METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SYNCHRONIZING A SERVER AND AN ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE

• US 20080082555A1
• Filed: 08/31/2007
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Verma, Anant, Weissman, Craig, Hopkins, Chris, Collins, Jesse, Salmon, Greg
• Granted Patent: US 7,827,138 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for synchronizing a server and an on-demand database service. These mechanisms and methods for synchronizing a server and an on-demand database service can enable embodiments to synchronize a larger amount of data. The ability of embodiments to provide such feature can enable more effective synchronization of a user-level sharing entity database with a multi-user on-demand database service.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining a difference between data stored on a first server and by an on-demand database service utilizing a data structure stored on a computer readable medium, the data structure including a plurality of user identifiers each identifying one of a plurality of users of the on-demand database service and a plurality of data identifiers each correlated with at least one of the user identifiers, the data identifiers for identifying data accessible to the user associated with the correlated user identifier; and

synchronizing the first server and the on-demand database service, based on the difference.

2. A method of claim 1, wherein the first server communicates data to at least one second server.

3. A method of claim 2, wherein the on-demand database service communicates data to a third server.

4. A method of claim 3, wherein the at least one second server includes at least one slave server, and the third server includes a master server.

5. A method of claim 3, wherein a plurality of the second servers are included.

6. A method of claim 5, wherein each of the second servers is allocated to a different subset of the users.

7. A method of claim 3, wherein the at least one second server and the third server each communicate with a database server.

8. A method of claim 7, wherein the database server is coupled between the at least one second server and the third server.

9. A method of claim 7, wherein the computer readable medium is a component of the database server.

10. A method of claim 3, wherein the first server and the second server communicate utilizing a collaborative authoring protocol.

11. A method of claim 3, wherein the third server and the on-demand database service communicate utilizing a web service.

12. A method of claim 1, wherein the difference is determined in response to receiving a request to update the data of at least one of the users.

13. A method of claim 12, wherein the difference is determined by identifying a subset of the data that is accessible to the at least one user, utilizing the data structure.

14. A method of claim 13, wherein the difference is further determined by comparing a current state of the data subset with a previous state of the data subset.

15. A method of claim 1, wherein the data structure includes a first table.

16. A method of claim 15 wherein a second table includes the data identifiers each correlated with corresponding data.

17. A method of claim 16, wherein the second table is used in conjunction with the first table for access the data using the user identifiers.

18. A method of claim 1, wherein the first server includes a user-level sharing entity.

19. A method of claim 1, wherein the on-demand database service includes a multi-tenant database system.

20. A machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

determining a difference between data stored on a first server and by an on-demand database service utilizing a data structure stored on a computer readable medium, the data structure including a plurality of user identifiers each identifying one of a plurality of users of the on-demand database service and a plurality of data identifiers each correlated with at least one of the user identifiers, the data identifiers for identifying data accessible to the user associated with the correlated user identifier; and

synchronizing the first server and the on-demand database service, based on the difference.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of;

determining a difference between data stored on a first server and by an on-demand database service utilizing a data structure stored on a computer readable medium, the data structure including a plurality of user identifiers each identifying one of a plurality of users of die on-demand database service and a plurality of data identifiers each correlated with at least one of the user identifiers, the data identifiers for identifying data accessible to the user associated with the correlated user identifier; and

synchronizing the first server and the on-demand database service, based on the difference.

22. A method for transmitting code in a multi-tenant database system on a transmission medium, the method comprising:

transmitting code to determine a difference between data stored on a first server and by an on-demand database service utilizing a data structure stored on a computer readable medium, the data structure including a plurality of user identifiers each identifying one of a plurality of users of the on-demand database service and a plurality of data identifiers each correlated with at least one of the user identifiers, the data identifiers for identifying data accessible to the user associated with the correlated user identifier; and

transmitting code to synchronize the first server and the on-demand database service, based on the difference.

23. A data structure embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising:

a plurality of user identifier objects each identifying one of a plurality of users of an on-demand database service;

a plurality of data identifier objects each correlated with at least one of the user identifier objects, the data identifier objects each for identifying data accessible to the user associated with the correlated user identifier object; and

logic for synchronizing a server and the on-demand database service utilizing the user identifier objects and the data identifier objects.

24. A system, comprising:

a first server;

a second server coupled to the first server;

a third server coupled to an on-demand database service; and

a database server coupled to the second server and the third server, the database server for determining a difference between data stored on the first server and by the on-demand database service, and synchronizing the first server and the on-demand database service based on the difference.