XPC backup for in-process audit

• US 6,079,000 A
• Filed: 12/30/1997
• Issued: 06/20/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Unisys Corporation
• Original Assignee: Unisys Corporation
• Inventors: Konrad, Dennis R., Hill, Michael J., Cooper, Thomas P., Nowatzki, Thomas L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lane, Jack A.
• Application Number:
  US09/001,136
• Time in Patent Office: 903 Days
• Field of Search: 711/162, 707/204
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1474 in transactions G06F16/20 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

Method and apparatus for providing backup memory storage for audit trail data within a computer system having a main memory storage, a non-volatile memory storage, and backup memory storage. The computer system executes a number of transaction programs which generate audit trail entries. As the audit trail entries are generated, a portion of the audit trail entries are stored in a portion of the main memory storage to create an audit trail. The audit trail entries are accumulated in the portion of the main memory storage until a request is received to write the portion of the main memory storage to a corresponding portion of the non-volatile memory. Subsequent portions of the audit trail entries are accumulated in subsequent portions of the main memory storage. An output transfer to the backup memory storage is made once a sufficient number of portions of the main memory storage have been written to corresponding portions of the non-volatile memory in order to maximize the transfer efficiency to the backup memory storage.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing backup memory storage for audit trail data within a computer system, the computer system executing a number of transaction programs which are generating a number of audit trail entries, comprising:

a. a first memory;

b. a second memory;

c. a third memory; and

d. control means coupled to said first memory, said second memory, and said third memory to store a portion of the number of the audit trail entries to a one of a number of portions of said first memory, the audit trail entries being accumulated within said one of said number of portions of said first memory until an indication is received by said control means that indicates said one of said number of portions of said first memory is not to receive any additional audit trail entries, subsequent ones of the number of audit trail entries being stored within a next one of said number of portions of said first memory wherein said indication comprises a synchronous audit data request wherein said synchronous audit data request comprises a one of the number of audit trail entries having a commit in progress status.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the control means further comprises writing the one of the number of portions of the first memory to a corresponding one of a number of portions of the second memory once the indication is received, each subsequent indication received by the control means resulting in the subsequent one of the number of portions of the first memory being written to said corresponding subsequent one of said number of portions of the second memory.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the control means further comprises writing the number of portions of the first memory to a corresponding number of portions of the third memory once the control means determines that enough of the number of audit trail entries have been accumulated within the number of portions of the first memory.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the control means determines that enough of the number of audit trail entries have been accumulated within the number of portions of the first memory when the number of portions of the first memory to be written to the corresponding number of portions of the third memory results in an optimal transfer efficiency.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the optimal transfer efficiency corresponds to a predetermined size of the number of portions of the first memory.

6. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the optimal transfer efficiency corresponds to a predetermined number of the audit trail entries having been accumulated within the number of portions of the first memory.

7. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the control means is an executive program.

8. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the first memory is a main memory storage and the second memory is a non-volatile memory.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8 wherein the non-volatile memory is a cache memory.

10. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the first memory is a non-volatile memory and the second memory is a main memory storage.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the non-volatile memory is a cache memory.

12. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the first memory is a non-volatile memory and the second memory is a non-volatile memory.

13. An apparatus according to claim 12 wherein the second memory is a cache memory.

14. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the third memory is a magnetic tape storage medium.

15. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the third memory is a disk storage device.

16. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the third memory is part of a remote data processing system.

17. An apparatus according to claim 16 wherein the remote data processing system is contained within a unique power domain.

18. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the third memory is another number of portions of the first memory.

19. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the control means further comprises writing the number of portions of the second memory to a corresponding number of portions of the third memory once the control means determines that enough of the number of audit trail entries have been accumulated within the number of portions of the first memory.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19 wherein the control means determines that enough of the number of audit trail entries have been accumulated within the number of portions of the first memory when the number of portions of the first memory to be written to the corresponding number of portions of the third memory results in an optimal transfer efficiency.

21. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the optimal transfer efficiency corresponds to a predetermined size of the number of portions of the first memory.

22. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the optimal transfer efficiency corresponds to a predetermined number of the audit trail entries having been accumulated within the number of portions of the first memory.

23. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the control means is an executive program.

24. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the first memory is a main memory storage and the second memory is a non-volatile memory.

