System and method for distributing application objects

• US 7,203,738 B1
• Filed: 06/21/2002
• Issued: 04/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Romanek, David A., Zhu, Hong, Roberts, Mark E., Townsend, Steve P., McGill, Kevin S., Ellis, Ty H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Avellino; Joseph E.
• Application Number:
  US10/175,811
• Time in Patent Office: 1,754 Days
• Field of Search: 709/245, 709220-222, 709/202, 717168-178
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

A system and method for subscribing to a distribution by a subscriber which distributes a distribution package from a source database to a destination database. The system/method includes accessing a subscriber object upon receiving a distribution package distributed by a distributor, determining a working-context stored within the subscriber object, selecting a first object included in the distribution package, obtaining from the package a relative identifier for the first object or creating the relative identifier for the first object if the relative identifier is not included with the package, appending the relative identifier to the working-context, wherein a second identifier is created for the selected object and adding the selected object with the second identifier to the destination database.

Claims

1. A method of processing a distribution package received from a source database, the distribution package comprising two or more application objects from within the same source root context, without including subscriber information in the application objects, and wherein the distribution package is distributed to multiple subscribers, comprising:

receiving at a subscriber device, the distribution package comprising the two or more application objects, wherein each application object includes a distinguished name that identifies a pathname within the source database of where the application object is from;

accessing a subscriber object upon receiving the distribution package;

determining a working-context stored within the subscriber object, wherein the working-context identifies a node within the subscriber'"'"'s destination database under which the application object is to be stored;

selecting at least a first application object from the two or more application objects included in the distribution package;

obtaining from the distribution package a relative identifier for the first application object or if a relative identifier is not included with the distribution package, creating the relative identifier for the first application object by subtracting the source root context from the distinguished name;

appending the relative identifier to the working-context, to create a second identifier which identifies a pathname within the subscriber'"'"'s destination database; and

storing the selected first application object to the location within the destination database identified by the second identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the source database is a directory, the relative identifier comprises a first distinguished name and the second identifier comprises a second distinguished name different than the first distinguished name.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein upon the second identifier not existing in the destination database, the method further comprises creating a container object.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprises adding the container object to the destination database.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising modifying the selected first application object attributes by the subscriber device to accommodate a new environment in which the selected application object is stored.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein upon the selected first application object including an attribute having an identifier of an object associated with the selected first application object, the method further comprises creating a relative identifier for the associated object and setting the attribute to the relative identifier.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein upon the distribution package being tasked to maintain the database structure, the method further comprises creating a relative identifier by appending the relative identifier to the working context.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein if the distribution package is not tasked to maintain the database structure, then the relative identifier is created by appending a last component of the distinguished name to the working-context.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing the object included in the distribution package onto a non-volatile storage medium.

10. A system for processing a distribution package received from a source database, the distribution package comprising two or more application objects from within the same source root context, without including subscriber information in the application objects, and wherein the distribution package is distributed to multiple subscribers, comprising:

a subscriber software module; and

a subscriber object, wherein

the subscriber software module is operable to;

receive, at a subscriber device, the distribution package comprising the two or more application objects wherein each application object includes a distinguished name that identifies a pathname within the source database of where the application object is from;

access a subscriber object upon receiving the distribution package;

determine a working-context stored within the subscriber object wherein the working-context identifies a node within the subscriber'"'"'s destination database under which the application object is to be stored;

select at least a first application object from the two or more application objects included in the distribution package;

obtain from the distribution package a relative identifier for the first application object or if a relative identifier is not included with the distribution package, creating the relative identifier for the first application object by subtracting the source root context from the distinguished name;

append the relative identifier to the working-context to create a second identifier which identifies a pathname within the subscriber'"'"'s destination database; and

storing the selected first application object to the location within the destination database identified by the second identifier.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the source database is a directory, the relative identifier comprises a first distinguished name and the second identifier comprises a second distinguished name different than the first distinguished name.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein upon the second identifier not existing in the destination database, the subscriber software module is further operable to create a container object.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the subscriber software module is further operable to add the container object to the destination database.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the subscriber software module is further operable to modify the selected first application object attributes by the subscriber device to accommodate a new environment in which the selected first application object is stored.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein upon the selected first application object including an attribute having an identifier of an object associated with the selected first application object, the subscriber software module is further operable to create a third identifier for the associated object and setting the attribute to the third identifier.

16. The system according to claim 10, wherein the subscriber software module is further operable to store the object included in the distribution package onto a non-volatile storage medium.

17. A computer program product for processing a distribution package received from a source database, wherein the distribution package comprising two or more application objects from within a source root context without including subscriber information in the application objects, and wherein the distribution package is distributed to multiple subscribers, the computer program product being embodied in one or more computer readable mediums and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving at a subscriber device, the distribution package comprising the two or more application objects, wherein each application object includes a distinguished name that identifies a pathname within the source database of where the application object is from;

accessing a subscriber object upon receiving the distribution package;

determining a working-context stored within the subscriber object wherein the working-context identifies a node within the subscriber'"'"'s destination database under which the application object is to be stored;

selecting a first application object from the two or more application objects included in the distribution package;

obtaining from the distribution package a relative identifier for the first application object or if a relative identifier is not included with the distribution package, creating the relative identifier for the first application object by subtracting the source root context from the distinguished name;

appending the relative identifier to the working-context to create a second identifier which identifies a pathname within the subscriber'"'"'s destination database; and

storing the selected first application object to the location within the destination database identified by the second identifier.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the source database is a directory, the relative identifier comprises a first distinguished name and the second identifier comprises a second distinguished name different than the first distinguished name.

19. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein upon the second identifier not existing in the destination database, the computer instructions further include instructions for creating a container object.

20. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the computer instructions further include instructions for adding the container object to the destination database.

21. The computer program product according to claim 20, wherein the computer instructions further include instructions for modifying the selected first application object attributes by the subscriber device to accommodate a new environment in which the selected first application object is stored.

22. The computer program product according to claim 21, wherein upon the selected first application object including an attribute having an identifier of an object associated with the selected first application object, the computer instructions further include instructions for creating a third identifier for the associated object and setting the attribute to the third identifier.

23. The computer program product according to claim 21, wherein upon the distribution package being tasked to maintain the database structure, the computer instructions further include instructions for creating a third identifier by appending the relative identifier to the working context.

24. The computer program product according to claim 23, wherein if the distribution package is not tasked to maintain the database structure, then the computer instructions include instructions for creating the relative identifier by appending a last component of the distinguished name to the working-context.

25. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the computer instructions further include instructions for storing the object included in the distribution package onto a non-volatile storage medium.