Database update through a one-way data link

• US 8,352,450 B1
• Filed: 04/19/2007
• Issued: 01/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OWL Cyber Defense Solutions LLC
• Original Assignee: Owl Computing Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Mraz, Ronald, Hope, James, Holmes, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Mofiz, Apu
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THU N
• Application Number:
  US11/788,077
• Time in Patent Office: 2,091 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation

Abstract

A database updating application for updating through a one-way data link a remote database in accordance with a change in a reference database is disclosed, which comprises a database trigger client associated with the reference database for generating a database update message in the form of a file or a data packet corresponding to the change in the reference database and sending the database update message to a send node interconnected to a receive node by the one-way data link, and a database trigger server associated with the remote database for receiving the database update message transmitted across the one-way data link and replicating the change on the remote database in accordance with the database update message. The present invention provides database update through a one-way data link that may be implemented efficiently in real time and with a mechanism for verifying the integrity and operability of the one-way data link for the purpose of database update. In addition, the present invention provides a way to combine the functionalities of the conventional database update applications with the security afforded by the use of a one-way data link.

Claims

1. A database update system, comprising:

a send node;

a receive node;

a one-way data link for unidirectional transfer from the send node to the receive node;

a reference database; and

a remote database,

wherein;

there is no communication route for bilateral communication between the reference database and the remote database;

the reference database comprises a processor for executing a database trigger client application for detecting a change made in the reference database and generating a database update message in the form of a file or a data packet corresponding to the change in the reference database, the database update message including sequence and verification information and being compatible with unidirectional dataflow;

wherein the database trigger client application is configured to lock the reference database when the database update message is being generated and unlock the reference database after the sequence information is assigned to the database update message;

the send node comprises a processor for executing a server proxy application for receiving the database update message from the reference database, removing IP information from the database update message, replacing the Internet Protocol (IP) information with a pre-assigned channel number, and relaying the database update message with the channel number from the reference database to the one-way data link;

the remote database comprises a processor for executing a database trigger server application for receiving the database update message and replicating the change in the remote database in accordance with the database update message transmitted through the one-way data link; and

the receive node comprises a processor for executing a client proxy application for receiving the database update message with the channel number from the one-way data link, mapping the channel number of the received database update message to IP information of the remote database and relaying the database update message from the one-way data link to the remote database,

so that no bilateral communication between the reference database and the remote database is necessary for updating the remote database based on the change in the reference database.

2. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the database update message comprises commands for replicating the change.

3. The database updating system of claim 2, wherein the commands are Structured Query Language (SQL) commands, Perl commands, Java commands, or basic database commands.

4. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the database update message comprises a data entry corresponding to the change.

5. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the database update message corresponds to multiple changes in the reference database.

6. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the processor for executing the database trigger server application comprises a monitor for validating the sequence information in the database update message.

7. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the processor for executing the database trigger server application comprises a sorter for sequentially sorting the database update message in accordance with the sequence information.

8. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the processor for executing the database trigger client application comprises a sorter for sequentially sorting the database update message in accordance with the sequence information.

9. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the sequence information comprises a sequence number.

10. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the sequence information comprises a timestamp data.

11. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the sequence information comprises a sequentially sortable filename.

12. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the verification information comprises heartbeat messages at predetermined intervals.

13. The database updating system of claim 12, wherein the processor for executing the database trigger server application comprises a monitor for monitoring the heartbeat messages.

14. The database updating system of claim 13, wherein the processor for executing the database trigger server application further comprises a generator of an error indicator based on the monitored heartbeat messages.

15. The database updating system of claim 12, wherein the heartbeat messages comprise a predetermined content known to the database trigger server application.

16. The database updating system of claim 2, wherein the processor for executing the database trigger server application is configured to execute the commands in the database update message for replicating the change on the remote database.

17. The database updating system of claim 16, wherein the commands are SQL commands, Perl commands, Java commands, or basic database commands.