25. An apparatus according to claim 24 wherein the non-volatile memory is a cache memory.

26. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the first memory is a non-volatile memory and the second memory is a main memory storage.

27. An apparatus according to claim 26 wherein the non-volatile memory is a cache memory.

28. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the first memory is a non-volatile memory and the second memory is a non-volatile memory.

29. An apparatus according to claim 28 wherein the second memory is a cache memory.

30. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the third memory is a magnetic tape storage medium.

31. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the third memory is a disk storage device.

32. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the third memory is part of a remote data processing system.

33. An apparatus according to claim 32 wherein the remote data processing system is contained within a unique power domain.

34. An apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the third memory is another number of portions of the first memory.

35. An apparatus for providing backup memory storage for audit trail data within a computer system having a backup memory storage, the computer system executing a number of transaction programs which are generating a number of audit trail entries, comprising:

a. a non-volatile storage means wherein said non-volatile storage means is a cache memory; and

b. control means coupled to said non-volatile storage means and the backup memory storage to store a portion of the number of the audit trail entries into a one of a number of portions of said non-volatile storage means, the audit trail entries being accumulated within said one of said number of portions of said non-volatile storage means until an indication is received by said control means that indicates said one of said number of portions of said non-volatile storage means is not to receive any additional audit trail entries, subsequent ones of the number of audit trail entries being stored within a next one of said number of portions of said non-volatile storage means.

36. An apparatus according to claim 35 wherein the control means further comprises writing the number of portions of the non-volatile storage means to a corresponding number of portions of the backup memory storage once the indication is received and the control means determines that enough of the number of audit trail entries have been accumulated within the number of portions of the non-volatile storage means.

37. An apparatus according to claim 36 wherein the indication comprises a synchronous audit data request.

38. An apparatus according to claim 37 wherein the synchronous audit data request comprises a one of the number of audit trail entries having a commit in progress status.

39. An apparatus according to claim 36 wherein the control means determines that enough of the number of audit trail entries have been accumulated within the number of portions of the non-volatile storage means when the number of portions of the non-volatile storage means to be written to the corresponding number of portions of the backup memory storage results in an optimal transfer efficiency.

40. An apparatus according to claim 39 wherein the optimal transfer efficiency corresponds to a predetermined size of the number of portions of the non-volatile storage means.

41. An apparatus according to claim 39 wherein the optimal transfer efficiency corresponds to a predetermined number of the audit trail entries having been accumulated within the number of portions of the non-volatile storage means.

42. A method for providing backup memory storage for audit trail data within a computer system having a first memory, a second memory, and a third memory, wherein said first memory is a non-volatile memory and said second memory is a main memory storage and wherein said non-volatile memory is a cache memory, the computer system executing a number of transaction programs which are generating a number of audit trail entries, the method comprising the steps of:

a. receiving a portion of the number of audit trail entries;

b. writing said portion of the number of audit trail entries into a portion of the first memory;

c. determining if said next portion of the number of audit trail entries has been received;

d. determining if a request to write said portion of the first memory to a corresponding portion of the second memory has been received;

e. going to step (b) to store said next portion of the number of audit trail entries into said portion of the first memory if said next portion of the number of audit trail entries has been received and said request to write said portion of the first memory to said corresponding portion of the second memory has not been received;

f. going to step (c) if said request to write said portion of the first memory to said corresponding portion of the second memory has not been received;

g. writing said portion of the first memory to said corresponding portion of the second memory;

h. determining if an optimal number of audit trail entries has been written to said portions of the first memory;

i. going to step (b) to write said next portion of the number of audit trail entries into a next portion of the first memory if said next portion of the number of audit trail entries has been received and said optimal number of audit trail entries has not been written to said portions of the first memory;

j. going to step c if said optimal number of audit trail entries has not been written to said portions of the first memory to determine if said next portion of the number of audit trail entries to be written into said next portion of the first memory has been received; and

k. writing said optimal number of audit trail entries to the third memory.

43. A method according to claim 42 wherein the step of writing the optimal number of audit trail entries to the third memory comprises writing the portions of the first memory to the corresponding portions of the third memory.

44. A method according to claim 42 wherein the step of writing the optimal number of audit trail entries to the third memory comprises writing the portions of the second memory to the corresponding portions of the third memory.

