Data storage system having a unified container layer for an active data store

• US 20060085459A1
• Filed: 12/05/2005
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Noble, Gary Paul, Stretton, Peter John
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,417 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24564 Applying rules; Deductive queries

Abstract

A data storage system and method for operating the data storage system. The data storage system includes an active data store that contains stored data, a rules engine, and a unified container layer. The rules engine receives a first portion of the stored data from the active data store and apply at least one rule to modify the received first portion of the stored data, resulting in a generation of modified data by the rules engine. The unified container layer: receives and validates the modified data generated by the rules engine, transmits the validated modified data to the active data store, validates external data received from an external source that is external to the data storage system, and transmits the validated external data to the active data store.

Claims

1. A data storage system, comprising:

an active data store comprising stored data;

a rules engine adapted to receive a first portion of the stored data from the active data store and to apply at least one rule to modify the received first portion of the stored data, resulting in a generation of modified data by the rules engine; and

a unified container layer adapted to;

receive and validate the modified data generated by the rules engine,

transmit the validated modified data to the active data store,

validate external data received by the unified container layer from an external source that is external to the data storage system, and

transmit the validated external data to the active data store.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the unified container layer adapted to:

receive a second portion of the stored data from the active data store such that the second portion of the stored data is not modified by the rules engine;

validate the received second portion of the stored data; and

transmit the validated second portion of the stored data to the active data store.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the unified container layer is adapted to transmit and receive data using a data communication mechanism and further adapted to publish a message to a broker located external to the data storage system by transmitting the message across the data communications mechanism to the broker, wherein the message is derived from the modified data generated by the rules engine, wherein a first list of subscribers is stored in a data store of the broker, and wherein each subscriber listed on the first list of subscribers subscribes to a topic associated with the message and is adapted to receive the message published from the broker.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the unified container layer is adapted to receive the published message from the broker due to the unified container layer being listed on the first list of subscribers, wherein the broker is the external source, and wherein the published message received from the broker is the external data received by the unified container layer from the external source.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the unified container layer comprises a validator and a filter, wherein the unified container layer is adapted to process the published message received from the broker by having the published message validated by the validator and by having the validated published message filtered by the filter.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the data communication mechanism is adapted to receive data from application inputs and user inputs such that no direct access to the active data store is permitted for said inputs.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the data communication mechanism comprises a publish and subscribe data communication mechanism, wherein the data communication mechanism is adapted to participate in data communication with the broker, using said publish and subscribe mechanism, in which the broker acts as a bus by:

(1) receiving published messages by means of transmissions across the data communication mechanism, and (2) making the published messages available to subscribers in the first list of subscribers by transmission of the published messages across the data communication mechanism.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the broker comprises a data store and is adapted to examine subscription data in its data store to determine that the data storage system and a second data storage system have subscribed to the topic associated.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein the broker is adapted to transmit the message to:

the data storage system, the second data storage system, and other subscribers on the first list of subscribers, and wherein the other subscribers include at least one of an application and a database.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the unified container layer comprises a sender, a receiver, and a validator, wherein the sender is adapted to receive the modified data generated by the rules engine and send the modified data to the receiver via the data communication mechanism, wherein the receiver is adapted to receive the modified data from the sender via the data communication mechanism and transmit the modified data to the validator, and wherein the validator is adapted to validate the modified data.

11. A method for operating a data storage system that includes an active data store comprising stored data, a rules engine, and a unified container layer, wherein the method comprises:

receiving, by the rules engine, a first portion of the stored data in the active data store;

applying, by the rules engine, at least one rule to modify the received first portion of the stored data in the active data store, resulting in a generation of modified data by the rules engine;

receiving and validating, by the unified container layer, the modified data generated by the rules engine;

transmitting, by the unified container layer, the validated modified data to the active data store;

validating, by the unified container layer, external data received by the unified container layer from an external source that is external to the data storage system, and transmitting, by the unified container layer, the validated external data to the active data store.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the unified container layer, a second portion of the stored data from the active data store such that the second portion of the stored data is not modified by the rules engine;

validating, by the unified container layer, the received second portion of the stored data; and

transmitting, by the unified container layer, the validated second portion of the stored data to the active data store.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the unified container layer is adapted to transmit and receive data using a data communication mechanism, and wherein the method further comprises:

