Multi-master referential integrity

• US 20080126499A1
• Filed: 11/29/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Rowley, Peter Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,583,596 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/208
• 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 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A method and apparatus for maintaining referential integrity in a plurality of directory servers is described. In one embodiment, a first directory server receives a request to operate on an entry in the first directory server. The request is serially repeated in at least one other directory server if the operation on the entry in the first directory server is not valid. The at least one other directory server communicates indirectly with the first directly server.

Claims

1. A computer-implement method for maintaining referential integrity in a plurality of directory servers, the method comprising:

receiving a request to operate on an entry in a first directory server; and

serially repeating the request in at least one other directory server if the operation on the entry in the first directory server is not valid,

wherein the at least one other directory server communicates indirectly with the first directory server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of directory servers comprise a multi-master replication agreement.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

returning a message of a validity of the operation when the operation on the entry is valid in at least one other directory server.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

returning a message of invalidity of the operation when the operation on the entry cannot be performed in any directory server of the plurality of the directory servers.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the operation on the entry in the directory server is not valid when the entry is not present in the directory server.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein repeating the request further comprises:

adding an identifier of the first directory server to the request.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein repeating the request further comprises:

adding an identifier of a second directory server to the request when the operation on the entry in the second directory server is not valid.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein repeating the request further comprises:

repeating the request on the entry in a third directory server,

wherein the third directory server is not identified in the request, and the third directory server has a multi-master replication agreement with the first and second directory server.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

replicating the entry in the plurality of directory servers prior to returning a message of a validity of the operation when the operation on the entry is valid in at least one of the directory servers.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

maintaining referential integrity in the plurality of directory servers without locking the plurality of directory servers.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a directory server to receive a request to operate on an entry in the directory server, to repeat the request in at least one other directory server if the operation on the entry in the directory server is not valid, wherein the directory server communicates indirectly with the at least one other directory server.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the directory server and the at least one other directory server comprise a multi-master replication agreement.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the directory server is to receive a message of a validity of the operation when the operation on the entry is valid in at least one other directory server.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the directory server is to receive a message of invalidity of the operation when the operation on the entry cannot be performed in any other directory servers.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the operation on the entry in the directory server is not valid when the entry is not present in the directory server.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the directory server is to add an identifier of the directory server to the repeated request.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein a second directory server is to add an identifier of the second directory server to the repeated request when the operation on the entry in the second directory server is not valid.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the second directory server is to repeat the request on the entry in a third directory server,

wherein the third directory server is not identified in the request, and the third directory server has a multi-master replication agreement with the second directory server.

19. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-accessible storage medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising;

receiving a request to operate on an entry in a first directory server; and

repeating the request in at least one other directory server if the operation on the entry in the first directory server is not valid,

wherein at least one other directory server communicates indirectly with the first directory server.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the plurality of directory servers comprises a multi-master replication agreement.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the method further comprises:

returning a message of a validity of the operation when the operation on the entry is valid in at least one other directory server.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the method further comprises:

returning a message of invalidity of the operation when the operation on the entry cannot be performed in any directory server of the plurality of the directory servers.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the operation on the entry in the directory server is not valid when the entry is not present in the directory server.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein repeating the request further comprises:

adding an identifier of the first directory server to the request.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein repeating the request further comprises:

adding an identifier of a second directory server to the request when the operation on the entry in the second directory server is not valid.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25 wherein repeating the request further comprises:

repeating the request on the entry in a third directory server,

wherein the third directory server is not identified in the request, and the third directory server has a multi-master replication agreement with the first and second directory server.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the method further comprises:

replicating the entry in the plurality of directory servers prior to returning a message of a validity of the operation when the operation on the entry is valid in at least one of the directory servers.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the method further comprises:

maintaining referential integrity in the plurality of directory servers without locking the plurality of directory servers.