Object reference in a system

• US 8,065,732 B1
• Filed: 12/03/2009
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Ward, Chad, Lahoti, Ankur, Tidwell, Kenny
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh; Minh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Okeke; Izunna
• Application Number:
  US12/630,573
• Time in Patent Office: 719 Days
• Field of Search: 726/22, 707/999.103, 707/999.104, 707/999.105, 707/999.106, 719/315, 719/332
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2145 Inheriting rights or properties, e.g., propagation of permissions or restrictions within a hierarchy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4553 Object oriented directories, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA] name server
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99946 Object-oriented database structure network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99947 Object-oriented database structure reference

Abstract

A system can be configured using configuration objects that have the ability to refer to one another. In one embodiment, the present invention includes such a system having a plurality of objects used to configure the system, each object having a uniform resource identifier (URI), and an object reference table to enable the plurality of objects to reference each other without using URIs.

Claims

1. A method for updating an object reference table comprising a plurality of records, wherein each record represents an object and comprises an object identifier (OID) field and a uniform resource identifier (URI) field, and wherein an object is electronic data that encodes configuration information for a processor-based system, the method comprising:

using a processor to determine that an object has been deleted, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI; and

responsive to determining that the object has been deleted;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the deleted object, wherein a reference identifier associated with the record matches a reference identifier associated with the deleted object; and

deleting the OID field value of the record or setting the OID field value of the record to null.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference identifier associated with the deleted object is globally unique.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference identifier associated with the deleted object is used by another object to refer to the object with which the reference identifier is associated.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that an object has been created, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI; and

responsive to determining that the object has been created;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the created object, wherein the URI associated with the record matches the URI associated with the created object; and

setting the OID field value of the record to the OID associated with the created object.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the object that has been created is an imported object.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the object that has been created is are-activated object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that an object'"'"'s URI has changed, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI; and

responsive to determining that the object'"'"'s URI has changed;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the changed object, wherein the OID associated with the record matches the OID associated with the changed object; and

setting the URI field value of the record to the URI associated with the changed object.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the OID associated with the deleted object is globally unique.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each record of the object reference table further comprises an external identifier field.

10. A computer system for updating an object reference table comprising a plurality of records, wherein each record represents an object and comprises an object identifier (OID) field and a uniform resource identifier (URI) field, and wherein an object is electronic data that encodes configuration information for a processor-based system, the computer system comprising a processor configured to perform a method, the method comprising:

determining that an object has been deleted, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI; and

responsive to determining that the object has been deleted;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the deleted object, wherein a reference identifier associated with the record matches a reference identifier associated with the deleted object; and

deleting the OID field value of the record or setting the OID field value of the record to null.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a computer program product for updating an object reference table comprising a plurality of records, wherein each record represents an object and comprises an object identifier (OID) field and a uniform resource identifier (URI) field, and wherein an object is electronic data that encodes configuration information for a processor-based system, the computer program product comprising computer program code for:

determining that an object has been deleted, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI; and

responsive to determining that the object has been deleted;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the deleted object, wherein a reference identifier associated with the record matches a reference identifier associated with the deleted object; and

deleting the OID field value of the record or setting the OID field value of the record to null.

12. A method for updating an object reference table comprising a plurality of records, wherein each record represents an object and comprises an object identifier (OID) field and a uniform resource identifier (URI) field, and wherein an object is electronic data that encodes configuration information for a processor-based system, the method comprising:

using a processor to determine that an object'"'"'s URI has changed, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI;

responsive to determining that the object'"'"'s URI has changed;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the changed object, wherein the OID associated with the record matches the OID associated with the changed object; and

setting the URI field value of the record to the URI associated with the changed object;

determining that an object has been created, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI; and

responsive to determining that the object has been created;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the created object, wherein the URI associated with the record matches the URI associated with the created object; and

setting the OID field value of the record to the OID associated with the created object.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising,

determining that an object has been deleted, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI;

and

responsive to determining that the object has been deleted;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the deleted object, wherein a reference identifier associated with the record matches a reference identifier associated with the deleted object; and

deleting the OID field value of the record or setting the OID field value of the record to null.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the reference identifier associated with the deleted object is globally unique.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the reference identifier associated with the deleted object is used by another object to refer to the object with which the reference identifier is associated.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the object that has been created is an imported object.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the object that has been created is a re-activated object.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the OID associated with the changed object is globally unique.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein each record of the object reference table further comprises an external identifier field.

20. A computer system for updating an object reference table comprising a plurality of records, wherein each record represents an object and comprises an object identifier (OID) field and a uniform resource identifier (URI) field, and wherein an object is electronic data that encodes configuration information for a processor-based system, the computer system comprising a processor configured to perform a method, the method comprising:

determining that an object'"'"'s URI has changed, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI;

responsive to determining that the object'"'"'s URI has changed;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the changed object, wherein the OID associated with the record matches the OID associated with the changed object; and

setting the URI field value of the record to the URI associated with the changed object;

determining that an object has been created, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI; and

responsive to determining that the object has been created;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the created object, wherein the URI associated with the record matches the URI associated with the created object; and

setting the OID field value of the record to the OID associated with the created object.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a computer program product for updating an object reference table comprising a plurality of records, wherein each record represents an object and comprises an object identifier (OID) field and a uniform resource identifier (URI) field, and wherein an object is electronic data that encodes configuration information for a processor-based system, the computer program product comprising computer program code for:

determining that an object'"'"'s URI has changed, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI;

responsive to determining that the object'"'"'s URI has changed;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the changed object, wherein the OID associated with the record matches the OID associated with the changed object; and

setting the URI field value of the record to the URI associated with the changed object;

determining that an object has been deleted, wherein the object is associated with an OID and a URI; and

responsive to determining that the object has been deleted;

determining a record in the object reference table that corresponds to the deleted object, wherein a reference identifier associated with the record matches a reference identifier associated with the deleted object; and

deleting the OID field value of the record or setting the OID field value of the record to null.