Gateway module to access different types of databases

• US 9,384,202 B1
• Filed: 10/01/2012
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pierce, Erick C., Prestwood, Gavin R., McMillon, Travis, Swanson, Tor Edward, Tang, Joshua K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Morris, John J
• Application Number:
  US13/632,865
• Time in Patent Office: 1,373 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/4, 707/10, 707/100, 707/999.1, 707/999.001, 707/999.003, 707/999.004, 707/781, 707/999.009, 707/999.102
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/134 Distributed indices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application

Abstract

Some implementations may include a gateway module to receive, from a software application, a command to perform an action to a database. The gateway module may translate the command to create a translated command based on configuration data associated with the database. The configuration data may enable the gateway module to determine how to perform the action to the database. The gateway module may determine whether the translated command is valid based on the configuration data. If the translated command is valid, the gateway module may send the translated command to the database. The gateway module may receive a result of performing the translated command from the database. The gateway module may determine, based on the translated command, the result, or both, whether conditions associated with a triggered command are satisfied (e.g., met). If the conditions are satisfied, the gateway module may send the triggered command to the gateway module.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

under control of one or more processors configured with instructions to perform acts comprising;

receiving, at a gateway module, a command to perform an action to data that is stored in a field of a database;

determining configuration data associated with the database, the configuration data including one or more business rules that specify;

characteristics of the field that indicate a type of the data that is stored in the field, and

how to read from the field and write to the field;

determining, based on the configuration data, a set of commands to perform the action to the data;

determining that the set of commands is valid based on the characteristics of the field;

sending the set of commands to the database;

receiving a result of sending the set of commands to the database; and

determining that the result satisfies a condition to trigger an additional command that is associated with additional data stored in an additional field of the database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the action comprises reading the data from the field of the database; and

the configuration data includes information describing how to read the data from the field of the database.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the action comprises modifying the data in the field of the database; and

the configuration data includes information describing how to modify the data in the field of the database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more business rules further specify at least one of whether the field includes numeric values, whether the field includes non-numeric values, whether the field includes a binary value, or whether the field is modifiable.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the command is written in a lightweight data interchange format.

6. The method of claim 1, the acts further comprising:

performing the additional command to the database.

7. The method of claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving, at the gateway module, a second command to perform a second action to a second field of a second database;

identifying second configuration data associated with the second database;

determining, based on the second configuration data, a second set of commands to perform the second action; and

sending the second set of commands to the second database to perform the second action.

8. A computing device comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

receiving, from a software application, a first command to perform a first action on a portion of a database, wherein the first command is written in a first language that uses a lightweight data interchange format;

determining configuration data associated with the database;

translating the first command based on the configuration data to create a first translated command in a second language that uses a relational database language format;

determining that the first translated command is valid;

sending the first translated command to the database;

receiving a result of performing the first translated command to the database;

determining that the result of performing the first translated command satisfies a trigger condition associated with a triggered command;

performing the triggered command on a different portion of the database;

receiving a second command to perform a second action to a second portion of a second database, wherein the second database comprises a non-relational database, and wherein the second command is written in the first language;

translating the second command to create a second translated command in a third language that uses a non-relational database language format; and

sending the second translated command to the second database.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the configuration data includes one or more business rules specifying at least one of whether the portion of the database includes a numeric value, whether the portion of the database includes a non-numeric value, whether the portion of the database includes a binary value, or whether the portion of the database is modifiable.

10. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the second translated command comprises writing a description of an event to a log file, the description indicating that the portion of the database was modified.

11. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the second translated command comprises writing a timestamp based on a current time to a log file to indicate when the portion of the database was modified.

12. The computing device of claim 8, wherein determining that the first translated command is valid comprises:

determining that the first action includes modifying the portion of the database;

determining characteristics of data including a type of the data stored in the portion of the database, based on the configuration data; and

determining that the first action is valid based on the characteristics of the data.

13. The computing device of claim 8, the acts further comprising:

receiving a third command to perform a third action;

determining that the third action is invalid; and

sending an error message to the software application indicating that the third action is invalid.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving, from an application, a command to perform an action to a first database of a plurality of databases, the plurality of databases including a relational database and a non-relational database, the first database comprising the relational database, wherein the command uses a lightweight data interchange format;

determining first configuration data associated with the first database, the first configuration data including one or more first business rules that specify how the first database is organized and how to access the first database;

creating a first translated command based at least partly on the command and the first configuration data;

sending the first translated command to the first database based on determining that the first translated command is valid;

determining that the first translated command was unsuccessful;

performing a corrective action to synchronize the relational database with the non-relational database;

determining second configuration data associated with a second database, the second configuration data including one or more second business rules that specify how the second database is organized and how to access the second database;

creating a second translated command based at least in part on the command and on the second configuration data; and

sending the second translated command to the second database.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the acts further comprise:

receiving a result of sending the second translated command to the second database;

determining that the result satisfies a condition to trigger an additional command; and

performing the additional command.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein:

the first translated command is sent to the relational database; and

the second translated command is sent to the non-relational database in parallel with sending the first translated command to the relational database.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the acts further comprise:

determining that the first translated command was successfully performed on the first database; and

determining that the second translated command was successfully performed on the second database.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the acts further comprise:

performing a corrective action to synchronize the relational database with the non-relational database.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, the acts further comprising:

receiving a result of performing the first translated command from the first database; and

sending the result to the application.

20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving, from an application, a first command to be performed to a first database, wherein the first command is written in a lightweight data interchange format;

identifying configuration data associated with the first database;

creating a first translated command corresponding to the first command based on the configuration data;

determining that the first translated command is valid based on the configuration data;

determining that the first translated command satisfies a condition that triggers an additional command;

sending the first translated command to the first database, the first translated command modifying a first portion of the first database;

sending the additional command to the first database, the additional command modifying a second portion of the first database that is different from the first portion;

receiving, from the application, a second command to be performed to a second database;

creating a second translated command corresponding to the second command based on second configuration data associated with the second database; and

sending the second translated command to the second database.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 20, wherein:

the first database comprises a plurality of additional databases; and

the first translated command is sent to a subset of the plurality of additional databases based on the configuration data.

22. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 20, the acts further comprising:

receiving a result of sending the second translated command to the second database;

determining that the result satisfies a condition to trigger a third command; and

performing the third command.

23. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 20, wherein:

the first database comprises a relational database; and

the second database comprises a non-relational database.

24. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 20, wherein the acts further comprise:

determining an action performed by the second command to the second database; and

sending a fourth command to the second database based on the second command.

25. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 21, wherein determining that the first translated command is valid based on the configuration data comprises:

identifying the first portion of the first database that is to be accessed by the first translated command;

determining characteristics associated with the first portion of the first database; and

determining, based on the characteristics, that the first translated command performs an action that is compatible with the characteristics.