Dynamic connection establishment using an object link

• US 20070130154A1
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Venkatesan, Ramkumar, Chidambaran, Lakshminarayanan
• Granted Patent: US 7,502,776 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

Techniques are provided for creating dynamic connections to objects on remote database clusters. Service-to-instance mapping information is provided to a listener process for a cluster database. The service-to-instance mapping indicates the current provider instance(s) of each object within the cluster database. To establish a connection to a remote object, a sending process uses an object link. The object link identifies the desired destination object, but not the provider instance of the object. The object link also contains a authentication information and other connection information that exists in regular database links. The global listener for the cluster database uses the service-to-instance mapping to determine which instance is the current provider of the specified object, and dynamically distinguishes the appropriate database instance as the endpoint of the connection.

Claims

1. A method for providing a connection between a source database and a target database, comprising:

receiving a connection request from a source database, the connection request comprising an object link, the object link comprising object information specifying a target object and database information specifying a target database;

using object-to-instance mapping information to identify a target database instance located on the target database, the target database instance containing an instance of the target object; and

establishing a connection between the source database and the target database instance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the object information comprises:

the name of the target object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the database information comprises:

the name of the target database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the object link further comprises:

authentication information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the object-to-instance mapping information comprises service-to-instance mapping information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the target database instance is the sole database instance in the target database containing the target object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the target database instance is one of a plurality of database instances in the target database containing the target object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the instance of the target object is no longer available on the target database instance.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether the instance of the target object is no longer available comprises:

determining whether the object-to-instance mapping information for the destination object has changed.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

if the instance of the target object is no longer available on the target database instance, using the object-to-instance mapping information to identify a second target database instance located on the target database, the second target database instance containing an instance of the target object.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

establishing a connection between the source database and the second target database instance.

12. A method for accessing information on a target database instance, comprising:

sending a connection request to a global listener, the connection request comprising an object link, the object link comprising object information specifying a target object and database information specifying a target database;

sending and/or receiving information to/from a target database instance via a connection, the target database instance containing an instance of the target object, the connection being established by the global listener.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the global listener identifies the target database instance based on object-to-instance mapping information and uses the identity of the target database instance to establish the connection.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the object information comprises:

the name of the destination object.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the database information comprises:

the name of the destination database.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the object link further comprises:

authentication information.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

if the instance of the target object is no longer available on the target database instance, sending information to a second target database instance via a second connection, the second target database instance containing an instance of the target object, the second connection being established by the global listener.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the global listener identifies the second destination database instance based on changed data in the object-to-instance mapping information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the global listener uses the identity of the second target database instance to establish the second connection.

20. A method for communication with a source database, comprising:

sending object-to-instance mapping information to a global listener, the object-to-instance mapping information specifying a target object instance located on a target database instance; and

sending and/or receiving information to/from a source database via a connection, the connection being established by the global listener based on the object-to-instance mapping information.