metadata of the information asset comprises a fully qualified path of the information asset;

extracting the metadata of the information-asset source from the metadata of the information asset comprises extracting the metadata of the information-asset source from the fully qualified path of the information asset.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first field of data management contains the information-asset source;

the second field of data management does not contain the information-asset source.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata of the information-asset source comprises a unique identifier of the information-asset source.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, from the second data-management system, additional metadata of the information asset, the additional metadata of the information asset having been generated by the second data-management system;

determining that the additional metadata of the information asset comprises an additional unique identifier of the information-asset source;

extracting the additional unique identifier of the information-asset source from the additional metadata of the information asset;

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, the additional unique identifier of the information-asset source in association with the digital representation of the information-asset source.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata of the information-asset source comprises a physical location of the information-asset source.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata of the information-asset source comprises a type of the information-asset source.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata of the information-asset source comprises information that identifies an owner of the information-asset source.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the metadata of the information-asset source comprises associating, at the global information-source metadata repository, the digital representation of the information asset with the digital representation of the information-asset source.

15. A system for aggregating information-source metadata, the system comprising:

a receiving module, stored in memory, that receives, at a global information-source metadata repository, a digital representation of an information asset, wherein;

the digital representation of the information asset comprises metadata of the information asset;

the metadata of the information asset was received from and generated by a first data-management system that is configured to scan an information-asset source containing information assets of an entity;

the information-asset source is unknown to the global information-source metadata repository and a second data-management system that is configured to scan information assets of the entity;

the first data-management system and the second data-management system are different types of data-management systems that manage information assets of the entity in different fields of data management;

the first data-management system, the second data-management system, and the global information-source metadata repository are separate and distinct systems that are configured to operate independently; and

the metadata of the information asset has not been previously seen at the global information-source metadata repository;

a determination module, stored in memory, that discovers the information-asset source at the global information-source metadata repository by discovering metadata of the information-asset source within the metadata of the information asset, the metadata of the information-asset source having never been seen previously at the global information-source metadata repository;

an extraction module, stored in memory, that extracts, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the information-asset source from the metadata of the information asset;

a storing module, stored in memory, that transforms, at the global information-source metadata repository, the digital representation of the information asset into a digital representation for the information-asset source by;

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, a digital representation of the information-asset source; and

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the information-asset source in association with the digital representation of the information-asset source such that the global information-source metadata repository contains a more complete view of the entity'"'"'s information-asset sources;

a provisioning module, stored in memory, that enables the second data-management system to discover the information-asset source by providing, at the global information-source metadata repository, access to the metadata of the information-asset source to the second data-management system;

at least one physical processor configured to execute the receiving module, the determination module, the extraction module, the storing module, and the provisioning module.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the receiving module further receives, at the global information-source metadata repository from the second data-management system, a digital representation of an additional information asset, wherein;

the digital representation of the additional information asset comprises metadata about the additional information asset; and

the metadata of the additional information asset was generated by the second data-management system and not previously seen at the global information-source metadata repository;

the determination module further discovers, at the global information-source metadata repository within the metadata of the additional information asset metadata of an additional information-asset source that contains the additional information asset, the metadata of the additional information-asset source having never been seen previously at the global information-source metadata repository;

the extraction module further extracts, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the additional information-asset source from the metadata of the additional information asset;

the storing module further transforming, at the global information-source metadata repository, the digital representation of the additional information asset into a digital representation for the additional information-asset source by;

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, a digital representation of the additional information-asset source; and

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the additional information-asset source in association with the digital representation of the additional information-asset source such that the global information-source metadata repository contains a more complete view of the information-asset sources of the entity;

the provisioning module further enables the first data-management system to discover the additional information-asset source by providing, from the global information-source metadata repository, access to the metadata of the additional information-asset source to the first data-management system.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the provisioning module provides access to the metadata of the information-asset source by providing a list of information-asset sources to the second data-management system.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first data-management system generates the metadata of the information asset while performing routine operations on the information-asset source.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the metadata of the information asset comprises a fully qualified path of the information asset;

the extraction module extracts the metadata of the information-asset source from the metadata of the information asset by extracting the metadata of the information-asset source from the fully qualified path of the information asset.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive, at a global information-source metadata repository, a digital representation of an information asset, wherein;

the digital representation of the information asset comprises metadata of the information asset;

the metadata of the information asset was received from and generated by a first data-management system that is configured to scan an information-asset source containing information assets of an entity;

the information-asset source is unknown to the global information-source metadata repository and a second data-management system that is configured to scan information assets of the entity;

the first data-management system and the second data-management system are different types of data-management systems that manage information assets of the entity in different fields of data management;

the first data-management system, the second data-management system, and the global information-source metadata repository are separate and distinct systems that are configured to operate independently; and

the metadata of the information asset has not been previously seen at the global information-source metadata repository;

transform, at the global information-source metadata repository, the digital representation of the information asset into a digital representation for the information-asset source by;

discovering the information-asset source at the global information-source metadata repository by discovering metadata of the information-asset source within the metadata of the information asset, the metadata of the information-asset source having never been seen previously at the global information-source metadata repository;

extracting, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the information-asset source from the metadata of the information asset;

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, a digital representation of the information-asset source; and

storing, at the global information-source metadata repository, the metadata of the information-asset source in association with the digital representation of the information-asset source such that the global information-source metadata repository contains a more complete view of the entity'"'"'s information-asset sources; and

enable the second data-management system to discover the information-asset source by providing, at the global information-source metadata repository, access to the metadata of the information-asset source to the second data-management system.