Systems, methods, and apparatuses for creating a shared file system between a mainframe and distributed systems

• US 9,898,483 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2015
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company), VelociData, Inc. (Openvault LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Bishop, Fred, Ganguly, Tapan, Henrichs, Michael, Howard, Curtis, Indeck, Ron, Prakash, Rajiv R., Shah, Imran, Vetrady, Robin Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Serrao, Ranodhi
• Assistant Examiner(s): FIORILLO, JAMES N
• Application Number:
  US14/822,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20170046361A1
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• Field of Search: 709219, 709227, 712 30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/183 Provision of network file services by network file servers, e.g. by using NFS, CIFS network file access protocols H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

The disclosed system may comprise a mainframe computing resource, a data library, a data processing appliance, and a distributed system. The data library may be securely connected to the mainframe computing resource. The data library may be configured to receive data from the mainframe computing resource via a first interface. The data processing appliance may be configured to read and write data to the data library via a second user interface. The distributed system may be configured to receive data from the data processing appliance. The distributed system may be further configured to process the data based on a workflow from the mainframe computing system.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

writing, by a mainframe computing resource, data to a shared file system;

indicating, by the mainframe computing resource, to a data processing appliance that data exists that is ready for processing;

wherein the indicating is accomplished by at least one of the mainframe computing resource sending a message or setting a flag that is detectable or monitored by at least one of the data processing appliance or a data library;

creating, by the mainframe computing resource, a file on the data library;

creating, by the mainframe computing resource, a place on a storage medium of the mainframe computing resource for processed data;

sending, by the mainframe computing resource, a message to the data processing appliance with a location of the data to be processed and a location where the data will be stored post processing;

removing, by the data processing appliance, mainframe semantics from the data;

processing, by at least one of the data processing appliance or a distributed system, the data to create the processed data, wherein the distributed system comprises at least one processor and memory;

writing, by the data processing appliance, the processed data to the shared file system in a mainframe tape format; and

notifying, by the data processing appliance, the mainframe computing resource that the processed data is ready for further processing by the mainframe computing resource, wherein;

the mainframe computing resource is configured to communicate securely with the data library through a first interface and the data processing appliance is configured to communicate with the data library through a second interface;

the processed data is stored in a first portion of the data library designated for the data processing appliance, and wherein the first portion is segregated from a second portion of the data library that receives data from the mainframe computing resource, and

the notification includes at least one of a success return code or a failure return code.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting, by the data processing appliance, the data from a first format to a second format.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising presenting, by the data processing appliance, the data in the second format to the distributed system in response to the removing and the converting from the first format to the second format.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first data format is a mainframe communication protocol.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first format is a mainframe format and the second format is a distributed format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data processing appliance at least one of translates or streams the data from the mainframe computing resource to the distributed system in real time.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the distributed system appears as a mounted drive to the mainframe computing resource via a connection to the mainframe computing resource through the data processing appliance.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating, by the mainframe computing resource, to the data processing appliance a workflow to process the data.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising reading, by the data processing appliance, the data from the shared file system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising scheduling, by the mainframe computing resource, a job to process the processed data based on the return code.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is a file.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared file system comprises the data library and the data processing appliance.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the mainframe semantics are tape information.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the data processing appliance comprises a plurality of programmable logic gates.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first interface is isolated form the second interface.

16. A system comprising:

a mainframe computing resource;

a data library connected to the mainframe computing resource, wherein the data library receives data from the mainframe computing resource via a first interface;

a data processing appliance that reads and writes data to the data library via a second user interface; and

a distributed system further comprising at least one processor and a memory, wherein the distributed system receives data from the data processing appliance and processes the data based on a workflow from the mainframe computing system, wherein the mainframe computer resource;

writes data to a shared file system;

indicates to a data processing appliance that data exists that is ready for processing, wherein the indicating is accomplished by at least one of the mainframe computing resource sending a message or setting a flag that is detectable or monitored by at least one of the data processing appliance or a data library;

creates a file on the data library;

creates a place on a storage medium of the mainframe computing resource for processed data;

sends a message to the data processing appliance with a location of the data to be processed and a location where the data will be stored post processing;

wherein the data processing appliance;

removes mainframe semantics from the data;

processes the data to create the processed data;

writes the processed data to the shared file system in a mainframe tape format;

notifies the mainframe computing resource that the processed data is ready for further processing by the mainframe computing resource, wherein the notification includes at least one of a success return code or failure return code; and

receives the processed data from the distributed system in response to the processing and loads the processed data to the data library, wherein

the processed data is stored in a first portion of the data library designated for the data processing appliance, and wherein the first portion is segregated from a second portion of the data library that receives data from the mainframe computing resource.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the data processing appliance converts the data from the data library from a mainframe environment format to a distributed system environment format.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the processed data from the data processing appliance includes at least one of a success return code or failure return code.