Providing services across systems that manage distributed replicas

• US 8,838,535 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2012
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Hu, Wei-Ming, Chidambaran, Lakshminaray, Dilman, Mark, Khan, Feroz A., Mathur, Bhaskar, Neel, Kevin S., Novak, Leonid, Patel, Kant C., Ramasubramanian, Saravanakumar, Stewart, Michael J., Sun, Hubert
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DEBBIE M
• Application Number:
  US13/645,819
• Publication Number:
  US 20140101100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 711 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/617
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/02 Standardisation; Integration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers

Abstract

Techniques are provided to allow users to define a global service that is offered across multiple replicated databases. Database clients connect to and use a global service just as they do with regular services on a single database today. Upon receiving a connection request, a collection of components, referred to collectively as the Global Data Service framework (GDS framework), automatically chooses the best database server instances to which to connect a client. Once those connections have been established, the clients determine which database server instance, of those database server instances to which they are connected, to send requests to based, at least in part, on advisory messages sent to the clients by the GDS framework.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a connection request from a client that requires access to a data set stored in a distributed replication environment;

wherein the distributed replication environment includes a plurality of database systems, each of which maintains a separate copy of the data set to which the client requires access;

wherein each of the plurality of database systems includes one or more database server instances;

in response to the connection request, performing the steps of;

selecting at least one database server instance, from among a set of database server instances that includes at least one database server instance from each of the plurality of database systems, based on one or more selection criteria;

wherein every database server instance in the set of database server instances has access to a copy of the data set to which the client requires access; and

facilitating establishment of one or more connections between the client and the at least one database server instance;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of database server instances that includes at least one database server instance from each of the plurality of database systems do not have direct access to the copies of the data set that reside at the others of the plurality of database systems.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of database systems is organized into regions, and the one or more selection criteria include latency of communication between the regions.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one database server instance includes a particular database server instance that is in a region that is different than the region that is local to the client.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more selection criteria include that the at least one database server instance is designated as a preferred database server for a service required by the client.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more selection criteria include performance metrics reported by the database server instances that belong to the plurality of database systems.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more selection criteria include that the at least one database server belongs to the same database system with which the client is associated.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one database server instance is selected based, at least in part, on anticipated changes in performance or availability of at least one of the plurality of database systems.

9. A method comprising:

selecting at least one database server instance, from a plurality of database server instances that have access to a data set required by a particular service, to recommend to a particular client for the particular service;

wherein every database server instance in the plurality of database server instances has access to a copy of the data set to which the particular service requires access;

communicating to the particular client an advisory message that recommends the at least one database server instance for work requests associated with the particular service;

wherein each of a plurality of database systems maintains a separate copy of the data set;

wherein the plurality of database server instances includes at least one database server instance from each of the plurality of database systems;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the plurality database server instances do not have direct access to the copies of the data set that reside at the others of the plurality of database systems.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the advisory message is sent in response to a change in one or more of the plurality of database systems.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the advisory message is sent in response to a certain interval of time having elapsed since the sending of a previous advisory message.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the advisory message recommends two or more database server instances for work requests associated with the particular service.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the particular client is associated with a first database system of the plurality of database systems; and

selecting at least one database server instance includes selecting a second database server instance that belongs to a second database system, of the plurality of database systems, that is different than the first database system.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least one database server instance also includes a first database server instance that belongs to the first database system.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one database server instance is selected based, at least in part, on latency of communication between the plurality of database systems.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one database server instance is selected based, at least in part, on whether the at least one database server instance is designated as a preferred database server instance for the particular service.

18. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one database server instance is selected based, at least in part, on performance metrics reported by the database server instances that belong to the plurality of database systems.

19. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one database server instance is selected based, at least in part, on whether the at least one database server belongs to the same database system with which the particular client is associated.

20. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

detecting that the particular service is no longer available from a database server instance that was providing the particular service;

in response to detecting that the particular service is no longer available from the database server instance that was providing the particular service, performing the steps of;

selecting a second database server instance, of the plurality of database server instances, to provide the particular service;

wherein the second database server instance is selected based, at least in part, on the second database server instance being identified as a database server instance that is available to provide the particular service.

21. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one database server instance is selected based, at least in part, on whether changes made to the copy of the data set accessed by the at least one database server instance lag behind changes made to another copy of the data set by more than a specified threshold amount of time.

22. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one database server instance is selected based, at least in part, on anticipated changes in performance or availability of at least one of the plurality of database systems.

23. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of a method comprising:

receiving a connection request from a client that requires access to a data set stored in a distributed replication environment;

wherein the distributed replication environment includes a plurality of database systems, each of which maintains a separate copy of the data set to which the client requires access;

wherein each of the plurality of database systems includes one or more database server instances;

in response to the connection request, performing the steps of;

selecting at least one database server instance, from among a set of database server instances that includes at least one database server instance from each of the plurality of database systems, based on one or more selection criteria;

wherein every database server instance in the set of database server instances has access to a copy of the data set to which the client requires access; and

facilitating establishment of one or more connections between the client and the at least one database server instance.

24. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of a method comprising:

selecting at least one database server instance, from a plurality of database server instances that have access to a data set required by a particular service, to recommend to a particular client for the particular service;

communicating to the particular client an advisory message that recommends the at least one database server instance for work requests associated with the particular service;

wherein each of a plurality of database systems maintains a separate copy of the data set;

wherein the plurality of database server instances includes at least one database server instance from each of the plurality of database systems.

25. A system comprising:

a plurality of database systems, including a first database system and a second database system;

wherein each of the plurality of database systems maintains a separate copy of a data set used by a service;

a plurality of database server instances including at least one database server instance from each of the plurality of database systems;

a global data service framework configured to establish connections between clients that belong to the plurality of database systems and the plurality of database server instances, wherein the global data service framework is configured to establish connections between clients that belong to the first database system and a database server instance that belongs to the second database system when certain criteria are satisfied;

wherein the global data service framework is configured to send to clients of the plurality of database systems advisory messages that indicate from which database server instances, of the plurality of database server instances, the clients should request particular services.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein recommendations contained in the advisory messages are based, at least in part, on performance metrics sent by the plurality of database server instances to the global data service framework.