Secure access to customer log data in a multi-tenant environment

• US 8,713,693 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2012
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Shanabrook, Susan, Glaser, Denise, Bharadwaj, Narayan
• Primary Examiner(s): Zee, Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/559,304
• Publication Number:
  US 20130031613A1
• Time in Patent Office: 642 Days
• Field of Search: 726/2, 726/26, 726/27, 726/28
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32

Abstract

Systems and methods process log data relating to usage of a multi-tenant application server. An input module receives a request from a user that identifies requested log data by a particular user or tenant of the multi-tenant application system. A log query service automatically formats the database query for the requested log data based upon the request received from the user, and stores the formatted database query on the storage device. A batch server subsequently retrieves the database query from the storage device, submits the database query to the data analysis engine, obtains the requested information from the data analysis engine after the query is completed, and notifies the user that the requested information is available for output.

Claims

1. A data processing system to process log data relating to usage of a multi-tenant application system, the data processing system comprises:

a data storage device;

a data analysis engine executing on a processor, wherein the data analysis engine is configured to extract requested information from the log data relating to the usage of the multi-tenant application system based upon a database query;

an input module configured to receive a request from a user, wherein the request identifies requested log data relating to usage of the multi-tenant application system;

a log query service configured to automatically format the database query for the requested log data based upon the request received from the user, and to store the formatted database query on the data storage device;

a batch server configured to retrieve the formatted database query from the data storage device, to submit the formatted database query to the data analysis engine, to obtain the requested information from the data analysis engine, and to notify the user that the requested information is available for output.

2. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the input module provides a graphical interface that allows the user to construct the database query.

3. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the input module comprises an application program interface to a client application executable on a computer system operable by the user, and wherein the database query is received from the client application via the application program interface.

4. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the multi-tenant application system comprises a second processor configured to execute both the log query service and the batch server.

5. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the data analysis engine is configured to receive the database query only from the batch server, thereby preventing database queries from being received directly from the input module or the log query service.

6. The data processing system of claim 1 further comprising an authentication system associated with the multi-tenant application system, wherein the log query service is further configured to authenticate the user with the authentication system before storing the formatted database query on the data storage.

7. The data processing system of claim 6 wherein the request received from the user comprises an identifier that identifies the user, and wherein the log query service provides the identifier to the authentication system to thereby authenticate the user.

8. A computer-implemented method performed by a log processing system to securely provide log information to a user relating to usage of a multi-tenant application server, wherein the user is associated with one of a plurality of tenants using the multi-tenant application server, the method comprising:

receiving, at the data processing system, a request from the user that identifies the user and requested log data from the multi-tenant application server;

placing the request in a log query storage queue, wherein the placing is performed by a first processing module;

subsequently retrieving the request from the log query storage queue, wherein the retrieving is performed by a second processing module that is separate from the first processing module;

submitting the retrieved request by the second processing module to a data analysis module to obtain the requested log data from the multi-tenant application server, wherein only the second processing module is allowed to submit requests to the data analysis module to thereby preserve the security of the data analysis module; and

notifying the user that the requested log data is available for delivery to the user.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the second processing module scheduling a time in the future for the retrieving of the request from the log query storage queue.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising verifying that the user is authorized to receive the requested log data.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the request received from the user comprises an identifier that identifies the user, and wherein the verifying comprises submitting the identifier to the multi-tenant application server to confirm that the user is authorized to receive the requested log data.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the placing is performed by a first processing module and wherein the retrieving and submitting are performed by a second processing module that is separate from the first processing module, and wherein the method further comprises the first processing module verifying the identity of the user before placing the request in the log query storage queue.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the request identifies a second user of the multi-tenant application server that is associated with the same tenant as the user, and wherein the requested log data comprises a listing of the second user'"'"'s interactions with the multi-tenant application server.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the requested log data comprises a subset of the second user'"'"'s interactions with the multi-tenant application server, and wherein the method further comprises filtering the listing of the second user'"'"'s interactions with the multi-tenant application server based upon constraints contained within the request to extract the subset of the second user'"'"'s interactions for the requested log data.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising creating a graphical representation of the subset of the second user'"'"'s interactions for the requested log data.

16. A multi-tenant application server comprising:

a processor configured to simultaneously execute a plurality of applications each associated with at least one of a plurality of tenants, wherein all user interactions with any of the plurality of applications are recorded in a shared log file;

a non-transitory shared data storage configured to maintain the shared log file and data associated with each of the plurality of tenants; and

a data processing engine executable on the processor, wherein the data processing engine comprises;

a log query service configured to receive queries for requested log information associated with one of the plurality of tenants and to store the queries in the shared data storage for later execution; and

a batch processor configured to retrieve the queries stored in the shared data storage at a later time and that provides the retrieved queries to a data analysis module that obtains the requested log information associated with one of the plurality of tenants of the multi-tenant application server from the shared log file, wherein the data analysis module is configured to process the queries received only from the batch processor to thereby preserve the security of the data analysis module.

17. The multi-tenant application server of claim 16 further comprising an authentication module executable by the processor, wherein the log query service is configured to obtain user identifiers from the received queries and to provide the user identifiers to the authentication module prior to storing the shared queries in the shared data storage to thereby verify that the users placing the queries are authorized to receive the requested log information.