Systems and methods for monitoring database replication

• US 20060015485A1
• Filed: 06/10/2005
• Published: 01/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Hofmann, Helmut
• Granted Patent: US 7,716,178 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

Data processing systems and methods are provided that include a relational database and an application program that performs a data processing step on data belonging to a pre-defined entity stored in the relational database. The relational database and the application program may be linked by an interface that provides an intermediate layer for extracting a self-contained temporary table out of the relational database that contains the data belonging to a user selected entity. The disclosed systems and methods may be used for various data processing purposes, including monitoring database replication.

Claims

1. A data processing system, comprising:

a relational database comprising a plurality of database tables, the database tables including a number of relationships and containing data belonging to a set of predefined entities, wherein each entity of the set of predefined entities has a predefined name;

an application program for processing the data belonging to a selected one of the predefined entities; and

an interface for providing the data belonging to the selected one of the predefined entities to the application program as a temporary table stored in volatile memory, the interface comprising;

a mapping table for assigning at least one of the plurality of database tables to one of the predefined entity names;

means for providing a list of the predefined entity names to the application program for the selection of the one of the predefined entities; and

means for generating the temporary table containing the data belonging to the selected one of the predefined entities by reading the at least one of the plurality of database tables that is assigned to the entity name of the selected one of the predefined entities and the database tables that are related to the at least one of the plurality of the database tables.

2. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of database tables comprise main tables, and at least one of the main tables is assigned to one of the predefined entity names in the mapping table.

3. The data processing system of claim 2, wherein the means for generating the temporary table is adapted to resolve all relationships of the main table.

4. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein a set of the plurality of database tables are assigned to one of the predefined entity names and the mapping table.

5. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the means for generating the temporary table is adapted to generate the temporary table as a spreadsheet.

6. The data processing system of claim 5, wherein the spreadsheet has a tab for each database table of the plurality of database tables that contains data belonging to the selected one of the predefined entities.

7. A distributed database system, comprising:

at least a first replica and a second replica of data belonging to a set of predefined entities, the at least first and second replicas including a plurality of database tables, the database tables including a number of relationships, and wherein each entity of the predefined set of entities has a predefined name;

an application program for monitoring database replication with respect to data belonging to a selected one of the predefined entities;

a first interface for providing first data belonging to a selected one of the predefined entities to the application program as a first temporary table stored in volatile memory; and

a second interface for providing second data belonging to the selected one of the predefined entities to the application program as a second temporary table stored in volatile memory,

wherein the application program detects a discrepancy between the first and second temporary tables and outputs a signal when a discrepancy is detected.

8. The distributed database system of claim 7, further comprising:

means for entering a correction of the discrepancy in response to the signal; and

a replication component that is invoked in response to entering the correction and that propagates the correction to the at least first and second replicas.

9. The distributed database system of claim 7, further comprising:

means for determining a cut set of a first set of predefined names of a respective first set of entities supported by the first interface and a second set of predefined names of a respective second set of entities supported by the second interface for a user'"'"'s selection of one of the names contained in the cut set.

10. A data processing method for providing data belonging to a selected one of a set of predefined entities to an application program, the data being stored in a relational database comprising a plurality of database tables, the database tables comprising a number of relationships and the database tables containing the data belonging to the set of pre-defined entities, and each entity of the predefined set of entities has a predefined name, the method comprising:

providing a list of the predefined names to an application program for a user'"'"'s selection of one of the predefined names;

receiving the user'"'"'s selection;

using a mapping table that assigns at least one of the plurality of database tables to one of the predefined entity names to access the at least one of the plurality of database tables that is assigned to the selected one of the predefined entities;

reading the at least one of the plurality of database tables that are related to the at least one of the plurality of database tables;

generating a temporary table containing the data belonging to the selected one of the predefined entities that has been obtained by reading the at least one of the plurality of database tables and its related tables; and

storing the temporary table in volatile memory.

11. The data processing method of claim 10, wherein the relationships between the tables are established by foreign keys.

12. The data processing method of claim 10, wherein the mapping table assigns a set of the plurality of database tables to one of the predefined entity names.

13. The data processing method of claims 10, wherein the mapping table assigns at least one main table of the plurality of database tables to at least one of the predefined entity names.

14. A computer program product stored on a digital storage medium, the computer program product comprising a sequence of computer executable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising:

providing a list of predefined names to an application program for a user'"'"'s selection of one of the predefined names;

receiving the user'"'"'s selection;

using a mapping table that assigns at least one of a plurality of database tables to one of the predefined entity names to access the at least one of the plurality of database tables that is assigned to the selected one of the predefined entities;

reading the at least one of the plurality of database tables that are related to the at least one of the plurality of database tables;

generating a temporary table containing the data belonging to the selected one of the predefined entities that has been obtained by reading the at least one of the plurality of database tables and its related tables; and

storing the temporary table in volatile memory.

15. A method for monitoring database replication of at least first and second replica of a distributed database system, the at least first and second replica containing data belonging to a set of predefined entities, at least a first replica and a second replica of data belonging to a set of predefined entities, the at least first and second replicas having a plurality of database tables, the database tables having a number of relationships, each entity of the predefined set of entities having a predefined name, the method comprising:

monitoring database replication with respect to data belonging to a selected one of the predefined entities;

providing first data belonging to a selected one of the predefined entities to the application program as a first temporary table stored in volatile memory;

providing second data belonging to the selected one of the predefined entities to the application program as a second temporary table stored in volatile memory; and

searching a discrepancy between the first and second temporary tables and outputting a signal if such a discrepancy is detected.

16. The method of monitoring database replication of claim 15, further comprising:

entering a correction of the discrepancy in response to the signal, and invoking a replication component in response to the entry of the correction for propagation of the correction to the at least first and second replicas.