18. The database updating system of claim 16, wherein the processor for executing the database trigger server application comprises a Java script application to open the database update message.

19. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the server proxy application comprises a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) server proxy application capable of having bidirectional communications with the database trigger client application.

20. The database updating system of claim 1, wherein the client proxy application comprises a TCP client proxy application capable of having bidirectional communications with the database trigger server application.

32. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the verification information comprises heartbeat messages at predetermined intervals.

33. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 32, wherein the instructions, when executed by the system, cause the database trigger server application to further monitor the heartbeat messages.

34. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 33, wherein the instructions, when executed by the system, cause the database trigger server application to further generate an error message based on the result of monitoring the heartbeat messages.

35. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 32, wherein the heartbeat messages comprise a predetermined content known to the database trigger server.

21. A non-transitory machine readable medium having instructions stored on a database update system comprising:

a reference database having a processor for executing a database trigger client application,

a remote database having a processor for executing a database trigger server application,

a one-way data link for unidirectional transfer from a send node to a receive node, the send node having a processor for executing a server proxy application, and the receive node having a processor for executing a client proxy application, the instructions, when executed by the system,

causing the database trigger client application to detect a change in the reference database and create a database update message in the form of a file or a data packet corresponding to the change in the reference database, the database update message including sequence and verification information and being compatible with unidirectional dataflow,

cause the database trigger client application to further lock the reference database when generating the database update message, and unlock the reference database after the sequence information is assigned to the database update message,

causing the server proxy application to receive the database update message from the reference database, removing Internet Protocol (IP) information from the database update message, replacing the IP information with a pre-assigned channel number, and relay the database update message with the channel number from the database trigger client application to the one-way data link,

causing the client proxy application to receive the database update message with the channel number from the one-way data link, mapping the channel number of the received database update message to IP information of the remote database, and relay the database update message from the one-way data link to the database trigger server application, and

causing the database trigger server application to replicate the change in the remote database in accordance with the database update message, wherein no bilateral communication between the reference database and the remote database is used for updating the remote database based on the change in the reference database.

22. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the database update message comprises commands for replicating the change.

23. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 22, wherein the commands are Structured Query Language (SQL) commands, Perl commands, Java commands, or basic database commands.

24. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the database update message comprises a data entry corresponding to the change.

25. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the database update message corresponds to multiple changes in the reference database.

26. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed by the system, cause the database trigger server application to further validate the sequence information prior to replicating the change in the remote database.

27. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed by the system, cause the database trigger server application to further sort the database update message sequentially in accordance with the sequence information.

28. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed by the system, cause the database trigger client application to further sort the database update message sequentially in accordance with the sequence information.

29. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the sequence information comprises a sequence number.

30. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the sequence information comprises a timestamp data.

31. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the sequence information comprises a sequentially sortable filename.

36. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 22, wherein the step to replicate the change in a remote database in accordance with the database update message by the database trigger server application comprises the step to execute the commands in the database update message.

37. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 23, wherein the step to replicate the change in a remote database in accordance with the database update message by the database trigger server application comprises the step to execute the SQL commands.

38. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the step to replicate the change in a remote database in accordance with the database update message by the database trigger server application comprises the step to open the database update message by a Java script application.

39. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the processor for executing the database trigger client application resides in the reference database.

40. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the processor for executing the database trigger server application resides in the remote database.

41. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the server proxy application comprises a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) server proxy application capable of having bidirectional communications with the database trigger client application.

42. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the client proxy application comprises a TCP client proxy application capable of having bidirectional communications with the database trigger server application.

43. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the step to create a database update message corresponding to the change in the reference database by the database trigger client application comprises the steps to:

read a data entry corresponding to the change from the reference database;

generate SQL commands for replicating the data entry; and

write the data entry and the SQL commands to the database update message having a unique filename,

and the step to replicate the change in the remote database in accordance with the database update message by the database trigger server application comprises the steps to;

execute a Java script application to open the database update message; and

execute the SQL commands in the database update message to replicate the data entry on the remote database.