In-house elegant JDBC connection pooling solution for message broker

• US 9,098,565 B1
• Filed: 10/08/2009
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Kumarjiguda, Meera Deshpande, Kulkarni, Shankar, Gaddam, Venkat, Upadhye, Vanasri Gururaj, Stewart-Gardiner, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): Harper, Eliyah S
• Application Number:
  US12/575,988
• Time in Patent Office: 2,126 Days
• Field of Search: 707/999.104, 707/999.102, 707/705, 707/609
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models

Abstract

Connection pooling is proved in the context of middleware. A request is first received from an application. The received request is forwarded to a back end mechanism. When a response is received from the back end mechanism, as a response to the request, information is obtained from the response. A pool of database connections is maintained with at least a minimum number of connections open, where the minimum number of connections is determined independent of one or more application threads. To store the information in a database, a database connection is allocated from a pool of open database connections created to facilitate access to the database. After the information is stored in the database using the database connection, the database connection is returned to the pool of database connections.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request from an application at a first request receiver, wherein the requesting application is one of a plurality of applications accessing a system;

processing the request received at the first request receiver by a request processor;

transforming the request, as processed by the request processor, from a front end format supported by the requesting application into a back end format supported by the back end mechanism by a request transformer;

forwarding, by a transceiver, the transformed request to a back end mechanism;

receiving, by the transceiver, a response to the transformed request from the back end mechanism;

obtaining information from the response via processing by a response processor;

transforming, by a response transformer, the response, as processed by the response processor, from the back end format supported by the back end mechanism into the front end format supported by the requesting application of the plurality of applications accessing the system;

transmitting, by a first response transmitter, the transformed response to the requesting application of the plurality of applications accessing the system;

maintaining, by a connection pool mechanism, a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, where the minimum non-zero number of idle connections is determined based on the overall traffic from all applications of the plurality of applications and independent of one or more threads of the application, and where each database connection in the single global pool of database connections is available for any use by all applications of the plurality of applications accessing the system;

storing the obtained information in a database via a first database connection allocated from the pool of a plurality of database connections created to facilitate access to the database; and

returning the first database connection to the single global pool of database connections for reuse.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the transformed request is forwarded to the back end mechanism via a message queue,

the response is placed in the message queue by the back end mechanism as a response to the transformed request, and

the information stored in the database relates to a transaction performed with respect to the transformed request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the pool of database connections is dynamically maintained based on observed traffic needs in accordance with a plurality of criteria.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of criteria includes:

a minimum number of idle connections;

a maximum number of idle connections;

a maximum number of active connections; and

an idle connection timeout parameter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing the information comprises:

receiving a request by an information controller to store the information from the response;

obtaining the first database connection from the pool of database connections;

executing the request to store the information from the response based on the first database connection; and

returning the first database connection to the pool of database connections.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of obtaining the first database connection comprises:

determining, whether the pool of database connections has been created;

if the pool has not been created, retrieving a plurality of connection pooling parameters and creating an instance of the pool of database connections with a minimum number of database connections based on the connection pooling parameters; and

allocating one of the plurality of database connections as the first database connection for executing the request to store the information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an information retrieval request requesting to access information stored in the database;

allocating a second database connection from the pool of database connections;

retrieving information from the database based on the second database connection; and

returning the second database connection to the pool of database connections.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle database connections open, where determining the minimum non-zero number of idle database connections based on the overall traffic from all applications of the plurality of applications and independent of one or more application threads that are in communication with a middleware, and where each database connection in the single global pool of database connections is available for any use by all applications of a plurality of applications accessing the system;

receiving a request from another application for accessing data stored in a middleware database, wherein the requesting another application is one of a plurality of applications accessing the system;

obtaining a database connection from the single global pool of database connections;

executing the request to access data stored in the database via the database connection; and

returning the database connection to the single global pool of database connections for reuse.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, comprises:

setting a timer for a period of time specified by a timeout condition;

observing traffic conditions for the period of time; and

in response to an observation of no traffic, reducing the minimum number of non-zero idle connections.