45. A method according to claim 42 wherein the portion of the number of audit trail entries is one of the number of audit trail entries.

46. A method according to claim 42 wherein the request comprises a synchronous audit data request.

47. A method according to claim 46 wherein the synchronous audit data request comprises a one of the number of audit trail entries having a commit in progress status.

48. A method according to claim 42 wherein the optimal number of audit trail entries written to the portions of the first memory corresponds to a predetermined size of the portions of the first memory.

49. A method according to claim 42 wherein each one of the number of audit trail entries contains audit data for one database transaction.

50. A method according to claim 42 wherein the first memory is a main memory storage and the second memory is a non-volatile memory.

51. A method according to claim 50 wherein the non-volatile memory is a cache memory.

52. A method according to claim 42 wherein the third memory is a magnetic tape storage medium.

53. A method according to claim 42 wherein the third memory is a disk storage device.

54. A method according to claim 42 wherein the third memory is a portion of the main memory storage.

55. A method for providing backup memory storage for audit trail data within a computer system having a volatile main memory storage and a backup memory storage, the computer system executing a number of transaction programs which are generating a number of audit trail entries, the method comprising the steps of:

a. providing a non-volatile memory;

b. writing a portion of the number of audit trail entries into a one of a number of portions of the main memory storage, said portion of the number of audit trail entries being accumulated within said one of said number of portions of the main memory storage until one of a number of indications is received indicating that said one of said number of portions of the main memory storage is not to receive any additional ones of the number of audit trail entries, subsequent portions of the number of audit trail entries being accumulated within subsequent ones of said number of portions of the main memory storage when subsequent ones of said number of indications are received;

c. writing said one of said number of portions of the main memory storage to a corresponding one of a number of portions of the non-volatile memory once said one of said number of indications is received, subsequent said ones of said number of indications received resulting in subsequent said ones of said number of portions of the main memory storage being written to said corresponding subsequent ones of said number of portions of the non-volatile memory; and

d. writing an optimal number of audit trail entries to a corresponding number of portions of the backup memory storage, said optimal number of audit trail entries being the portions of the number of audit trail entries accumulated within said number of portions of the main memory storage.

56. A method according to claim 55 wherein the step of writing the optimal number of audit trail entries to the corresponding number of portions of the backup memory storage comprises writing the number of portions of the main memory storage to the corresponding number of portions of the backup memory storage once the optimal number of audit trail entries has been accumulated within the number of portions of the main memory storage.

57. A method according to claim 55 wherein the step of writing the optimal number of audit trail entries to the corresponding number of portions of the backup memory storage comprises writing the number of portions of the non-volatile memory to the corresponding number of portions of the backup memory storage once the optimal number of audit trail entries has been accumulated within the number of portions of the main memory storage.

58. A method according to claim 55 wherein the one of the number of indications comprises a synchronous audit data request.

59. A method according to claim 58 wherein the synchronous audit data request comprises a one of the number of audit trail entries having a commit in progress status.

60. A method for providing backup memory storage for audit trail data within a computer system having a first memory and a second memory, the computer system executing a number of transaction programs which are generating a number of audit trail entries, the method comprising the steps of:

a. receiving a portion of the number of audit trail entries;

b. writing said portion of the number of audit trail entries into a portion of the first memory;

c. determining if said portion of the number of audit trail entries has a commit in progress status;

d. determining if said next portion of the number of audit trail entries has been received;

e. going to step (b) to store said next portion of the number of audit trail entries into said portion of the first memory if said next portion of the number of audit trail entries has been received and said portion of the number of audit trail entries does not have a commit in progress status;

f. going to step (c) if said portion of the number of audit trail entries does not have a commit in progress status;

g. determining if an optimal number of audit trail entries has been written to said portions of the first memory;

h. going to step (b) to write said next portion of the number of audit trail entries into a next portion of the first memory if said next portion of the number of audit trail entries has been received and said optimal number of audit trail entries has not been written to said portions of the first memory;

i. going to step (b) if said optimal number of audit trail entries has not been written to said portions of the first memory to determine if said next portion of the number of audit trail entries to be written to said next portion of the first memory has been received; and

j. writing the portions of the first memory to the corresponding portions of the second memory.