Proxying open database connectivity (ODBC) calls

• US 8,321,443 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Andrade, Henrique, Gedik, Bugra, Hirzel, Martin J., Soule, Robert J., Wang, Huayong, Wu, Kun-Lung, Zou, Qiong
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Shahid
• Application Number:
  US12/876,348
• Publication Number:
  US 20120059839A1
• Time in Patent Office: 812 Days
• Field of Search: 707/760, 707/797, 707/705, 707/707, 707/723, 707/769, 707/770, 705/10, 709/203, 719/328
• US Class Current: 707/760
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application

Abstract

An Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) proxy infrastructure to transparently route incoming queries to one or more selected query engines. The ODBC proxy receives a query from an application, and determines based on the characteristics of the query and the capabilities of the query engines which one or more query engines are to perform the query. The proxy then routes the query to the one or more query engines, which perform the query. The results are then returned to the proxy, which provides the results to the application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

proxying an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) call from an application to one or more query engines of a plurality of query engines, the proxying comprising;

replacing an ODBC interface of a processor with an ODBC proxy as a drop-in replacement for the ODBC interface, wherein the ODBC interface is configured to perform one or more functions including at least one of;

accept the ODBC call from the application, forward a query of the ODBC call to a query engine of the plurality of query engines, and return at least one result of the forwarded query to the application in a format usable by the application, and wherein based on the replacing, the ODBC proxy performs the one or more functions of the ODBC interface;

receiving, from the application at the ODBC proxy, the ODBC call;

determining by the ODBC proxy which one or more query engines of the plurality of query engines should be used to satisfy the query, the determining being based on one or more characteristics of the query and on one or more capabilities of the plurality of query engines to compute query results;

routing the query to one or more selected query engines based on the determining;

receiving by the ODBC proxy results from the one or more selected query engines; and

returning the results received from the one or more selected query engines to the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of query engines are non-homogeneous.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of query engines comprises at least one of one or more database servers or one or more query application engines.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

translating the query to a format enabling execution of the query by the one or more selected query engines; and

responsive to receiving the results from the one or more selected query engines, translating the results from the one or more selected query engines by the ODBC proxy to a format usable by the application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more selected query engines comprise multiple query engines, and wherein the returning the results further comprises:

collecting results from the multiple query engines, providing collected results;

aggregating the collected results, providing an aggregated result; and

returning the aggregated result to the application.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically changing a number of query engines included as the plurality of query engines, wherein the dynamically changing comprises adding one or more additional query engines to address an increase in workload, the adding comprising:

using a configuration interface of the ODBC proxy to configure a new query engine; and

performing at least one of moving, replicating, or partitioning data to provide the new query engine access to the data.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically changing a number of query engines included as the plurality of query engines, wherein the dynamically changing comprises removing one or more query engines, the removing employing a configuration interface of the ODBC proxy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining employs at least one of a query type catalog and a query engine catalog in determining the one or more selected query engines, the query type catalog including an indication of a type of query engine to be used for the query, and the query engine catalog including a plurality of query engines usable to compute query results.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising dynamically changing the query type catalog to add one or more other types of queries.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the ODBC proxy includes a plurality of components, and wherein the receiving is performed by an interpreter component of the ODBC proxy, and the determining and routing are performed by a router component of the ODBC proxy based on information from a monitoring interface component of the ODBC proxy.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the ODBC interface is configured to perform each of the accepting, the forwarding, and the returning, and wherein based on the replacing, the ODBC proxy performs the accepting, the forwarding, and the returning.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the query of the ODBC call is directed to an initial query engine of the at least one query engine, and wherein the proxying dynamically redirects the query of the ODBC call to another query engine, different from the initial query engine, for satisfying the query.

13. A computer system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, in communications with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform;

proxying an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) call from an application to one or more query engines of a plurality of query engines, the proxying comprising;

replacing an ODBC interface with an ODBC proxy as a drop-in replacement for the ODBC interface, wherein the ODBC interface is configured to perform one or more functions including at least one of;

accept the ODBC call from the application, forward a query of the ODBC call to a query engine of the plurality of query engines, and return at least one result of the forwarded query to the application in a format usable by the application, and wherein based on the replacing, the ODBC proxy performs the one or more functions of the ODBC interface;

receiving, from the application at the ODBC proxy the ODBC call;

determining by the ODBC proxy which one or more query engines of the plurality of query engines should be used to satisfy the query, the determining being based on one or more characteristics of the query and on one or more capabilities of the plurality of query engines to compute query results;

routing the query to one or more selected query engines based on the determining;

receiving by the ODBC proxy results from the one or more selected query engines; and

returning the results received from the one or more selected query engines to the application.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of query engines are non-homogeneous.

15. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

translate the query to a format enabling execution of the query by the one or more selected query engines; and

responsive to receiving the results from the one or more selected query engines, translate the results from the one or more selected query engines by the ODBC proxy to a format usable by the application.

16. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the ODBC proxy comprises a configuration interface to at least one of:

configure a new query engine, responsive to dynamically adding one or more new query engines to address an increase in workload; and

remove a query engine of the plurality of query engines.

17. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

proxying an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) call from an application to one or more query engines of a plurality of query engines, the proxying comprising;

replacing an ODBC interface of a processor with an ODBC proxy as a drop-in replacement for the ODBC interface, wherein the ODBC interface is configured to perform one or more functions including at least one of;

accept the ODBC call from the application, forward a query of the ODBC call to a query engine of the plurality of query engines, and return at least one result of the forwarded query to the application in a format usable by the application, and wherein based on the replacing, the ODBC proxy performs the one or more functions of the ODBC interface;

receiving, from the application at the ODBC proxy, the ODBC call;

determining by the ODBC proxy which one or more query engines of the plurality of query engines should be used to satisfy the query, the determining being based on one or more characteristics of the query and on one or more capabilities of the plurality of query engines to compute query results;

routing the query to one or more selected query engines based on the determining;

receiving by the ODBC proxy results from the one or more selected query engines; and

returning the results received from the one or more selected query engines to the application.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the plurality of query engines are non-homogeneous.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

translating the query to a format enabling execution of the query by the one or more selected query engines; and

responsive to receiving the results from the one or more selected query engines, translating the results from the one or more selected query engines by the ODBC proxy to a format usable by the application.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises dynamically changing a number of query engines included as the plurality of query engines, wherein the dynamically changing comprises adding one or more additional query engines to address an increase in workload, the adding comprising:

using a configuration interface of the ODBC proxy to configure a new query engine; and

performing at least one of moving, replicating, or partitioning data to provide the new query engine access to the data.

21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises dynamically changing a number of query engines included as the plurality of query engines, wherein the dynamically changing comprises removing one or more query engines, the removing employing a configuration interface of the ODBC proxy.