Database and operating system independent copying/archiving of a web base application

• US 20020143785A1
• Filed: 03/23/2001
• Published: 10/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Pugh, William A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,756,835 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web

Abstract

A web based application having non-file system structures is copied or archived by first initializing a file to store the web based application, including creation of a root directory within the file. Then, data directories are created under the root directory, and a number of storage data objects under the data directories are initialized for all non-file system structures of the web based application. Thereafter, the non-file system structures are copied and stored into the storage data objects. In embodiments where the web based application further includes files that are part of a file system, the files are stored as additional storage data objects under the root directory. Accordingly, database and operating system independence is achieved.

Claims

1. A method for copying/archiving a web based application, said method comprising:

initializing a file to store said web based application, including creation of a root directory within said file;

creating data directories under said root directory, and initializing a first plurality of storage data objects under said data directories for all non-file system structures of the web based application; and

copying and storing said non-file system structures into said first plurality of storage data objects.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said initializing of a file to store said web based application comprises initializing a compressable file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating of data directories under said root directory and initializing a first plurality of storage data objects under said data directories comprises creating an application level data directory under said root directory.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said creating of data directories under said root directory and initializing a first plurality of storage data objects under said data directories further comprises

initializing a first of said first plurality of storage data objects under said application level data directory to store a structural description describing non-file system structures and files of a file system of the web based application;

and

copying and storing said structure description in said first of said first plurality of storage data objects.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said copying and storing of non-file system structures into said first plurality of storage data objects comprises

initializing a second of said first plurality of storage data objects under said application level data directory to store a user description describing users of the web based application;

and

copying and storing said user description in said second of said first plurality of storage data objects.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein said creating of data directories under said root directory and initializing a first plurality of storage data objects under said data directories further comprises creating a plurality of data table directories under said application level data directory.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said creating of data directories under said root directory and initializing a first plurality of storage data objects under said data directories further comprises

initializing a first subset of said first plurality of storage data objects under said data table directory to store data table schemas of the web based application;

and

initializing a second subset of said first plurality of storage data objects under said data table directory to data tables of the web based application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said copying and storing of non-file system structures into said first plurality of storage data objects comprises copying and storing data table schemas and data tables of the web based application into corresponding pairs of said first and second subset of said first plurality of storage data objects.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises copying and storing files of the web based application that are part of a file system into said file for storing said web based application as second plurality of storage data objects under said root directory.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said copying and storing of files of the web based application that are part of a file system into said file for storing said web based application as second plurality of storage data objects under said root directory comprises pre-processing access control lists into a self-describing format before storing the access control lists into selected ones of said second plurality of storage data objects.

11. An apparatus comprising:

storage medium having stored therein programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to

initialize a file to store said web based application, including creation of a root directory within said file;

create data directories under said root directory, and initializing a first plurality of storage data objects under said data directories for all non-file system structures of the web based application; and

copy and store said non-file system structures into said first plurality of storage data objects; and

a processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to initialize a compressable file to store said web based application.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to create an application level data directory under said root directory to create data directories under said root directory and initialize a first plurality of storage data objects under said data directories.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to

initialize a first of said first plurality of storage data objects under said application level data directory to store a structural description describing non-file system structures and files of a file system of the web based application, and

copy and store said structure description in said first of said first plurality of storage data objects.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to initialize a second of said first plurality of storage data objects under said application level data directory to store a user description describing users of the web based application, and to copy and store said user description in said second of said first plurality of storage data objects.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to create a plurality of data table directories under said application level data directory to create data directories under said root directory and initialize a first plurality of storage data objects under said data directories.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to

initialize a first subset of said first plurality of storage data objects under said data table directory to store data table schemas of the web based application, and

initialize a second subset of said first plurality of storage data objects under said data table directory to data tables of the web based application.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to copy and store data table schemas and data tables of the web based application into corresponding pairs of said first and second subset of said first plurality of storage data objects to copy and store non-file system structures into said first plurality of storage data objects.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to copy and store files of the web based application that are part of a file system into said file for storing said web based application as second plurality of storage data objects under said root directory.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to pre-process access control lists into a self-describing format before storing the access control lists into selected ones of said second plurality of storage data objects.