25. The method of claim 8, wherein maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, further comprises:

setting a timer for a period of time specified by a timeout condition;

observing traffic conditions for the period of time; and

in response to an observation of no traffic, reducing the minimum number of non-zero idle connections.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, comprises:

in response to a saved change of new connection pooling parameters, retrieving the saved new connection pooling parameters; and

dynamically maintaining the single global pool of database connections according to the retrieved saved new connection pooling parameters.

28. The method of claim 8, wherein maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, further comprises:

in response to a saved change of new connection pooling parameters, retrieving the saved new connection pooling parameters; and

dynamically maintaining the single global pool of database connections according to the retrieved saved new connection pooling parameters.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, comprises:

in response to a demand for more than a current supply of connection open in the connection pool, increasing the maximum number of active connections to the maximum number of connections in the single global pool to meet the demand, wherein the demand is determined based on traffic conditions observed for a period of time; and

after a subsequent period of time and in response to a decrease in demand for the maximum number of active connections, reducing the number of open connections in the single global connection pool.

31. The method of claim 8, wherein maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, further comprises:

in response to a demand for more than a current supply of connection open in the connection pool, increasing the maximum number of active connections to the maximum number of connections in the single global pool to meet the demand, wherein the demand is determined based on traffic conditions observed for a period of time; and

after a subsequent period of time and in response to a decrease in demand for the maximum number of active connections, reducing the number of open connections in the single global connection pool.

9. A system, comprising:

a first request receiver configured for receiving a request from an application, wherein the requesting application is one of a plurality of applications accessing a system;

a request processor configured to process the request received at the first request receiver;

a request transformer configured to transform the request, as processed by the request processor, from a front end format supported by the requesting application into a back end format supported by the back end mechanism;

a transceiver configured for forwarding the transformed request to a back end mechanism and for receiving a response to the transformed request from the back end mechanism;

a response processor configured for processing the received response to obtain information from the response;

a response transformer configured to transform the response, as processed by the response processor, from the back end format supported by the back end mechanism into the front end format supported by the requesting application of the plurality of applications accessing the system;

a first response transmitter to transmit the transformed response to the requesting application of the plurality of applications accessing the system; and

a connection pooling mechanism configured for maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, where the minimum non-zero number of idle connections is determined based on the overall traffic from all applications of the plurality of applications and independent of one or more application threads, and for storing the information in a database via a database connection allocated from the pool of a plurality of database connections created to facilitate access to the database, where each database connection in the pool of the plurality of database connections is available for any use by all applications of the plurality of applications accessing the system.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the information stored in the database relates to a transaction performed with respect to the request.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the pool of database connections is dynamically maintained based on observed traffic needs in accordance with a plurality of criteria, the plurality of criteria including:

a minimum number of idle connections;

a maximum number of idle connections;

a maximum number of active connections; and

an idle connection timeout parameter.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the connection pooling mechanism comprises:

a second request receiver configured for receiving a request to access the database;

a connection pool configured for hosting the plurality of database connections that can be used to access the database;

an update mechanism configured for initializing and updating the connection pool in accordance with a plurality of connection pooling parameters;

a connection pooling operator configured for executing the request to access the database based on the database connection and returning the database connection to the connection pool after the execution; and

a response transmitter configured for transmitting a response to the request based on a status of database access performed based on the request.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the connection pooling operator further comprises:

a database connection establishment mechanism configured for obtaining a database connection from the pool of database connections; and

a data access mechanism configured for interfacing with the database for data access using the database connection.

23. The system of claim 9, wherein the connection pooling mechanism further comprises:

an authentication mechanism configured to authenticate the received request before the request is processed by the request processor; and

a request analyzer configured to perform parsing analysis of the authenticated request.

26. The system of claim 9, wherein the connection pooling mechanism is further configured, when maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, to:

set a timer for a period of time specified by a timeout condition;

observe traffic conditions for the period of time; and

in response to an observation of no traffic, reduce the minimum number of non-zero idle connections.

