Table analyzer for solution transition events

• US 8,204,857 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2009
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Held, Dominik
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Merilyn
• Application Number:
  US12/512,269
• Publication Number:
  US 20110029483A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,055 Days
• Field of Search: 707/634, 707/638, 707/695
• US Class Current: 707/634
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/214 Database migration support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/254 Extract, transform and load [ETL] procedures, e.g. ETL data flows in data warehouses

Abstract

Certain implementations provide systems, computer program products, computing devices, and methods to analyze how a preexisting database will be affected during a solution transition event (e.g., upgrading a database to a new version). Analysis can be conducted before the solution transition event has occurred. Analysis can yield a report detailing how upgrading will affect the data and data structures contained within a preexisting database system. The database system being analyzed can be part of a broader system upon which the solution transition event is performed. Analyzing how the solution transition event will affect a database system can be performed in preparation for performing the solution transition event on the broader system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to analyze how upgrading a preexisting database system to another version of the preexisting database system will affect components of the preexisting database system, the request identifying the preexisting database system and the other version of the preexisting database system;

identifying by a first computing device the components of the preexisting database system by analyzing configuration information for the preexisting database system, the configuration information for the preexisting database system being analyzed while the preexisting database system is operational, wherein the components of the preexisting database system comprise tables, fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes of the preexisting database system;

identifying by the first computing device components of the other version of the preexisting database system by analyzing configuration information for other version of the preexisting database system, wherein the components of the other version of the preexisting database system comprise tables, fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes of the other version of the preexisting database system;

determining by the first computing device changes to the components of the preexisting database system that upgrading from the preexisting database system to the other version of the database system will cause based upon a comparison of the identified components of the preexisting database system and the identified components of the other version of the preexisting database system;

generating a report indicating the determined changes; and

presenting the generated report.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the configuration information for the preexisting database system comprises:

locating the configuration information for the preexisting database system;

identifying tables defined by the configurations information for the preexisting database system; and

for each of the identified tables, tracing definitions of fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes for the identified field across the configuration information for the preexisting database system to identify the components of the preexisting database system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the configuration information for the other version of the preexisting database system comprises:

locating the configuration information for the other version of the preexisting database system;

identifying tables defined by the configurations information for the other version of the preexisting database system; and

for each of the identified tables, tracing definitions of fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes for the identified field across the configuration information for the preexisting database system to identify the components of the other version of the preexisting database system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the preexisting database system is located on a second computing device that is different than the first computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the other version of the preexisting database system is located on a third computing device that is different than the first computing device and the second computing device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first computing device, the second computing device, and the third computing device are communicatively connected via a computer network.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising installing the other version of the preexisting database system on a computing device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the other version of the preexisting database system is installed as a demonstration of the other version.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the other version of the preexisting database system is more recent than the preexisting database system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated report includes information regarding a level of severity for each of the determined changes.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated report includes information regarding an estimated amount of time each of the determined changes will take when the preexisting database system is upgraded to the other version of the preexisting database system.

12. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for managing planning of component requirements, the method comprising:

receiving a request to analyze how upgrading a preexisting database system to another version of the preexisting database system will affect components of the preexisting database system, the request identifying the preexisting database system and the other version of the preexisting database system;

identifying by a first computing device the components of the preexisting database system by analyzing configuration information for the preexisting database system, the configuration information for the preexisting database system being analyzed while the preexisting database system is operational, wherein the components of the preexisting database system comprise tables, fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes of the preexisting database system;

identifying by the first computing device components of the other version of the preexisting database system by analyzing configuration information for other version of the preexisting database system, wherein the components of the other version of the preexisting database system comprise tables, fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes of the other version of the preexisting database system;

determining by the first computing device changes to the components of the preexisting database system that upgrading from the preexisting database system to the other version of the database system will cause based upon a comparison of the identified components of the preexisting database system and the identified components of the other version of the preexisting database system;

generating a report indicating the determined changes; and

presenting the generated report.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein analyzing the configuration information for the preexisting database system comprises:

locating the configuration information for the preexisting database system;

identifying tables defined by the configurations information for the preexisting database system; and

for each of the identified tables, tracing definitions of fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes for the identified field across the configuration information for the preexisting database system to identify the components of the preexisting database system.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein analyzing the configuration information for the other version of the preexisting database system comprises:

locating the configuration information for the other version of the preexisting database system;

identifying tables defined by the configurations information for the other version of the preexisting database system; and

for each of the identified tables, tracing definitions of fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes for the identified field across the configuration information for the preexisting database system to identify the components of the other version of the preexisting database system.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the preexisting database system is located on a second computing device that is different than the first computing device.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the other version of the preexisting database system is located on a third computing device that is different than the first computing device and the second computing device.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the first computing device, the second computing device, and the third computing device are communicatively connected via a computer network.

18. A system comprising:

a computer network;

a first computing device configured to analyze how upgrading a preexisting database system to another version of the preexisting database system will affect elements components of the preexisting database system, the first computing device being connected to the computer network;

a second computing device on which the preexisting database system is located, the second computing device being communicatively connected to the first computing device over a computer network;

a third computing device on which the other version of the preexisting database system is located, the third computing device being communicatively connected to the first computing device over the computer network; and

wherein the first computing device is further configured to;

receive a request to analyze how upgrading the preexisting database system to the other version of the preexisting database system will affect the components of the preexisting database system, the request identifying the preexisting database system on the second computing device and the other version of the preexisting database system on the third computing device;

identify the components of the preexisting database system by analyzing configuration information for the preexisting database system, the configuration information for the preexisting database system being analyzed while the preexisting database system is operational, wherein the components of the preexisting database system comprise tables, fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes of the preexisting database system;

identify components of the other version of the preexisting database system by analyzing configuration information for other version of the preexisting database system, wherein the components of the other version of the preexisting database system comprise tables, fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes of the other version of the preexisting database system;

determine changes to the components of the preexisting database system that upgrading from the preexisting database system to the other version of the database system will cause based upon a comparison of the identified components of the preexisting database system and the identified components of the other version of the preexisting database system;

generate a report indicating the determined changes; and

present the generated report.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein analyzing the configuration information for the preexisting database system comprises:

locating the configuration information for the preexisting database system;

identifying tables defined by the configurations information for the preexisting database system; and

for each of the identified tables, tracing definitions of fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes for the identified field across the configuration information for the preexisting database system to identify the components of the preexisting database system.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein analyzing the configuration information for the other version of the preexisting database system comprises:

locating the configuration information for the other version of the preexisting database system;

identifying tables defined by the configurations information for the other version of the preexisting database system; and

for each of the identified tables, tracing definitions of fields, data types, indices, data elements, and attributes for the identified field across the configuration information for the preexisting database system to identify the components of the other version of the preexisting database system.