Similarity and ranking of databases based on database metadata

• US 9,740,748 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2014
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bhagavan, Srini, Kiernan, Gerald G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hershley, Mark E
• Application Number:
  US14/219,434
• Publication Number:
  US 20150269154A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,252 Days
• Field of Search: 707750
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/152 using file content signatures, e.g. hash values
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

A processor selects a first database and a second database from a plurality of databases. The processor determines one or more terms found in the first and second database, wherein each term of the one or more terms includes metadata of a database of the plurality of databases. The processor identifies one or more common terms between the first database and the second database and determines the one or more common terms found in each of a plurality of groups of databases of the plurality of databases, wherein each group of databases corresponds to a number of databases which constitute the group of databases. The processor determines a similarity score between the first database and the second database of the plurality of databases based on the one or more common terms found in each group of databases of the plurality of databases.

Claims

1. A computer program product for determining a similarity of databases, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

(a) computer readable program code configured to select a first database and a second database from a plurality of databases that includes at least three databases;

(b) computer readable program code configured to identify one or more terms found in the first database and found in the second database of the plurality of databases, wherein each term of the one or more terms is comprised of metadata of a structure of a database of the plurality of databases, and wherein terms of the one or more terms found in both the first database and the second database are one or more common terms;

(c) computer readable program code configured to determine for a common term of the one or more common terms, a quantity of databases of the plurality of databases, in which a common term of the one or more common terms is found, wherein the quantity of databases of the plurality of databases in which the common term of the one or more common terms is found, constitutes a group, and wherein a range of groups includes each quantity of databases from a group of two databases to a group of a quantity of the plurality of databases; and

(d) computer readable program code configured to determine a similarity score between the first database and the second database of the plurality of databases based on a tuple formed from the quantity of the one or more common terms found in each group of databases of the plurality of databases.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to perform steps (a) through (d) for each pairing of the first database with each database of the plurality of databases other than the second database; and

computer readable program code configured to rank the similarity scores for each pairing of the first database with each database of the plurality of databases.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to perform steps (a) through (d) on all pairings of the plurality of databases, other than pairings with the first database; and

computer readable program code configured to rank the similarity scores of pairings of the plurality of databases, other than pairings with the first database.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the metadata of the structure of the first database, comprising the one or more common terms includes at least one of a database table name, a database table column name, and a database table column type.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more common terms includes determining a partial match of the one or more common terms between the first database and the second database.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein at least one term of the one or more terms is a hash derived from the metadata of the first database of the plurality of databases.

7. A computer system for determining a similarity of databases, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more computer readable storage devices; and

program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising;

(a) program instructions to select a first database and a second database from a plurality of databases that includes at least three databases;

(b) program instructions to identify one or more terms found in the first database and found in the second database, wherein each term of the one or more terms is comprised of metadata of a structure of the first database of the plurality of databases, and wherein terms of the one or more terms found in both the first database and the second database are one or more common terms;

(c) program instructions to determine for a common term of the one or more common terms, a quantity of databases of the plurality of databases, in which a common term of the one or more common terms is found, wherein the quantity of databases of the plurality of databases in which the common term of the one or more common terms is found, constitutes a group, and wherein a range of groups includes each quantity of databases from a group of two databases to a group of a quantity of the plurality of databases; and

(d) program instructions to determine a similarity score between the first database and the second database of the plurality of databases based on a tuple formed from the quantity of the one or more common terms found in each group of databases of the plurality of databases.

8. The computer system of claim 7, further comprising:

program instructions to perform steps (a) through (d) for each pairing of the first database with each database of the plurality of databases other than the second database; and

program instructions to rank the similarity scores for each pairing of the first database with each database of the plurality of databases, other than the second database.

9. The computer system of claim 7, further comprising:

program instructions to perform steps (a) through (d) on all pairings of databases of the plurality of databases, other than pairings with the first database; and

program instructions to rank the similarity scores of the pairings of the plurality of databases, other than pairings with the first database.

10. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the metadata of the structure of the first database, comprising each of the one or more common terms includes at least one of a database table name, a database table column name, and a database table column type.

11. The computer system of claim 7, wherein determining the one or more common terms includes determining a partial match of the one or more terms between the first database and the second database.

12. The computer system of claim 7, further comprising:

program instructions to create a graph based on the quantity of the one or more common terms found in each group of databases of a plurality of groups of databases wherein the graph is associated with a similarity of the second database to the first database.

13. A computer program product for determining a similarity of databases to search criteria, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

(a) computer readable program code configured to receive search criteria, wherein the search criteria includes one or more terms;

(b) computer readable program code configured to determine the one or more terms found in both the search criteria and a first database of a plurality of databases, wherein the one or more terms found in both the search criteria and a first database are one or more common terms;

(c) computer readable program code configured to determine for a common term of the one or more common terms, a quantity of the one or more common terms found in each of a plurality of groups of databases of the plurality of databases, wherein a group of databases of the plurality of groups of databases includes a quantity of databases in which a common term of the one or more common terms is found, and wherein a range of groups includes each quantity of databases from a group of two databases to a group of a quantity of the plurality of databases; and

(d) computer readable program code configured to determine a similarity score of the first database of the plurality of databases based a tuple formed from on the quantity of the one or more common terms found in each group of databases of the plurality of databases, wherein the similarity of the first database to the search criteria is based on the similarity score.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein determining a similarity score of the first database, further comprises:

computer readable program code configured to perform steps (a) through (d) for each pairing of the search criteria and each database of the plurality of databases other than the first database; and

computer readable program code configured to rank the similarity of each database of the plurality of databases to the search criteria, based on the similarity score of each database of the plurality of databases.

15. The computer program product claim 13, wherein the one or more terms of the search criteria include metadata of the structure of the first database of the plurality of databases, the metadata having at least one of a database table name, a database table column name, and a database table column type.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein determining one or more common terms includes determining a partial match of the search criteria terms and terms of the first database.

17. A computer system for determining a similarity of databases to search criteria, the method comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more computer readable storage devices; and

program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising;

(a) computer readable program code configured to receive search criteria, wherein the search criteria includes one or more terms;

(b) computer readable program code configured to determine the one or more terms found in both the search criteria and a first database of a plurality of databases, wherein the one or more terms found in both the search criteria and a first database are one or more common terms;

(c) computer readable program code configured to determine for a common term of the one or more common terms, a quantity of the one or more common terms found in each of a plurality of groups of databases of the plurality of databases, wherein a group of databases of the plurality of groups of databases includes a quantity of databases in which a common term of the one or more common terms is found, and wherein a range of groups includes each quantity of databases from a group of two databases to a group of a quantity of the plurality of databases; and

(d) computer readable program code configured to determine a similarity score of the first database of the plurality of databases based a tuple formed from on the quantity of the one or more common terms found in each group of databases of the plurality of databases, wherein the similarity of the first database to the search criteria is based on the similarity score.

18. The computer system of claim method of claim 17, further comprises:

program instructions to perform steps (a) through (d) for each pairing of the search criteria and each database of the plurality of databases other than the first database; and

program instructions to rank the similarity of each database of the plurality of databases to the search criteria, based on the similarity score of each database of the plurality of databases.

19. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the metadata of the structure of the first of each of the one or more common terms includes at least one of a database table name, a database table column name, and a database table column type.

20. The computer system of claim 17, wherein determining the one or more common terms includes determining a partial match of the of the search criteria terms and terms of the first database.