29. The system of claim 9, wherein the connection pooling mechanism is further configured, when maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, to:

in response to a saved change of new connection pooling parameters, retrieve the saved new connection pooling parameters; and

dynamically maintain the single global pool of database connections according to the retrieved saved new connection pooling parameters.

32. The system of claim 9, wherein the connection pooling mechanism is further configured, when maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle connections open, to:

in response to a demand for more than a current supply of connection open in the connection pool, increase the maximum number of active connections to the maximum number of connections in the single global pool to meet the demand, wherein the demand is determined based on traffic conditions observed for a period of time; and

after a subsequent period of time and in response to a decrease in demand for the maximum number of active connections, reduce the number of open connections in the single global connection pool.

14. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a machine readable storage medium having information stored thereon, the information, when read by the machine, causing the machine to perform the following for an enterprise service bus provider;

receiving a request from an application at a first request receiver, wherein the requesting application is one of a plurality of applications accessing a system;

processing the request received at the first request receiver by a request processor;

transforming the request, as processed by the request processor, from a front end format supported by the requesting application into a back end format supported by the back end mechanism by a request transformer;

forwarding, by a transceiver, the transformed request to a back end mechanism;

receiving, by the transceiver, a response to the transformed request from the back end mechanism;

obtaining information from the response via processing by a response processor;

transforming, by a response transformer, the response, as processed by the response processor, from the back end format supported by the back end mechanism into the front end format supported by the requesting application of the plurality of applications accessing the system;

transmitting, by a first response transmitter, the transformed response to the requesting application of the plurality of applications accessing the system;

maintaining, by a connection pool mechanism, a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle database connections open, where the minimum non-zero number of idle database connections is determined based on the overall traffic from all a applications of the plurality of applications and independent of one or more threads of the application, and where each database connection in the single global pool of database connections is available for any use by all different threads of the application or other applications of the plurality of applications accessing the system; and

storing the obtained information in a database via a first database connection allocated from the pool of database connections created to facilitate access to the database; and

returning the first database connection to the single global pool of database connections.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein:

the transformed request is forwarded to the back end mechanism via a message queue,

the response is placed in the message queue by the back end mechanism as a response to the transformed request, and

the information stored in the database relates to a transaction performed with respect to the transformed request.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the pool of database connections is dynamically maintained based on observed traffic needs in accordance with a plurality of criteria.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the plurality of criteria includes:

a minimum number of idle connections;

a maximum number of idle connections;

a maximum number of active connections; and

an idle connection timeout parameter.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the step of storing the information comprises:

receiving a request by an information controller to store the information obtained from the response;

obtaining the first database connection from the pool of database connections;

executing the request to store the information obtained from the response based on the first database connection; and

returning the first database connection to the pool of database connections.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the step of obtaining the first database connection comprises:

determining, whether the pool of database connections has been created;

if the pool has not been created, retrieving a plurality of connection pooling parameters and creating an instance of the pool of database connections with a minimum number of database connections based on the connection pooling parameters; and

allocating one of the plurality of database connections as the first database connection for executing the request to store the information obtained from the response.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving an information retrieval request requesting to access information stored in the database;

allocating a second database connection allocated from the pool of database connections;

retrieving information from the database based on the second database connection; and

returning the second database connection to the pool of database connections.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising:

maintaining a single global pool of database connections with at least a minimum non-zero number of idle database connections open, where determining the minimum non-zero number of idle connections based on the overall traffic from all applications of the plurality of applications and independent of one or more application threads, and where each database connection in the single global pool of database connections is available for any use by all different threads of the application or other applications of a plurality of applications accessing the system;

receiving a request from another application for accessing data stored in a database, wherein the requesting another application is one of a plurality of applications accessing the system;

obtaining a database connection from the single global pool of data connections;

executing the request to access data stored in the database via the database connection; and

returning the database connection to the pool of database connections for reuse.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the data access includes at least one of data read, data write, and data modification.