Access manager for databases

• US 20030093413A1
• Filed: 11/15/2001
• Published: 05/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dettinger, Richard Dean, Olson, Brian E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,290,909 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and systems for database replication. In general, a source database management system is configured with an access manager. The access manager implements a replication schedule for replicating data to one or more client systems. Replication is performed for a particular client when the access manager determines that one or more threshold criteria have been satisfied.

Claims

1. A method of automatically replicating source data stored in one or more source database tables in a source database management system to at least one of a plurality of clients, comprising:

determining, by the source database management system, whether the source data should be replicated to the at least one client; and

if so, replicating the source data to the at least one client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the source data is replicated to at least two of the plurality of clients and wherein the replicated source data is different for each of the at least two clients.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the source database management system comprises a server configured to access the one or more source database tables and an access manager configured to perform the determining.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the source database management system is a component of a computer system and further comprising:

programmatically generating, by the computer system, a replication schedule indicative of when replication should occur the at least one client; and

transmitting the replication schedule from the computer system to the at least one client.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to determining, receiving a request from the at least one client wherein the request specifies one or more client database tables to be updated.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the source database management system comprises an access manager configured with threshold criteria and wherein determining whether the source data should be replicated comprises executing the access manager to compare the threshold criteria against network behavior of the at least one client.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the threshold criteria comprises at least one of a time of day criterion, a request size criterion, a user criterion, a user-specific request frequency criterion, a user class criterion, and a combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the network behavior comprises at least one of a time of day, a request size, a user identification, a user class identification, a request frequency, and a combination thereof.

9. A computer readable medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation for automatically replicating source data stored in one or more source database tables in a source database management system to at least one of a plurality of clients, the operation comprising:

determining, by the source database management system, whether the source data should be replicated to the at least one client; and

if so, replicating the source data to the at least one client.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the program is part of a collaborative software package and wherein the plurality of clients each execute an instance of the collaborative software package.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the source data is replicated to at least two of the plurality of clients and wherein the replicated source data is different for each of the at least two clients.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the source database management system comprises a server configured to access the one or more source database tables and an access manager configured to perform the determining.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

generating a replication schedule indicative of when replication should occur for the at least one client; and

transmitting the replication schedule to the at least one client.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the determining occurs after receiving a request from the at least one client wherein the request specifies one or more client database tables to be updated.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the source database management system comprises an access manager configured with threshold criteria and wherein determining whether the source data should be replicated comprises executing the access manager to compare the threshold criteria against network behavior of the at least one client.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the threshold criteria comprises at least one of a time of day criterion, a request size criterion, a user criterion, a user-specific request frequency criterion, a user class criterion, and a combination thereof.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, Wherein the threshold criteria are configurable by an administrator of the source database management system.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the network behavior comprises at least one of a time of day, a request size, a user identification, a user class identification, a request frequency, and a combination thereof.

19. A computer system configurable to replicate source data to a plurality of remote computers, the computer system comprising:

a memory containing at least;

a database comprising a plurality of source database tables containing the source data; and

an access manager program;

a processor which, when executing the access manager program, is configured to at least;

determine whether the source data should be replicated to the at least one remote computer; and

if so, replicate the source data to the at least one remote computer.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor executing the access manager program is further configured to:

generate a replication schedule indicative of when replication should occur for the at least one remote computer; and

transmit the replication schedule to the at least one remote computer.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor executing the access manager program determines whether the source data should be replicated after the computer system receives a request from the at least one remote computer wherein the request specifies one or more remote computer database tables to be updated.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the database and the access manager program define at least a portion of a database management system.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the memory further contains collaborative software and wherein the remote computers are each executing an instance of the collaborative software.

24. The system of claim 19, further comprising a server configured to access the plurality of source database tables.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the database, the access manager program and the server define at least a portion of a database management system.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor executing the access manager program is further configured to determine whether the source data should be replicated by comparing threshold criteria against network behavior of the at least one remote computer.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the threshold criteria comprises at least one of a time of day criterion, a request size criterion, a user criterion, a user-specific request frequency criterion, a user class criterion, and a combination thereof.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the network behavior comprises at least one of a time of day, a request size, a user identification, a user class identification, a request frequency, and a combination thereof.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the memory further contains a log in which the access manager program records the network behavior.