System and method for using a data replication service to manage a configuration repository

• US 20040025079A1
• Filed: 02/20/2003
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Kramer, Reto, Jacobs, Dean B., Srinivasan, Ananthan
• Granted Patent: US 7,617,289 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/82 Solving problems relating to consistency ensuring consistency in mirrored systems G06F11/2064
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

A mechanism for making changes consistently across an application server domain or a cluster. Server configuration consistency is absolutely necessary for cluster deployments. The invention allows changes to the configuration repository and to the application deployment process to be managed via a Data Replication Service (DRS). The former requires that the configuration repository be version aware, while the latter breaks down the application deployment process into two phases—one for data distribution and processing as far as possible, and the second to expose the changes through the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI).

Claims

1. A system for using a data replication service to consistently manage server configuration within a domain or cluster, comprising:

a master server that contains server configuration information;

a master data replication service layer adapted to send, from said master server, data replication packets defining changes in the server configuration information, said data replication packets including a version number associated with each change in the server configuration;

a slave data replication service layer adapted to receive, at a slave server, data replication packets from the master data replication service layer; and

,

a slave server that determines whether the configuration data currently contained thereon has been updated to correspond to the version number associated with the latest data replication packet received, and if the data on the slave server does not correspond to that version number requesting a delta of server configuration information be sent from said master server to said slave server.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said configuration information can be changed as necessary or desired, and automatically replicated from said master server to said slave server.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein updates to said configuration information are packaged as incremental deltas of configuration data between subsequent configuration versions.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said slave server is a one-phase server which can commit to new configuration information data as soon as it is received.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said slave server is a two-phase server which can include prepare and commit phases with the possibility of abort.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein a temporarily unavailable slave server is eventually provided with the configuration information updates.

7. A method for using a data replication service to consistently manage server configuration within a domain or cluster, comprising the steps of:

maintaining, at a master server, server configuration information;

sending data replication packets from said master server to a slave server, said data replication packages defining changes in the server configuration information, said data replication packets further including a version number associated with each change in the server configuration;

receiving data replication packets at said slave server; and

,

determining whether the data on said slave server has been updated to correspond to the version number associated with or contained in the latest data replication packet received, and if the data on the slave server does not correspond to that version number then requesting a delta of server configuration information be sent from said master server to said slave server.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said configuration information can be changed as necessary or desired, and automatically replicated from said master server to said slave server.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein updates to said configuration information are packaged as incremental deltas of configuration data between subsequent configuration versions.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein said slave server is a one-phase server which can commit to new configuration information data as soon as it is received.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein said slave server is a two-phase server which can include prepare and commit phases with the possibility of abort.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein a temporarily unavailable slave server is eventually provided with the configuration information updates.