System and method for providing a directory service network

• US 20070118632A1
• Filed: 11/09/2005
• Published: 05/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Harvey, Richard, Gardiner, Benjamin
• Granted Patent: US 8,572,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A system and method are provided for efficiently evaluating directory service operations in a directory service network. The directory service network may comprise a plurality of directory servers. Each of the directory servers may maintain information about the other servers in the network. The directory servers may share information received in a directory service update using a mutual updating process. Additionally, a new directory server joining a directory service network may be initialized with the directory data stored at one or more of the other network servers.

Claims

1. A method of providing access to directory information stored on one or more directory servers operatively in communication to form a directory service network, comprising:

receiving, at one of the one or more directory servers, a directory service update operation; and

mutually updating one or more additional directory servers in the directory service network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether one or more additional servers in the network should receive the directory service update comprises:

consulting a directory service information list, wherein the directory service information list includes information about the other directory servers in the network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein mutually updating comprises:

forwarding the directory service update to the one or more servers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein mutually updating is performed using one or more of the following replication techniques:

write-behind replication and write-through replication.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein mutually updating is performed using one or more of the following replication techniques:

replay-based replication and state-based replication.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein mutually updating is performed using one or more of the following replication techniques:

meshed replication, cascading replication, and tiered replication.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein mutually updating is performed using one or more of the following replication techniques:

multi-master replication, preferred master replication, and master-slave replication.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein mutually updating is performed using one or more of the following replication techniques:

full replication, selective replication, on demand replication, and batch replication.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein performing write-through replication comprises writing to the one or more additional directory servers prior to returning a write response.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a subset of information is provided to the one or more additional directory servers during the mutual update.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein mutual updating occurs at one or more predetermined times.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein mutual updating occurs in response to a predetermined event.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether to mutually update a server based, at least in part, on whether the additional server interfaces to a persistent or a non-persistent storage device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the mutual update occurs before responding to a requesting device if an additional server interfaces to a persistent storage device and after responding to a requesting device if an additional server interfaces to a non-persistent storage device.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an indication that a new server has joined the directory service network; and

initializing the new directory server with the information stored in one or more of the other directory servers.

16. A directory service network comprising:

at least one directory server associated with a non-persistent storage mechanism; and

one or more additional servers, each associated with a storage mechanism;

wherein, at least one of the directory servers comprises;

a mutual updating module configured to update one or more other directory servers with the result of a directory service operation.

17. The directory service network of claim 16 wherein at least one of the directory servers further comprises:

an initialization module configured to provide a new directory server with data stored in its storage mechanism.

18. The directory service network of claim 16, further comprising a directory service information maintenance module is configured to maintain a list of information associated with each server in the directory service network.

19. The directory service network of claim 18, wherein the information includes one or more of:

a name associated with the directory server, a network address associated with the directory server, a location of the directory server, and the type of data served by the directory server.

20. The directory service network of claim 16, wherein the mutual update module is configured to distribute a received directory service update operation to one or more other servers.

21. The directory service network of claim 16, wherein the initialization module is configured to enable a newly added directory server to receive information stored in one or more other server upon entering the network.

22. The directory service network of claim 16, wherein the directory server associated with the non-persistent storage mechanism store further comprises:

a communications interface configured to receive one or more directory service operations from one or more client devices; and

an evaluation module configured to determine whether the directory server is able to process the received directory service operation, and to initiate the processing when the directory server is able to process the directory service operation; and

wherein the non-persistent storage mechanism is configured to temporarily store data for responding to the directory service operations received by the communications interface.