System and method for managing data through families of inter-related metadata tables
First Claim
1. A method of distributing metadata, comprising:
- generating one or more copies of metadata, wherein the one or more copies of metadata are copies of source metadata stored in a data source computing device and wherein the one or more copies and the source metadata constitute a family of metadata copies;
modifying a portion of at least one copy of the metadata in the family of metadata copies; and
propagating the modification to the at least one copy of the metadata to all other copies of the metadata in the family of metadata copies.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for providing families of inter-related copies of metadata in which the copies of metadata are logically linked. With the system and method, a mapping table or portion of a mapping table used to manage instant copies of data, i.e. a metadata table, may have multiple identical copies of the metadata table that form a family of inter-related metadata tables. These copies of the metadata table are guaranteed, through the mechanisms of the system and method, to be consistent with each other. Changes to any metadata table in the family are propagated to all the other metadata tables in the family regardless of the physical location at which the metadata table is stored. Thus, the copies of the metadata table may be distributed to remote physical locations and be used to access the same set of data stored in one physical location, while remaining consistent with each other copy of the metadata table stored at other physical locations.
81 Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A method of distributing metadata, comprising:
-
generating one or more copies of metadata, wherein the one or more copies of metadata are copies of source metadata stored in a data source computing device and wherein the one or more copies and the source metadata constitute a family of metadata copies;
modifying a portion of at least one copy of the metadata in the family of metadata copies; and
propagating the modification to the at least one copy of the metadata to all other copies of the metadata in the family of metadata copies. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A system for distributing metadata, comprising:
-
means for generating one or more copies of metadata, wherein the one or more copies of metadata are copies of source metadata stored in a data source computing device and wherein the one or more copies and the source metadata constitute a family of metadata copies;
means for modifying a portion of at least one copy of the metadata in the family of metadata copies; and
means for propagating the modification to the at least one copy of the metadata to all other copies of the metadata in the family of metadata copies. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for distributing metadata, comprising:
-
first instructions for generating one or more copies of metadata, wherein the one or more copies of metadata are copies of source metadata stored in a data source computing device and wherein the one or more copies and the source metadata constitute a family of metadata copies;
second instructions for modifying a portion of at least one copy of the metadata in the family of metadata copies; and
third instructions for propagating the modification to the at least one copy of the metadata to all other copies of the metadata in the family of metadata copies. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
-
Specification