Method and apparatus for parallel execution of user-defined functions in an object-relational database management system

• US 5,754,841 A
• Filed: 10/20/1995
• Issued: 05/19/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Teradata US, Inc. (Teradata Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Carino, Felipe Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HO, RUAY L
• Application Number:
  US08/546,465
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 395/601, 395/611, 395/612, 395/613, 395/614, 395/615, 395/616, 395/610, 395/671, 395/682, 395/602, 395/603, 395/604, 395/702, 395/703, 395/882, 395/326
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method and apparatus for processing object data. The apparatus comprises a client interface for receiving client commands comprising a data surrogate identifying the object data and an object data function, and for transmitting processed object data to a client, a federated coordinator coupled to the client interface for translating client commands into object server commands, an object server coupled to the federated coordinator comprising a processor and a data storage device for storing the object data, a virtual processor instance, invoked on the processor for performing the object data function on the object data identified by the data surrogate to produce processed data, a virtual disk instance, invoked in the data storage device and logically associated with the virtual processor instance for storing the object data identified by the data surrogate, and means for moving the object data function to the virtual processor instance logically associated with the virtual disk instance storing the object data.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing object data, comprising:

a client interface for receiving client commands comprising a data surrogate identifying the object data and an object data function and for transmitting processed object data to a client;

a federated coordinator, coupled to the client interface, for translating client commands into object server commands;

an object server coupled to the federated coordinator, the object server comprising a processor and a data storage device for storing the object data;

a virtual processor instance, performed on the processor, for performing the object data function on the object data identified by the data surrogate and for producing the processed object data;

a virtual disk instance, performed in the data storage device and logically associated with the virtual processor instance, for storing the object data identified by the data surrogate; and

means for moving the object data function to the virtual processor instance logically associated with the virtual disk instance storing the object data.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising means for determining if the object data is stored in the virtual disk instance logically associated with the virtual processor instance in which the object data function is to be performed, the determining means coupled to the object server.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the determining means comprises a data dictionary for storing the logical location of object data and object data functions.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object server processor performs a plurality of virtual processor instances, each associated with a private virtual disk instance, and the object server processor comprises:

an interface module providing an interface between the federated coordinator and the object server; and

an executor module for performing the object data functions, wherein a copy of the executor module is run simultaneously in each of the virtual processor instances to parallelize execution of the object data functions.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein each executor module copy runs a separate worker thread.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the number of worker threads for each virtual processor instance running the executor module copy is configurable.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object server comprises a plurality of virtual processors and virtual disk instances, each virtual processor associated with a private virtual disk instance, and wherein the processing of object data functions is parallelized by the federated coordinator using a data dictionary storing object data characteristics.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

means for identifying which virtual processor instance is associated with the virtual disk instance storing the object data; and

means for moving the data object function to the virtual processing instance associated with the virtual disk instance storing the object data when the virtual disk storing the object data is not associated with the virtual processor storing the data object function.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each executor module copy runs a separate worker thread.

10. A method of processing a data object stored in a database management system, the database management system comprising a federated coordinator coupled to an object server comprising a processor and a data storage device, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a command message in the federated coordinator from a clients, the command message comprising a data object function stored in a virtual processor instance performed by the processor and a data object surrogate defining object data stored in a virtual disk instance stored on the data storage device;

identifying the virtual processor instance associated with the virtual disk instance storing the object data;

moving the data object function to the virtual processor instance associated with the virtual disk instance storing the data object when the virtual disk storing the object data is not associated with the virtual processor storing the data object function;

processing the data object according to the data object function to produce processed data; and

transmitting the processed data object to the client.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the identifying step comprises the step of accessing a data dictionary storing a logical location of the data object and the data object function in the object server.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of entering a data object function in the object servers the step of entering the data object function comprising the steps of:

receiving a constructor message from a client in the federated coordinator, the constructor message comprising the data object function comprising data object commands and object data identified by a data surrogate;

performing a virtual processor instance in the processor;

associating the virtual processor instance with a virtual disk stored in the data storage device;

storing the data object commands in the virtual processor instance;

storing the data object in the virtual disk; and

storing a logical location of the data object identified by the data surrogate and the data object function in a data dictionary accessible by the federated coordinator.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of processing the data object according to the data object function comprises the step of simultaneously running a copy of an executor module in the object server in each virtual processor instance to parallelize execution of the object data functions.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the number of worker threads for each virtual processor instance running a copy of the executor module is configurable.

15. A program storage device, readable by a computer, tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps of processing a data object stored in a database management system comprising a federated coordinator coupled to an object server comprising a processor and a data storage device, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a command message in the federated coordinator from a client, the command message comprising a data object function stored in a virtual processor instance performed by the processor and a data object surrogate defining object data stored in a virtual disk instance stored on the data storage device;

identifying the virtual processor instance associated with the virtual disk instance storing the object data;

moving the data object function to the virtual processor instance associated with the virtual disk instance storing the data object when the virtual disk storing the object data is not associated with the virtual processor storing the data object function;

processing the data object according to the data object function to produce processed data; and

transmitting the processed data object to the client.

16. The program storage device of claim 15, wherein the identifying step further comprises the method steps of accessing a data dictionary storing a logical location of the data object and the data object function in the object server.

17. The program storage device of claim 16, wherein the method steps further comprise the step of entering a data object function in the object server, the step of entering the data object function comprising the steps of:

receiving a constructor message from a client in the federated coordinator, the constructor message comprising the data object function comprising data object commands and object data identified by a data surrogate;

performing a virtual processor instance in the processor;

associating the virtual processor instance with a virtual disk stored in the data storage device;

storing the data object commands in the virtual processor instance;

storing the data object in the virtual disk; and

storing a logical location of the data object identified by the data surrogate and the data object function in a data dictionary accessible by the federated coordinator.

18. The program storage device of claim 15, wherein the step of processing the data object according to the data object function comprises the step of simultaneously running a copy of an executor module in the object server in each virtual processor instance to parallelize execution of the object data functions.

19. The program storage device of claim 18, wherein each executor module copy runs a separate worker thread.

20. The program storage device of claim 19, wherein the number of worker threads for each virtual processor instance running a copy of the executor module is configurable.