Composite metadata objects for database systems
AssigneeMicro Focus LLC
InventorsStyliani Pantela, Niccolo Meneghetti, Benjamin M. Vandiver, Jaimin Mukesh Dave
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A technique includes storing, by a computer, a composite metadata object in a catalog. The composite metadata object represents information about a plurality of database objects of a table structure; the table structure includes a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns; the plurality of database objects is associated with a subset of rows of the plurality of rows; and the plurality of database objects is associated with a plurality of files corresponding to the columns. The technique includes processing, by the computer, a database transaction based on the based on composite metadata object.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- storing, by a computer, a first composite metadata object in a catalog,
- wherein the first composite metadata object represents information about a plurality of database objects of a table structure and provides a one-to many mapping to the plurality of database objects,
- wherein the table structure comprises a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, the plurality of database objects being associated with a subset of rows of the plurality of rows, and
- wherein the plurality of database objects are associated with a plurality of column files corresponding to the columns;
- processing, by the computer, a database transaction based on the first composite metadata object;
- and
- committing a change to the first composite metadata object to represent a corresponding change to the table structure without synchronously committing a change to the plurality of column files to correspond to the change in the table structure.
A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processing node of a database system, cause the processing node to:
- access a composite metadata object representing information about a first number of column chunks in a first container of a projection of a database table;
- and
- at a later point in time after accessing the composite metadata object, process a database transaction involving the projection of the database table based on the composite metadata object,
- wherein the composite metadata object provides a one-to many mapping to the first number of column chunks.
An apparatus, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
- access metadata representing information about a container of a projection of a database table, wherein the metadata represents that the container contains a first number of columns of the projection of the database table and wherein the access of the metadata provides a one-to many mapping to the projection of the database table;
- modify the metadata so that the metadata represents the container as having a second number of columns other than the first number of columns;
- and
- asynchronously and at a later in time after modifying the metadata, change a database storage associated with the projection of the database table to reflect the modification of the metadata.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.