21. A method for copying/restoring a web based application into a domain, said method comprising:

retrieving a structural description describing non-file system structures and files of the web based application;

determining in accordance with at least said structural description non-file system structures of the web based application, including constitutions of the non-file system structures, and files of the web based application, including pathnames of the files;

retrieving schemas and data ones of said non-file system structures in accordance with the result of said determination;

storing said data ones of said non-file system structures in accordance with schema ones of said non-file system structures; and

retrieving and storing said files in accordance with the result of said determination.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said retrieving and storing of files of the web based application comprises transforming one or more access control lists into a binary format before storing the one or more access control lists.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the programming instructions, when executed, further operate the apparatus to transform a access control list into a binary format before storing the access control list.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises upon storing the data of a data table into the data table, deleting the data table schema and the data of the data table stored in the respective temporal storage locations.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises deleting log-in user names of users when storing data into a data table if the data table is an address book.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the method further comprises determining if users having entries in an address book are authorized to log in the domain, and adding into corresponding entries of the address book log-in user names of users authorized to log in the domain.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises conditionally deleting or retaining log-in user names of users depending on whether the users are authorized to log in the domain when storing data into a data table if the data table is an address book.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises

retrieving a list of users of the web based applications;

determining if the users are registered with the domain; and

registering the users with the domain if the users are determined to be not having registered with the domain.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the method further comprises

determining if the users already have corresponding entries in an address book of the web based application;

creating the corresponding entries in the ad dress book if the corresponding entries are determined not to have been previously created; and

upon either determining the existence or creation of the corresponding entries, updating the corresponding entries with log-in user names of the users.

23. An apparatus comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to

retrieve a structural description describing non-file system structures and files of a web based application,

determine in accordance with at least said structural description non-file system structures of the web based application, including constitutions of the non-file system structures, and files of the web based application, including pathnames of the files,

retrieve schemas and data ones of said non-file system structures in accordance with the result of said determination,

store said data ones of said non-file system structures in accordance with schema ones of said non-file system structures, and

retrieve and store said files in accordance with the result of said determination; and

at least one processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

25. A method for copying/restoring a web based application into a domain, said method comprising:

retrieving a plurality of data table schemas for a plurality of data tables of the web based application, and data of the data tables;

as each data table schema is retrieved,

storing the data table schema in a temporal storage location,

creating a data table in accordance with the data table schema,

determining if data for the data table has already been retrieved,

storing the data into the data table if the data for the data table has already been retrieved; and

as each collection of data for a data table is retrieved,

storing the collection of data in a temporal storage location,

determining if the data table has already been created,

storing the data into the data table if the data table has already been created.

32. An apparatus comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions, when executed, operate the apparatus to

retrieve a plurality of data table schemas for a plurality of data tables of a web based application, and data of the data tables,

as each data table schema is retrieved,

store the data table schema in a temporal storage location,

create a data table in accordance with the data table schema,

determine if data for the data table has already been retrieved,

store the data into the data table if the data for the data table has already been retrieved, and

as each collection of data for a data table is retrieved,

store the collection of data in a temporal storage location,

determine if the data table has already been created,

store the data into the data table if the data table has already been created; and

at least one processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the programming instructions, when executed, further operate the apparatus to delete the data table schema and the data of the data table stored in the respective temporal storage locations, upon storing the data of a data table into the data table.

34. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the programming instructions, when executed, further operate the apparatus to delete log-in user names of users when storing data into a data table if the data table is an address book.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the programming instructions, when executed, further operate the apparatus to determine if users having entries in an address book are authorized to log in the domain, and add into corresponding entries of the address book log-in user names of users authorized to log in the domain.

36. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the programming instructions, when executed, further operate the apparatus to conditionally delete or retain log-in user names of users depending on whether the users are authorized to log in the domain when storing data into a data table if the data table is an address book.

37. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the programming instructions, when executed, further operate the apparatus to

retrieve a list of users of the web based applications;

determine if the users are registered with the domain; and

register the users with the domain if the users are determined to be not having registered with the domain.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the programming instructions, when executed, further operate the apparatus to

determine if the users already have corresponding entries in an address book of the web based application;

create the corresponding entries in the address book if the corresponding entries are determined not to have been previously created; and

upon either determining the existence or creation of the corresponding entries, update the corresponding entries with log-in user names of the users.