Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-13
2002-11-19
Vu, Kim (Department: 2172)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06484177
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is related to the management of objects residing in one or more directory services. These services utilize a common access method which permits the data in the directory services to be managed using a single virtual Data Management System (DMS) based on a modular, scalable architecture. The directory services disclosed herein are those found in typical corporate, enterprise and e-business environments where elements of the Data Management System may exist on a homogenous computer platform or they may be dispersed among a plurality of platforms in a distributed computing environment. The interaction between said directory services and the Data Management System is accomplished through a plurality of commonly available communication protocols which permit a uniform data access and distribution across a heterogeneous network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As the complexity of networks grow, it becomes increasingly more difficult to exchange and manage data, especially in networks comprising a plurality of heterogenous components. Directory services in particular have become such an integral part of corporate networks and the Internet, that methods for expanding their scaleability, improving performance and accessing data are critical to the success of the core business. Compounding the problem is the fact that directory services were initially designed to house information about the network infrastructure such as login access, passwords, network resources, etc. With the inception of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), corporations began using directory services to maintain organizational data such as names, job responsibilities, telephone numbers, etc. Eventually, e-business and e-commerce matured to the point where directory services are now used to manage many of the elements required to support corporate intranets and web sites. However, directory services tend to be deficient in the area of data and application management, usually lacking fundamental aspects such as revision control, configuration management, release control, lock management, etc.
Our invention seeks to improve upon the present art which addresses these areas by providing a uniform means for managing any type of data across a large global enterprise. The methods disclosed herein can be directly applied to data residing in a directory service, a simple file system or a traditional database. The improvements over the present art can best be illustrated by way of comparison.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,227 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,006, issued to Polnerow, et al., disclosed an on-line directory service with a plurality of databases and processors. While these inventions propose a method for accessing and registering data from and to one or more databases through the use of a directory service, they're primarily focused on using a plurality of processors to route requests through the directory service in an efficient manner. They also employs a means for applications to reconfigure themselves in accordance with any changes to the processors and/or databases.
Uniform data access among multiple directory services is the main aspect of U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,107, issued to Chan, et al. This invention provides a directory service system for accessing a plurality of directory services. In this class-based directory service system, there exists a means for defining classes and properties to manage the objects contained within the directory services, even if the directory services are from different vendors. It also comprises a schema and methods for retrieving property names and types of the object classes, resolving name conflicts that can arise from accessing objects residing in different directory services and bridging dissimilar APIs associated with heterogengeous directory services.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,700, issued to Miller, et al., teaches a method wherein a common logical structure is used to store both the files residing in a file system as well as the directory entries comprising a directory service. This approach permits directory service entries across multiple domains to be managed in a centralized fashion. Also, since the directory service entries are objects, standardized operations such as replication, querying and storing additional information is possible.
An apparatus and method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,343, issued to Vigil, et al., which provides a means for implementing a highly scaleable X.500 directory service. A first directory service agent receives requests from a user agent and manages all information pertaining to the root of the X.500 directory tree. In addition, this first directory service agent further distributes requests to a plurality of delegate directory service agents, each of which manages a subset of the overall directory service. Since directory services typically have a limit to the number of entries they can maintain under a single process, this invention permits each delegate directory service agent to run as a separate process, potentially executing on separate processors, thus multiplying the number of allowable directory entries by the number of installed delegate directory service agents to overcome traditional limits.
Replication is an important aspect of distributing data efficiently in a large data processing system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,994, issued to Shaheen, et al., teaches a method for maintaining data coherency in a system in which data is replicated across a multitude of servers. Each server permits its local replica to be updated and a method is disclosed to reconcile these updates. Another invention related to replicating and partitioning data is U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,831, issued to Marsh, et al. This invention discloses an architecture to support partitioning of data among multiple file systems on a computer.
While all the aforementioned aspects of the prior art are certainly beneficial in a large heterogeneous network, our invention extends beyond the scope of most of them to solve additional problems they fail to confront. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,689,700, 5,893,107 and 5,918,227 discuss various means for integrating directory service entries into a file system, accessing database information through a directory service, and providing uniform access method across multiple directory services. However these inventions, when examined independently or cumulatively, fail to propose a common system-independent paradigm that can be applied to any type of data ranging from a simple file residing in a file system, to an object under the control of a directory service, all the way to information residing in a traditional database. Our invention proposes a method by which data is not only classified using a common means, but doesn't mandate any relationship between the directory service, file system and database. The paradigm encompassed in the present invention permits a single access method to manipulate a file in a simple file system, locate a web page residing in an LDAP directory service, and query inventory data. For example, the file may exist in a Windows NT environment, while the LDAP directory service may be running in a Unix environment and while the inventory may be managed by a DB/2 database running on an S/390 platform. The prior art fails to address the architectural issues required to support management of data across disparate platforms.
In addition, our invention imparts a modular scaleable architecture upon a directory service, which enables features typically found in document management systems, such as version control, configuration management, locking, and release control, to be employed on objects residing in a directory service. Although the aforementioned inventions present an opportunity to offer a limited form of some of these features, the present invention architecturally binds these features to a common access protocol to permit the same features to span a virtual data management system comprising a plurality of components in which a directory service constitutes on
Mueller Joseph L.
Van Huben Gary A.
Augspurger Lynn L.
Ly Anh
Vu Kim
LandOfFree
Data management interoperability methods for heterogeneous... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Data management interoperability methods for heterogeneous..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Data management interoperability methods for heterogeneous... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2963454