SIMPLIFYING SYNCHRONIZATION OF COPIES OF SAME DATA USED BY MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS

• US 20090235185A1
• Filed: 03/12/2008
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gill, Bikram Singh
• Granted Patent: US 8,572,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/760
• 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: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

Simplifying synchronization of copies of same data used by multiple applications, in particular, between a source application and multiple target applications. In one embodiment, a synchronization tool (provided external to the source application and the multiple target applications) pulls information of interest from a data store associated with the source application using a web service and then pushes the retrieved information of interest to corresponding data stores associated with the multiple target applications using respective web services.

Claims

1. A method of simplifying synchronization of information between a source application and a plurality of target applications, said method being performed by a sync tool provided external to said source application and said plurality of target applications, said method comprising:

pulling an information of interest using a first web service designed to retrieve said information of interest from a first data store associated with said source application; and

pushing said information of interest using a second web service designed to store said information of interest in a second data store associated with a first target application contained in said plurality of target applications.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a configuration data specifying a plurality of mappings, each mapping indicating that information is to be synchronized between said source application and one of said plurality of target applications; and

selecting a first mapping indicating that information is to be synchronized between said source application and said first target application, wherein said first mapping is contained in said plurality of mappings,

wherein said pulling and said pushing are performed after said selecting said first mapping.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each web service is designed to provide a corresponding set of operations, which on invocation performs the actions of said pulling and said pushing of information,

wherein each of said plurality of mappings further indicates the specific operations to be invoked in corresponding web services for performing synchronization of information between said source application and said plurality of target applications,

wherein said first mapping further indicates that a first operation provided by said first web service is to be invoked for said pulling of said information of interest and that a second operation provided by said second web service is to be invoked for said pushing of said information of interest,

wherein said pulling pulls said information of interest by invoking said first operation in said first web service and said pushing pushes said information of interest by invoking said second operation in said second web service.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said selecting selects a second mapping indicating that information is to be synchronized between said source application and a second target application contained in said plurality of target applications, wherein said second mapping is contained in said plurality of mappings,

wherein said second mapping further indicates that a third operation provided by said first web service is to be invoked for said pulling of said information of interest and that a fourth operation provided by a third web service is to be invoked for said pushing of said information of interest, wherein said third web service is designed to store said information of interest in a third data store associated with said second target application,

wherein said pulling pulls said information of interest by invoking said third operation and said pushing pushes said information of interest by invoking said fourth operation after said selecting said second mapping.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the manner of invocation of the operations provided by said first web service is specified by a first web service definition, wherein said pulling comprises:

sending a request to said first web service for invoking said first operation, wherein said request is according to an input format specified by said first web service definition; and

receiving a response to said request from said first web service, wherein said response contains said information of interest according to an output format specified by said first web service definition,

wherein said information of interest is retrieved from said first data store by a software code corresponding to said first operation executing in a first system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the manner of invocation of the operations provided by said second web service is specified by a second web service definition, said method further comprising:

converting said information of interest from said output format to another input format specified by said second web service definition,

wherein said pushing comprises;

sending another request to said second web service for invoking said second operation, wherein said another request contains said information of interest according to said another input format,

wherein said information of interest is stored in said second data store by a software code corresponding to said second operation executing in a second system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said request, said response and said another request are encoded in the form of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) packets and wherein said first web service definition and said second web service definition are encoded in the form of Web Service Definition Language (WSDL) files.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said configuration data specifies a resource at which said first web service is provided, said method further comprising:

retrieving said first web service definition from said resource by sending a request to said resource,

wherein said pulling from said first web service is performed according to the retrieved first web service definition.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein said first mapping further indicates that one of a second set of operations provided by said second web service is to be invoked for said pushing of said information of interest, said second operation being contained in said second set of operations, said method further comprising:

maintaining a historical data indicating the information synchronized between said source application and each of said plurality of target applications; and

determining the specific one of said second set of operations to be invoked based on said historical data and said information of interest,

wherein said pushing pushes said information of interest using the determined specific one of said second set of operations.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said second set of operations contains an insert operation and an update operation designed respectively for inserting and updating a first information packet in said second data store, said first information packet being contained in said information of interest,

wherein said determining determines that said insert operation is to be invoked if said historical data indicates that said first information packet is not previously synchronized between said source application and said first target application, and that said update operation is to be invoked otherwise.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said second set of operations contains a delete operation designed for deleting a second information packet contained in said second data store,

wherein said determining determines that said delete operation is to be invoked if said second information packet is not contained in said information of interest and said historical data indicates that said second information packet is previously synchronized between said source application and said first target application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said determining determines that said delete operation is to be invoked if said second information packet is indicated to be deleted by said information of interest.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an indication indicating that synchronization between said source application and said first target application is to be performed, wherein said pulling and said pushing are performed in response to said receiving said indication.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said receiving receives said indication from one of said source application and said first target application as a request to a fourth web service provided by said sync tool.

15. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing a user interface to indicate the specific operations to be invoked in corresponding web services for performing synchronization of information between said source application and said plurality of target applications,

wherein a user uses said user interface to indicate that said first operation provided by said first web service is to be invoked for said pulling of said information of interest and that said second operation provided by said second web service is to be invoked for said pushing of said information of interest.

16. A machine readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for causing a system to simplify synchronization of information between a source application and a plurality of target applications, said synchronization being performed by a sync tool provided external to said source application and said plurality of target applications, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors contained in said system causes said system to perform the actions of:

pulling an information of interest using a first web service designed to retrieve said information of interest from a first data store associated with said source application; and

pushing said information of interest using a second web service and a third web service respectively designed to store said information of interest in a second data store and a third data store respectively associated with a first target application and a second target application contained in said plurality of target applications.

17. The machine readable medium of claim 16, further comprising one or more instructions for:

maintaining a configuration data specifying a plurality of mappings, each mapping indicating that information is to be synchronized between said source application and one of said plurality of target applications; and

selecting initially a first mapping indicating that information is to be synchronized between said source application and said first and said second target applications, wherein said first mapping is contained in said plurality of mappings,

wherein said pulling and said pushing are performed after said selecting said first mapping.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 17, wherein each web service is designed to provide a corresponding set of operations, which on invocation performs the actions of said pulling and said pushing of information,

wherein each of said plurality of mappings further indicates the specific operations to be invoked in corresponding web services for performing synchronization of information between said source application and said plurality of target applications,

wherein said first mapping further indicates that a first operation provided by said first web service is to be invoked for said pulling of said information of interest and that a second operation and a third operation respectively provided by said second and third web services is to be invoked for said pushing of said information of interest,

wherein said pulling pulls said information of interest by invoking said first operation and said pushing pushes said information of interest by invoking said second operation and said third operation.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 18, wherein said first mapping further indicates that one of a second set of operations provided by said second web service can be invoked for said pushing of said information of interest, said second operation being contained in said second set of operations, further comprising one or more instructions for:

maintaining a historical data indicating the information synchronized between said source application and each of said plurality of target applications; and

determining the specific one of said second set of operations to be invoked based on said historical data and said information of interest,

wherein said pushing pushes said information of interest using the determined specific one of said second set of operations.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein said second set of operations contains an insert operation and an update operation designed respectively for inserting and updating a first information packet in said second data store, said first information packet being contained in said information of interest,

wherein said determining determines that said insert operation is to be invoked if said historical data indicates that said first information packet is not previously synchronized between said source application and said first target application, and that said update operation is to be invoked otherwise.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 20, wherein said second set of operations contains a delete operation designed for deleting a second information packet contained in said second data store,

wherein said determining determines that said delete operation is to be invoked if said second information packet is not contained in said information of interest and said historical data indicates that said second information packet is previously synchronized between said source application and said first target application.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 16, further comprising one or more instructions for receiving an indication indicating that synchronization between said source application and said first target application is to be performed, wherein said pulling and said pushing are performed in response to said receiving said indication.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 22, wherein said receiving receives said indication from one of said source application and said first target application as a request to a fourth web service provided by said sync tool.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 18, further comprising one or more instructions for:

providing a user interface to indicate the specific operations to be invoked in corresponding web services for performing synchronization of information between said source application and said plurality of target applications,

wherein a user uses said user interface to indicate that said first operation provided by said first web service is to be invoked for said pulling of said information of interest and that said second and said third operations respectively provided by said second and third web services are to be invoked for said pushing of said information of interest.

26. The computing system of claim 16, further comprising:

a local database associated with said sync tool to maintain a configuration data specifying a plurality of mappings, each mapping indicating that information is to be synchronized between said plurality of applications,

wherein said sync tool initially selects a first mapping indicating that information is to be synchronized between said first application, said second application and said third application, wherein said first mapping is contained in said plurality of mappings,

wherein said sync tool then pulls and pushes said information of interest in response to selecting said first mapping.

25. A computing system comprising:

a plurality of data stores to maintain respective copies of a data;

a plurality of systems to execute a plurality of applications, wherein each of said plurality of applications is designed to operate with the copy of said data maintained in one of said plurality of data stores; and

a sync tool provided external to said plurality of applications to synchronize the copies of said data, said sync tool being operable to;

pull an information of interest contained in said data using a first web service designed to retrieve said information of interest from a first data store associated with a first application; and

push said information of interest using a second web service and a third web service respectively designed to store said information of interest in a second data store and a third data store respectively associated with a second application and a third application,

wherein said first data store, said second data store and said third data stores are contained in said plurality of data stores and said first application, said second application and said third application are contained in said plurality of applications.