Energy efficient data provisioning

• US 8,051,099 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2008
• Issued: 11/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stahl, Elisabeth R., Salve, Vivek, Hamilton, Rick A. II, Sand, Anne R., Li, Jenny S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hwa; Shyue Jiunn
• Application Number:
  US12/117,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20090282044A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/783
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method and system for provisioning data that has been collected and stored in a source database. The source database is a database that consumes a large amount of power and drains the company'"'"'s database resources. The method and system determine which data should be provisioned and sent to a target server, the target server being more energy efficient than the source database and less exhausting of company resources. Various factors, such as the amount of data being requested and the frequency of change of the requested data, determine whether a transfer of data from the source database to the more energy efficient target database should be performed.

Claims

1. A method for provisioning data comprising:

collecting data from one or more sources and storing it in a first database to provide stored data, wherein said first database comprises a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium;

providing one or more users with access to the stored data in the first database by permitting the one or more users to submit one or more queries to the first database for retrieving queried data;

assessing the one or more queries submitted to the first database to determine if

(a) the amount of the queried data being requested is larger than a first preset threshold; and

(b) the frequency of change of the queried data is higher than a second a preset threshold and,

wherein if the first and second preset thresholds are met, migrating a copy of the queried data from the first database to a second database, wherein the second database comprises a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that consumes less power than the first database; and

periodically synchronizing the stored data and the queried data that has been moved to the second database to maintain consistency between the queried data in the second database and the stored data in the first database;

wherein the stored data and the queried data are not synchronized until a third preset threshold is met, wherein the third preset threshold is predefined by one or more criteria comprising a predetermined percentage of data changed wherein said percentage is greater than zero, the importance of the queried data, the role of the one or more users accessing the queried data, and the applications for the queried data.

2. The method of claim 1, whereby the first database comprises a memory and a storage area, the method further comprising:

prior to assessing the one or more queries submitted to the first database for amount and frequency of change, determining whether the queried data is in the memory or the storage area of the first database; and

wherein, if the queried data is located in the memory, leaving the queried data in the memory, creating a copy of the queried data, and sending the copy of the queried data to the one or more users.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

wherein if the amount of data being requested is lower than the first preset threshold, leaving the queried data in the first database, creating a copy of the queried data, and sending the copy of the queried data to the user.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

after assessing if the amount of the queried data being requested is larger than a first preset threshold and prior to assessing if the frequency of change of the queried data is higher than a second a preset threshold, the step of determining if the one or more users is a single user, and if the one or more users is a single user, leaving the queried data in the first database, creating a copy of the queried data, and sending the copy of the queried data to the user.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

wherein if the frequency of change of the queried data is lower than the second preset threshold, leaving the queried data in the first database, creating a copy of the queried data, and sending the copy of the queried data to the one or more users.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first database comprises source tables and wherein the frequency of change of the data is calculated by one or more of (i) how often the source tables are updated, (ii) the percentages of source tables being updated, and (iii) the percentage of users posting changes to the source tables.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the second database is selected from a list of preselected databases or wherein the second database must be determined by a management database system, whereby the management database system manages a list of candidate locations and selects the second database from the lists of candidate locations.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein after the copy of the queried data is migrated from the first database to the second database, further comprising:

recording a timestamp of the copy of the queried data that has been migrated to the second database; and

creating an index of the location of the second database for future queries of the queried data.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more users are redirected to the second database to access the queried data that has been migrated to the second database.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein periodically synchronizing is dependent on the frequency that the stored data or the queried data is updated.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the stored data comprises source tables and the frequently accessed queried data comprises a copy of the source tables and whereby periodically synchronizing comprises:

checking the source tables and the copy of the source tables for changes or updates that occurred after the frequently accessed queried data was moved to the second database;

if no changes have been made, periodically checking the source tables and the copy of the source table for changes; and

if changes have been made, synchronizing the stored data and the queried data.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising deleting the queried data on the second database after it is no longer being accessed comprising:

checking the number of users that are logged onto the second database to determine if the number is higher or lower than a fourth preset threshold;

if the number of users is higher than the fourth preset threshold, periodically checking the number of users until the number of users drops below the fourth preset threshold;

after the number of users drops below the fourth preset threshold, checking the queries to see if all queries have been completed;

if the queries have not been completed, periodically checking the queries are until all queries have been completed;

after all the queries have been completed, checking the second database to determine (i) if any users are logged onto the second database, (ii) if the logged on users are active and (iii) if the number of sessions performed by the active users is above or below a fifth preset threshold; and

if number of sessions is below the fifth preset threshold, synchronizing the queried data with the stored data on the first database, and the deleting the queried data from the second database.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first database comprises a computer, a server, a blade system, or an external storage device.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the external storage device comprises disks.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the second database comprises a server, a laptop computer, a desktop computer or a mobile device.

16. A system for provisioning data comprising:

a source system having a memory and a storage device, wherein the memory and the storage device contain stored data;

a target system having a memory and a storage device, wherein the target system storage device consumes less power than the source system;

wherein a copy of stored data is capable of being migrated from the source system to the target system after a user requests stored data from the source system and the stored data meets one or more criteria comprising the amount of stored data requested is larger than a first preset threshold and the frequency of change of the stored data is higher than a second preset threshold;

a user access module for communicating with the source system and the target system for accessing stored data from the source system or the target system and

a component for periodically synchronizing the stored data in the source system and the copy of the stored data in the target system to maintain consistency between the stored data in the source system and the copy of the stored data in the target system;

wherein the stored data and the queried data are not synchronized until a third preset threshold is met, wherein the third preset threshold is predefined by one or more criteria comprising a predetermined percentage of data changed wherein said percentage is greater than zero, the importance of the queried data, the role of the one or more users accessing the queried data, and the applications for the queried data.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the source system is selected from the group consisting of a computer, a server, a blade system, or an external storage device.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the external storage device comprises disks.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the user access module is selected from the group consisting of a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or a mobile device.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein the target system is selected from the group consisting of a computer, a server, a blade system, or an external storage device.

21. The system of claim 16 further comprising a management database system, wherein the management database system:

(i) manages a list of candidate locations for the target system;

(ii) selects a target system from the list of candidate locations;

(iii) creates a copy of the stored data from the source system and inserts it into the target system;

(iv) creates an index of the location of the target system for future queries of the stored data; and

redirects users to the target system for the stored data.

22. The system of claim 16 further comprising at least one component for deleting the copy of the stored data on the target system after it is no longer being accessed.