Metadata as comments for search problem determination and analysis

• US 8,756,244 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2009
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teradata Corporation
• Original Assignee: Teradata US, Inc. (Teradata Corporation)
• Inventors: Raichura, Ray
• Primary Examiner(s): Richardson, James E
• Application Number:
  US12/648,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20110029539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,631 Days
• Field of Search: 707/708, 707/607, 707/759
• US Class Current: 707/759
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2453 Query optimisation

Abstract

Techniques for using metadata as comments to assist with search problem determination and analysis are provided. Before an action is taken on a search, contextual information is gathered as metadata about the action and actor requesting the action. The metadata is embedded in the search as comments and the comments are subsequently logged when the action is performed on the search. The comments combine with other comments previously recorded to permit subsequent analysis on searches.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and processed by a processor to perform the method, comprising:

detecting, via the processor, an action against a search query;

gathering, via the processor, contextual information for the search query in response to the action and identifying the contextual information as;

a service identifier for a service where the action was initiated, a user identifier for a user that is performing the action, an action identifier for identifying the action to be taken, and a date and time for when the action was detected;

augmenting, via the processor, the contextual information with additional contextual information present in a processing environment where the search query is to be executed, the additional contextual information including details relevant to the processing environment including a processor load for a processor and identifications for other services processing when the query is to be executed;

retaining, via the processor, the contextual information with the additional contextual information as metadata that is carried as comments with the search query when the action is performed on the search query and the comments are ignored by a search service that executes the search query and the comments are retained by a Structured Query Language (SQL) parser, and

storing the comments to a database and executing the action.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting further includes identifying the action as a save operation initiated by the user to save the search query within a query interface tool.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting further includes identifying the action as an execute query operation initiated to execute the search query against the database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering further includes inspecting environment variables within the processing environment where the action is taken on the processor to gather at least some of the contextual information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering further includes identifying a session identifier having the user identifier as part of the contextual information when the action is taken.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein retaining further includes appending a comment syntax at the end of the search query and appending thereafter the metadata to ensure the search query retains the comments.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein retaining further includes appending the comments within memory having the search query to ensure that when the action is taken the comments are present with the search query.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, logging, via the processor, the search query and the comments in a log database for subsequent database mining and analysis.

9. A method implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and processed by a processor to perform the method, comprising:

retaining, via the processor, comments embedded in a query and augmenting the comments with additional contextual information present in a processing environment where the query is being executed, the additional contextual information including details relevant to the processing environment including a processor load for a processor and identifications for other services processing when the query is executed;

logging, via the processor, the comments before executing the query, and storing the comments into multiple database tables of a database based on identifiers parsed from the comments, the identifiers including;

a user identifier for a requesting user that initiated the query, a source tool identifier where the query was initiated, an action identifier for an action taken on the query, a database table identifier for the database table being searched when the query is executed, and a query identifier that identifies the query; and

executing, via the processor, the query, the query executed by a search service that ignores the comments and the comments are retained by a Structured Query Language (SQL) parser; and

storing the comments the database.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein retaining further includes parsing the query for comment syntax and copying out the comments following the comment syntax from the query.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein logging further includes indexing the comments into the database based on the user identifier or the action identifier.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising, returning, via the processor, results to the requesting user of the query after the query is executed and providing a link with the query results that identifies for the requesting user the comments that were logged.

13. A processor-implemented system, comprising:

a processor having memory, the memory configured with a comment gathering service that executes on the processor; and

the memory also configured with a comment logger service that executes on the processor;

the comment gathering service is configured to collect contextual information when an action is initiated on a search query and configured to add the contextual information as metadata represented in comments of the search query, the contextual information includes a service identifier for a service where the action was initiated, a user identifier for a user that is performing the action, an action identifier for identifying the action to be taken, and a date and time for when the action was detected, and the comment logger service is configured to strip the comments from the search query when the search query is executed against a database and log the comments for subsequent analysis by using the user service identifier, the user identifier, and the action identifier, and the comment logger service further configured to augment the comments with additional contextual information present in a processing environment where the search query is being executed, the additional contextual information including details relevant to the processing environment including a processor load for a processor and identifications for other services processing when the query is executed, and the comments ignored by a search service that executes the search query and the comments are retained by a Structured Query Language (SQL) parser and stored in a database.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the comment gathering service is further configured to identify types of contextual information to collect based on a policy that is evaluated and used to configure the comment gathering service.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the comment gathering service is configured to pass the search query to a search query processor to perform a user-directed action on the search query once the metadata is acquired and integrated as the comments into the search query.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the comment logger service is configured to store the comments in multiple database tables based on information parsed from the comments.