PROCESSING LOG FILES USING A DATABASE SYSTEM

• US 20160041976A1
• Filed: 05/20/2015
• Published: 02/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Pradeep, Aakash, Torman, Adam, Warshavsky, Alex, Dabkoski, Derrill, Jain, Samarpan, Bandyopadhyay, Soumen, D'Silva, Thomas William
• Granted Patent: US 10,339,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

Disclosed are some examples of database systems, methods, and computer program products for processing log files. In some implementations, a server of a database system accesses a log file having a release version. The log file includes data entries identifying system events corresponding to user activity. The server generates or updates, based on the release version of the log file, a metadata file indicating approved entry types and approved data. The server also generates or updates, based on the log file and the metadata file, customer-facing log files. Each customer-facing log file is associated with a corresponding customer entity capable of being serviced by the database system. Each customer-facing log file includes a subset of the entries and a subset of the data items of at least one of the entries.

Claims

1. A database system comprising:

at least one database storing a plurality of data objects; and

at least one server capable of executing instructions configured to cause;

accessing a log file referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database, the log file having a release version, the log file comprising a plurality of data entries identifying system events corresponding to user activity associated with a plurality of users of the database system, each entry of the log file comprising a plurality of data items,

generating or updating, based at least on the release version of the log file, a metadata file capable of being referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database of the database system, the metadata file indicating a plurality of approved entry types and approved data associated with each approved entry type, and

generating or updating, based at least on the log file and the metadata file, a plurality of customer-facing log files capable of being referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database of the database system, each customer-facing log file being associated with a corresponding customer entity capable of being serviced by the database system, each customer-facing log file comprising a subset of the plurality of entries and comprising a subset of the data items of at least one of the entries in the subset of entries.

2. The database system of claim 1, wherein generating or updating the metadata file comprises:

identifying a log entry definition file referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database, the log entry definition file being associated with the release version of the log file, the log entry definition file comprising descriptive data describing each entry of the log file and comprising approval data identifying approved entry types and approved data; and

generating or updating the metadata file based on the descriptive data and approval data of the log entry definition file.

3. The database system of claim 2, wherein the metadata file is an extensible markup language (XML) file, and the log entry definition file is an XML file.

4. The database system of claim 1, wherein generating or updating a customer-facing log file comprises:

selecting the subset of entries based on the approved entry types and based on the corresponding customer entity; and

for each selected entry, selecting a subset of the data items based on the approved data.

5. The database system of claim 1, the instructions further configured to cause:

capturing a series of system events as the entries of the log file.

6. The database system of claim 1, wherein the system events are associated with an on-demand application hosted by the database system.

7. The database system of claim 6, wherein the release version of the log file corresponds to a version of the application hosted when the system events identified in the log file occurred.

8. The database system of claim 6, wherein each customer-facing log file is associated with a version of the application hosted by the database system.

9. The database system of claim 1, the instructions further configured to cause:

storing pointers identifying the customer-facing log files as at least one data object in the at least one database, wherein each pointer indicates a location of a corresponding customer-facing log file.

10. The database system of claim 9, wherein the customer entities are capable of accessing the customer-facing log files using an application programming interface (API) providing access to the pointers.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a log file referenced by at least one data object in at least one database of a database system, the log file having a release version, the log file comprising a plurality of data entries identifying system events corresponding to user activity associated with a plurality of users of the database system, each entry of the log file comprising a plurality of data items;

generating or updating, based at least on the release version of the log file, a metadata file capable of being referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database of the database system, the metadata file indicating a plurality of approved entry types and approved data associated with each approved entry type; and

generating or updating, based at least on the log file and the metadata file, a plurality of customer-facing log files capable of being referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database of the database system, each customer-facing log file being associated with a corresponding customer entity capable of being serviced by the database system, each customer-facing log file comprising a subset of the plurality of entries and comprising a subset of the data items of at least one of the entries in the subset of entries.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein generating or updating the metadata file comprises:

identifying a log entry definition file referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database, the log entry definition file being associated with the release version of the log file, the log entry definition file comprising descriptive data describing each entry of the log file and comprising approval data identifying approved entry types and approved data; and

generating or updating the metadata file based on the descriptive data and approval data of the log entry definition file.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein generating or updating a customer-facing log file comprises:

selecting the subset of entries based on the approved entry types and based on the corresponding customer entity; and

for each selected entry, selecting a subset of the data items based on the approved data.

14. The method of claim 11, the method further comprising:

capturing a series of system events as the entries of the log file.

15. A system comprising:

database system software stored on a non-transitory data storage medium for execution by at least one server of a database system, the database system software operable to cause;

accessing a log file referenced by at least one data object in at least one database of the database system, the log file having a release version, the log file comprising a plurality of data entries identifying system events corresponding to user activity associated with a plurality of users of the database system, each entry of the log file comprising a plurality of data items;

generating or updating, based at least on the release version of the log file, a metadata file capable of being referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database of the database system, the metadata file indicating a plurality of approved entry types and approved data associated with each approved entry type; and

generating or updating, based at least on the log file and the metadata file, a plurality of customer-facing log files capable of being referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database of the database system, each customer-facing log file being associated with a corresponding customer entity capable of being serviced by the database system, each customer-facing log file comprising a subset of the plurality of entries and comprising a subset of the data items of at least one of the entries in the subset of entries.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein generating or updating the metadata file comprises:

identifying a log entry definition file referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database, the log entry definition file being associated with the release version of the log file, the log entry definition file comprising descriptive data describing each entry of the log file and comprising approval data identifying approved entry types and approved data; and

generating or updating the metadata file based on the descriptive data and approval data of the log entry definition file.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein generating or updating a customer-facing log file comprises:

selecting the subset of entries based on the approved entry types and based on the corresponding customer entity; and

for each selected entry, selecting a subset of the data items based on the approved data.

18. The system of claim 15, the database system software further operable to cause:

capturing a series of system events as the entries of the log file.

19. A computer program product comprising program code to be executed by at least one processor when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code configured to cause:

accessing a log file referenced by at least one data object in at least one database of a database system, the log file having a release version, the log file comprising a plurality of data entries identifying system events corresponding to user activity associated with a plurality of users of the database system, each entry of the log file comprising a plurality of data items;

generating or updating, based at least on the release version of the log file, a metadata file capable of being referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database of the database system, the metadata file indicating a plurality of approved entry types and approved data associated with each approved entry type; and

generating or updating, based at least on the log file and the metadata file, a plurality of customer-facing log files capable of being referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database of the database system, each customer-facing log file being associated with a corresponding customer entity capable of being serviced by the database system, each customer-facing log file comprising a subset of the plurality of entries and comprising a subset of the data items of at least one of the entries in the subset of entries.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein generating or updating the metadata file comprises:

identifying a log entry definition file referenced by at least one data object in the at least one database, the log entry definition file being associated with the release version of the log file, the log entry definition file comprising descriptive data describing each entry of the log file and comprising approval data identifying approved entry types and approved data; and

generating or updating the metadata file based on the descriptive data and approval data of the log entry definition file.