Virtual solution architecture for computer data systems

• US 20060277155A1
• Filed: 06/06/2005
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twitter Inc (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Field, Simon Ashley, Field, Simon Peter, O'Connell, William T., Bell, John W., Pereira, Paulo Roberto Rosa, Holmes, Randall R., Gartner, Jason Michael, Kopp, Nancy A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,730,057 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2048 where the redundant components share neither address space nor persistent storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/256 in federated or virtual databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

Virtual solution architecture for computer data systems. In one aspect, providing an architecture for a computer data system includes creating a virtual solution architecture that includes a plurality of building blocks, each building block characterized by balanced operation, and mapping the virtual solution architecture to a physical solution architecture for the computer data system. Another aspect includes providing at least one balanced configuration unit (BCU) in a computer data system, the BCU including at least one balanced partition unit (BPU) that includes computer resources to provide balanced operation for the BPU.

Claims

1. A method for providing an architecture for a computer data system, the method comprising:

creating a virtual solution architecture that includes a plurality of building blocks, each building block characterized by balanced operation; and

mapping the virtual solution architecture to a physical solution architecture for the computer data system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the building blocks of the virtual solution architecture include one or more balanced partition units (BPUs), each BPU including resource requirements to provide a balanced operation for that BPU.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the creating of the virtual solution architecture includes expanding the BPU into a balanced configuration unit (BCU) architecture, wherein the BCU architecture includes at least one BCU, and the at least one BCU includes at least one BPU, and wherein the mapping includes mapping the BCU architecture to the physical solution architecture for the computer data system.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the computer data system is a data warehouse, and wherein the BPU includes balanced computer resources used by a data partition of a database.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein defining a BPU includes determining resource requirements for each type of BPU used in the computer data system.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the types of BPU include a data BPU, a catalog BPU, and a coordinator BPU.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the types of BPU include an extract-transform-load (ETL) BPU.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein expanding the BPU includes scaling the number of BPUs to meet overall data system requirements.

9. The method of claim 3 wherein a BCU specifies physical computing resources and a system image of computer hardware and software.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the physical solution architecture includes a specification of particular physical components to be used to physically implement the computer data system.

11. The method of claim 3 further comprising creating a high availability BCU (HA-BCU) which includes one or more BCUs, and which provides high availability of system resources in the event of a failure of one or more BCUs in the HA-BCU.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the HA-BCU is specified using a balanced mutual takeover method, in which BPUs from a failed BCU are spread equally amongst a group of BCUs provided in the HA-BCU.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the HA-BCU is specified using a hot standby method, in which the HA-BCU includes an idle BCU, the idle BCU taking over BPUs from a failed BCU within the HA-BCU.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the HA-BCU is specified using a mutual takeover method, in which the HA-BCU includes two BCUs, and wherein if one of the BCUs in the HA-BCU fails, the other BCU in the HA-BCU takes over the BPUs of the failed BCU.

15. The method of claim 3 wherein at least a portion of the resources of one BCU can be dynamically provisioned to a second BCU to allow the second BCU more efficient performance during high demand.

16. The method of claim 3 wherein a capacity of the computer data system can be increased by allowing use of present but previously-unused resources.

17. A data warehouse system comprising:

at least one data balanced configuration unit (BCU), the at least one data BCU including at least one data balanced partition unit (BPU) that corresponds to balanced computer resources used by a data partition of a database, the data BPU storing partitioned database data; and

an administration BCU, the administration BCU including a catalog BPU corresponding to a database partition where a database catalog resides.

18. The data warehouse system of claim 17 wherein the administration BCU further includes a coordinator BPU that manages user database connections to the data warehouse and coordinates processing of user queries.

19. The data warehouse system of claim 17 further comprising an extract-transform-load (ETL) BCU that processes the extraction, transformation, and loading of data to and from the data warehouse.

20. The data warehouse system of claim 17 further comprising an application BPU that is responsible for processing a user application that interfaces with the data warehouse.

21. A computer data system comprising:

a plurality of balanced partition units (BPU), each BPU including computer resources to provide balanced operation for the BPU; and

at least one balanced configuration unit (BCU), wherein the at least one BCU includes at least one BPU and wherein the at least one BCU specifies a system image of computer hardware and software.

22. The computer data system of claim 21 wherein the data system is a data warehouse, and wherein each BCU is a computer partition or individual server, and wherein the plurality of BPUs include at least one data BPU that corresponds to balanced computer resources used by a data partition of a database, the data BPU storing partitioned database data.