Independent distributed metadata system and method

• US 7,107,272 B1
• Filed: 12/02/2002
• Issued: 09/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Storage Technology Corp (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Milligan, Charles A., Hodge, Leslie K., Noland, Thomas Nelson
• Primary Examiner(s): Coby, Frantz
• Application Number:
  US10/307,797
• Time in Patent Office: 1,380 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/100, 707/101, 707/102, 707/103.R, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

An independent distributed metadata system and method are provided. With the system and method, metadata, which is associated with data at one or more data source locations, may be distributed independently of the data and manipulated independently to generate various computing environments. For example, a user may obtain a copy of metadata and use this metadata, at a remote location from the data source location, to create a computing environment, such as a virtual server, web page or the like. The computing environment created by the user consists entirely of metadata and does not include the actual data to which the metadata is associated. In this way, different users may have independent copies of the metadata and use it to generate their own computing environments without having to have access to the actual data. When the computing environment is to be implemented in a computing device, such as a server or servers on a network, the metadata defining the computing environment may be uploaded to the computing device. The computing device may then perform a verification of the metadata with the original metadata source location and download the corresponding data from the data source location. Thereafter, the computing environment may be made available for use via the server, the metadata and the data associated with the metadata.

Claims

1. A method of distributing data, comprising:

identifying data, that is stored in a first location, that is to be used in at least one location that is different from said first location;

said data being described by metadata;

generating a copy of said metadata;

providing said copy to a destination device in said at least one location without copying said data to said at least one location; and

manipulating, by said at least one location, said copy of said metadata independently from said data to create a computing environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the copy of the metadata includes using an instant copy operation to generate the copy of the metadata.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

manipulating the copy of the metadata to generate a metadata data structure defining a subset of the data; and

utilizing the metadata data structure to generate said computing environment.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

said metadata being stored in a metadata source device; and

wherein the destination device is remotely located from the metadata source device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the copy of the metadata to a destination device includes distributing the copy of the metadata by at least one of transmission media and a physical storage media.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein manipulating the copy of the metadata includes selecting one or more metadata elements from the copy of the metadata for inclusion in a metadata data structure that includes a subset of the metadata in the copy of the metadata.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

manipulating the copy of the metadata to generate a metadata data structure defining a subset of the data;

uploading the metadata data structure to a server;

verifying the metadata data structure with the metadata source device; and

retrieving the subset of the data from a data source.

8. The method of clam 1, further comprising:

manipulating the copy of the metadata to generate a metadata data structure defining a subset of the data;

determining whether to retrieve the subset of data from a data source based on the metadata data structure; and

uploading the metadata data structure ad an application to the data source, if it is determined to not retrieve the subset of data from the data source.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether to retrieve the subset of data from the data source includes determining if retrieving the subset of data will result in one of excessive amounts of data being transmitted, large delay, and sensitive data being transmitted.

10. A system for distributing data, comprising:

data, that is stored in a first location that is to be used in at least one location that is different from said first location;

said data being described by metadata;

a copy of said metadata being generated;

means for providing said copy to a destination device in said at least one location without copying said data to said at least one location; and

said different location manipulating said copy of said metadata independently from said data to create a computing environment.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising an instant copy operation for generating the copy of the metadata.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

the copy of the metadata being manipulated to generate a metadata data structure defining a subset of the data; and

wherein the metadata data structure is utilized to generate said computing environment.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a metadata source device for storing said metadata; and

wherein the destination device is remotely located from the metadata source device.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the means for providing the copy of the metadata to a destination device includes means for distributing the copy of the metadata by at least one of transmission media and a physical storage media.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the different location for manipulating the copy of the metadata includes means for selecting one or more metadata elements from the copy of the metadata for inclusion in a metadata data structure that includes a subset of the metadata in the copy of the metadata.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

the copy of the metadata being manipulated to generate a metadata data structure defining a subset of the data;

means for uploading the metadata data structure to a server;

means for verifying the metadata data structure with the metadata source device; and

means for retrieving the subset of the data from a data source.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

the copy of the metadata being manipulated to generate a metadata data structure defining a subset of the data;

means for determining whether to retrieve the subset of data from a data source based on the metadata data structure; and

means for uploading the metadata data structure and an application to the data source, if it is determined to not retrieve the subset of data from the data source.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the means for deter whether to retrieve the subset of data from the data source includes means for determining if retrieving the subset of data will result in one of excessive amounts of data being transmitted, large delay, and sensitive data being transmitted.

19. A method, in a computing device, for generating a computing environment, comprising:

identifying data, that is stored in a first location in a metadata source device, that is to be used in at least one location that is different from said first location, said at least one location being located in a computing device;

said data being described by metadata;

receiving a copy of said metadata from metadata source device;

said copy being received in said at least one location without receiving said data in said at least one location; and

manipulating, by said at least one location, the copy of metadata independently from said data to create a computing environment.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the copy of the metadata is generated using an instant copy operation.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the computing device is remotely located from the data source location.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving a copy of metadata includes receiving a copy of the metadata via at least one of a transmission media and a physical storage media.

23. The method of claim 19, her comprising:

manipulating, by said at least one location, the copy of metadata to generate a metadata data structure defining a local data set;

generating the local data set using the metadata data structure and data from the data source location associated with metadata in the metadata data structure; and

wherein manipulating the copy of the metadata includes selecting one or more metadata elements from the copy of the metadata for inclusion in the metadata data structure that includes a subset of the metadata in the copy of the metadata.

24. An apparatus for generating a computing environment, comprising:

means for identifying data, that is stored in a first location in a metadata source device, that is to be used in at least one location that is different from said first location, said at least one location being located in a computing device;

said data being described by metadata;

means for receiving a copy of said metadata from said metadata source device

said copy being received in said at least one location without receiving said data in said at least one location; and

said at least one location for manipulating the copy of metadata independently from said data to create a computing environment.

25. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for generating a computing environment, comprising:

instructions for identifying data, that is stored in a first location in a metadata source device, that is to be used in at least one location that is different from said first location, said at least one location being located in a computing device;

said data being described by metadata;

instructions for receiving a copy of said metadata from said metadata source device;

said copy being received in said at least one location without receiving said data in said at least one location; and

instructions for manipulating, by said at least one location, the copy of metadata independently from said data to create a computing environment.