Centralized access and management for multiple, disparate data repositories

• US 20040107212A1
• Filed: 12/02/2002
• Published: 06/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Friedrich, Michael, Primbs, Alexander, Noe, Marc, Steigmann, Uwe
• Granted Patent: US 7,599,959 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Systems and techniques to access data in a computer system provide centralized data storage management for facilitating access to a plurality of different data repositories. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes sending a data access request to a data storage manager and identifying at least one of a plurality of repositories for satisfying the data access request. The repositories may be of different types. In addition, data may be partitioned among the repositories according to data object types and/or attribute characteristics. Once an appropriate repository is identified, the data access request is fulfilled using the identified repository.

Claims

1. A method for accessing data in a computer system, the method comprising:

sending a data access request to a data storage manager;

identifying from a plurality of repositories at least one repository that satisfies the data access request, wherein the plurality of repositories includes repositories of at least two different types that store information relating to data objects and data is selectively partitioned among the repositories;

fulfilling the data access request using the at least one identified repository.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein data relating to different data objects is selectively partitioned among the repositories according to characteristics of the data objects.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one attribute is associated with each data object.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein data relating to different attributes is further selectively partitioned among the repositories according to characteristics of the attributes.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the identifying of at least one repository comprises determining which of the repositories store the requested data.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the identifying of at least one repository comprises:

identifying a subset of the repositories based on information stored in the data storage manager; and

determining which of the subset of repositories store the requested data based on information stored in an adapter associated with each repository.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein data defining the existence of a first data object is stored in a first repository and data defining the existence of a second data object is stored in a second repository.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein data relating to a first attribute of the first data object is stored in the first repository and data relating to a second attribute of the first data object is stored in a third repository.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the data objects and attributes stored in the repositories relate to user management data.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the types of repositories are differentiated based on differences in at least one of:

protocols used to access data, the manner in which data is organized, and the technology upon which the repositories are based.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the repositories are logically combined such that the existence of different types of repositories in the repositories is immaterial to an entity requesting the data access.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the data access request relates to a data access selected from the group consisting of creating a data object, writing data, reading data, and searching data.

13. A method for facilitating data storage across multiple repositories, the method comprising:

creating a plurality of data objects;

identifying, for each data object, a home repository of a plurality of repositories for indicating whether the data object exists, wherein the home repository is identified based on predetermined characteristics of the data object;

storing data relating to each data object in the respective home repository; and

enabling access to the data stored in the repositories by a plurality of applications through a centralized data storage manager.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the predetermined characteristics of each data object comprise a set of attributes and the set of attributes are stored in the respective home repository.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

defining an additional attribute for a data object;

identifying a repository from the plurality of repositories for storing the additional attribute based on a type of information represented by the attribute, wherein the identified repository differs from the home repository for the data object; and

storing the additional attribute in the identified repository.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the plurality of repositories include at least two repositories that are distinguishable from one another based on differences in at least one of:

the protocols used to access data, the manner in which data is organized, and the technology upon which the repositories are based.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the plurality of repositories include at least one database repository and at least one LDAP repository.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the data stored in the plurality of repositories comprises user management data.

19. A method of facilitating data storage across multiple repositories, the method comprising:

creating a plurality of data objects, with each data object having a plurality of associated attributes;

storing a first subset of the attributes for each data object in a first repository;

storing a second subset of the attributes for each data object in a second repository; and

providing access to the data stored in the first repository and the second repository by a plurality of applications through a centralized data storage manager.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the first repository defines whether a particular data object exists.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the second subset of attributes for the particular data object supplements information stored in the first subset of attributes for the particular data object.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the first repository differs from the second repository based on at least one of:

protocols used to access data, the manner in which data is organized, and the technology upon which the repositories are based.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein access to the data stored in the first repository and the second repository is provided such that the difference between the repositories are transparent to the plurality of applications.

24. A data storage system for a computer system, the data storage system comprising:

a plurality of data repositories for storing data, wherein data is partitioned among the data repositories based on characteristics of the data; and

a data storage manager operable to receive a data access request from one or more of a plurality of applications, to identify an appropriate data repository for fulfilling the data access request, and to access the requested data in accordance with the data access request.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the plurality of data repositories includes at least two different types of data repositories.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the data repositories are distinguishable by type based on at least one of protocols used to access data, the manner in which data is organized, and the technology upon which the repositories are based.

27. The system of claim 24 wherein the plurality of repositories store information relating to a plurality of data objects.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein data is partitioned among the repositories according to at least one of data object types and attribute types.

29. The system of claim 24 further comprising at least one application program interface for interfacing the applications with the data storage manager.

30. The system of claim 24 further comprising an adapter associated with each repository for interfacing the data storage manager with the repositories.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the data storage manager stores adapter information relating to which adapters are available and what types of data are handled by each of the adapters.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the data storage manager uses the adapter information to identify the appropriate data repository for fulfilling the data access request.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the data storage manager further contacts at least one adapter and uses information received from the at least one adapter to identify the appropriate data repository.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein each adapter stores information identifying data types handled by the adapter and maps data between the data storage manager and the data repository.

35. An article comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

receiving a data access request;

identifying at least one repository from a plurality of repositories for satisfying the data access request, wherein the plurality of repositories includes at least two different types of repositories and data is selectively partitioned among the repositories; and

fulfilling the data access request using the at least one identified repository.

36. The article of claim 35 wherein the machine-readable medium further stores instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

partitioning data among the repositories based on user object attributes with which the data is associated.

37. The article of claim 35 wherein the machine-readable medium further stores instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

searching an adapter associated with each repository to identify the at least one repository for satisfying the data access request; and

wherein the data access request is fulfilled through the adapter associated with the at least one identified repository.