publishing, by the unified container layer, a message to a broker located external to the data storage system by transmitting the message across the data communications mechanism to the broker, wherein the message is derived from the modified data generated by the rules engine, wherein a first list of subscribers is stored in a data store of the broker, and wherein each subscriber listed on the first list of subscribers subscribes to a topic associated with the message and is adapted to receive the message published from the broker.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the unified container layer, the published message from the broker due to the unified container layer being listed on the first list of subscribers, wherein the broker is the external source, and wherein the published message received from the broker is the external data received by the unified container layer from the external source.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

validating, by a validator comprised by the unified container layer, the published message received from the broker; and

filtering, by a filter comprised by the unified container layer, the validated published message.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the data communication mechanism, data from application inputs and user inputs such that no direct access to the active data store is permitted for said inputs.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the data communication mechanism comprises a publish and subscribe data communication mechanism, and wherein the method further comprises:

participating, by the data communication mechanism, in data communication with the broker, using said publish and subscribe mechanism, in which the broker acts as a bus by;

(1) receiving published messages by means of transmissions across the data communication mechanism, and (2) making the published messages available to subscribers in the first list of subscribers by transmission of the published messages across the data communication mechanism.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the broker comprises a data store and is adapted to examine subscription data in its data store to determine that the data storage system and a second data storage system have subscribed to the topic associated.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the broker is adapted to transmit the message t:

the data storage system, the second data storage system, and other subscribers on the first list of subscribers, and wherein the other subscribers include at least one of an application and a database.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the unified container layer comprises a sender, a receiver, and a validator, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the sender, the modified data generated by the rules engine;

sending, by the sender, the modified data to the receiver via the data communication mechanism;

receiving, by the receiver, the modified data from the sender via the data communication mechanism;

transmitting, by the receiver, the modified data to the validator, wherein the validator is adapted to validate the modified data.

21. A computer program product, comprising computer program instructions tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, said instructions when loaded into a computer system and executed cause said computer system to operate a data storage system by performing a method, wherein the data storage system includes an active data store comprising stored data, a rules engine, and a unified container layer, and wherein the method comprises:

receiving, by the rules engine, a first portion of the stored data in the active data store;

applying, by the rules engine, at least one rule to modify the received first portion of the stored data in the active data store, resulting in a generation of modified data by the rules engine;

receiving and validating, by the unified container layer, the modified data generated by the rules engine;

transmitting, by the unified container layer, the validated modified data to the active data store;

validating, by the unified container layer, external data received by the unified container layer from an external source that is external to the data storage system, and

transmitting, by the unified container layer, the validated external data to the active data store.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the unified container layer, a second portion of the stored data from the active data store such that the second portion of the stored data is not modified by the rules engine;

validating, by the unified container layer, the received second portion of the stored data; and

transmitting, by the unified container layer, the validated second portion of the stored data to the active data store.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the unified container layer is adapted to transmit and receive data using a data communication mechanism, and wherein the method further comprises:

publishing, by the unified container layer, a message to a broker located external to the data storage system by transmitting the message across the data communications mechanism to the broker, wherein the message is derived from the modified data generated by the rules engine, wherein a first list of subscribers is stored in a data store of the broker, and wherein each subscriber listed on the first list of subscribers subscribes to a topic associated with the message and is adapted to receive the message published from the broker.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the unified container layer, the published message from the broker due to the unified container layer being listed on the first list of subscribers, wherein the broker is the external source, and wherein the published message received from the broker is the external data received by the unified container layer from the external source.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

validating, by a validator comprised by the unified container layer, the published message received from the broker; and

filtering, by a filter comprised by the unified container layer, the validated published message.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the data communication mechanism, data from application inputs and user inputs such that no direct access to the active data store is permitted for said inputs.

27. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the data communication mechanism comprises a publish and subscribe data communication mechanism, and wherein the method further comprises:

participating, by the data communication mechanism, in data communication with the broker, using said publish and subscribe mechanism, in which the broker acts as a bus by;

(1) receiving published messages by means of transmissions across the data communication mechanism, and (2) making the published messages available to subscribers in the first list of subscribers by transmission of the published messages across the data communication mechanism.

28. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the broker comprises a data store and is adapted to examine subscription data in its data store to determine that the data storage system and a second data storage system have subscribed to the topic associated.

29. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the broker is adapted to transmit the message t:

the data storage system, the second data storage system, and other subscribers on the first list of subscribers, and wherein the other subscribers include at least one of an application and a database.

30. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the unified container layer comprises a sender, a receiver, and a validator, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the sender, the modified data generated by the rules engine;

sending, by the sender, the modified data to the receiver via the data communication mechanism;

receiving, by the receiver, the modified data from the sender via the data communication mechanism;

transmitting, by the receiver, the modified data to the validator, wherein the validator is adapted to validate the modified data.