METHOD OF PARTITIONING A DATABASE

• US 20090276477A1
• Filed: 05/02/2008
• Published: 11/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Jones, Simon, Sajja, Himavantha Rao, Razdan, Ram, Bristow, Neil, Thuringer, John Neil
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,423 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/217 Database tuning G06F16/2282 takes precedence; database performance monitoring G06F11/3409
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures

Abstract

The invention is directed towards a method of partitioning data in a database. The database is configured to be accessed by an entity. The method comprises the steps of defining a first partition within the database, defining a second partition within the database and assigning selected data in the database to the first partition and the second partition, wherein data assigned to both the first partition and the second partition may only be accessed by an entity assigned to both said first partition and said second partition.

Claims

1. A method of partitioning data in a database, the database configured to be accessed by an entity, the method comprising:

a. defining a first partition within the database;

b. defining a second partition within the database; and

c. assigning a first set of data in the database to the first partition and the second partition,

wherein data assigned to both the first partition and the second partition may only be accessed by an entity assigned to both said first partition and said second partition.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

assigning a second set of data to one of;

no partitions, solely the first partition, solely the second partition or both the first and second partition; and

assigning an entity requiring access to the database to one of;

no partitions, solely the first partition, solely the second partition or both the first and second partition,

wherein an entity assigned to both the first and second partitions may also access data solely assigned to either the first or second partitions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein data that is not assigned to a first partition or a second partition may be accessed by all entities.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the entity is one of a user or an application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

step a) comprises adding one or more columns to one or more data tables within the database; and

step b) comprises, for one or more rows within a selected data table within the database, adding one or more entries to the one or more columns, each entry denoting a different partition to which the data is assigned.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first partition represents one of:

an organisation, a region, a legal grouping, a business unit, or a legal entity; and

the second partition represents another of;

an organisation, a region, a legal grouping, a business unit, or a legal entity.

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

defining one or more further partitions within the database; and

assigning the first set of data in the database to each of the one or more further partitions,

wherein data assigned to a plurality of partitions may only be accessed by an entity correspondingly assigned to said plurality of partitions.

8. A method of accessing partitioned data in a database, the method comprising:

receiving a request for access to particular data within the database from an entity;

determining whether the data is assigned to a first partition;

determining whether the data is assigned to a second partition;

determining whether the entity is assigned to a first partition; and

determining whether the entity is assigned to a second partition;

if the data is assigned to a first partition and a second partition, conditionally granting the entity access to the data if the first partition assigned to the data matches a first partition assigned to the entity and the second partition assigned to the data matches a second partition assigned to the entity.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises, if the data is not assigned to any partitions, conditionally granting the entity access to said data.

22. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 8.

10. A method of accessing partitioned data in a database comprising:

receiving a request for access to the database from an entity, the request comprising an entity reference;

determining whether the entity is assigned to any partitions of the database based on the entity reference; and

filtering the data within the database so that data assigned to a first partition and a second partition may only be accessed by an entity assigned to said first partition and said second partition.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of filtering the data within the database further comprises filtering the data so that an entity assigned to both the first partition and the second partition can access data assigned solely to the first partition or solely to the second partition.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein an entity can only view filtered data.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the request further comprises security data and the method further comprises validating the request for access based on the entity reference and the security data.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

selecting data from the filtered data accessible to the entity, wherein the filtered data comprises data assigned solely to a single pre-assigned partition, said single pre-assigned partition also being assigned to the entity;

generating a third partition; and

assigning the selected data to said pre-assigned partition and said third partition.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the first partition represents one of:

an organisation, a region, a legal grouping, a business unit, or a legal entity; and

the second partition represents another of;

an organisation, a region, a legal grouping, a business unit, or a legal entity.

23. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 10.

16. A data structure for partitioning data within a database comprising:

one or more data tables comprising one or more entries, each entry comprising a set of data; and

for each entry in said one or more data tables;

a first partition parameter for assigning the set of data to a first partition;

a second partition parameter for assigning the set of data to a second partition.

17. The data structure of claim 16, further comprising:

one or more entity tables comprising one or more entries, each entry comprising a set of data related to a particular entity; and

for each entry in said one or more entity tables;

a first partition parameter for assigning the entity to a first partition;

a second partition parameter for assigning the entity to a second partition.

18. The data structure of claim 17, further comprising:

for each entry in said one or more data tables;

one or more partition parameters for assigning the set of data to one or more further partitions; and

for each entry in said one or more entity tables;

one or more partition parameters for assigning the entity to one or more further partitions.

19. The data structure of claim 17, wherein each partition parameter can be assigned a null value representing the case where the set of data or the entity is not assigned to a particular partition.

20. The data structure of claim 17, wherein the first partition represents one of:

an organisation, a region, a legal grouping, a business unit, or a legal entity; and

the second partition represents another of;

an organisation, a region, a legal grouping, a business unit, or a legal entity.

21. The data structure of claim 16, further comprising:

a configuration table comprising one or more entries, each entry corresponding to a value to be assigned to one or more of the first partition parameter and the second partition parameter.