Techniques for peer-to-peer replication of objects in a relational database

A method for replicating a database object, of a relational database managed by a database system, from a first node on a network to a second node on the network, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining that the database object on the first node includes a user-defined object defined by a user of the database system, and
• causing the database system to copy the database object, including the user-defined object, to the second node of the networks wherein:
• the database object is a table for logically arranging data items in rows and columns, each column having a column type, the data items in each column having a data type corresponding to the column type of the column in which the data items reside, the column types for the columns in the table stored in a data structure describing the table;
• the user-defined object is a data item in a first column of a first row of the table;
• and
• the step of causing the database system to copy the database object includes causing the database system to copy, as part of said database object, said data item from said first column of said first row of the table.

A method for replicating a database object, of a relational database managed by a database system, from a first node on a network to a second node on the network, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining that the database object on the first node includes a user-defined object defined by a user of the database system, and
• causing the database system to copy the database object, including the user-defined object, to the second node of the network, wherein the database system performs the further steps of:
• copying a name of a user-defined type of the user-defined object from the first node to the second node;
• copying a first definition of the user-defined type from the first node to the second node;
• and
• after copying the first definition of the user-defined type, and after copying the name of the user-defined type, copying a second definition of the database object from the first node to the second node, the second definition including the name of the user-defined type.

A method for replicating a database object, of a relational database managed by a database system, from a first node on a network to a second node on the network, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining that the database object on the first node includes a user-defined object defined by a user of the database system, and
• causing the database system to copy the database object to the second node of the network, including performing the steps of:
• copying a name of a user-defined type of the user-defined object from the first node to the second node;
• copying a first definition of the user-defined type from the first node to the second node;
• copying a second definition of the database object from the first node to the second node, the second definition including the name of the user-defined type;
• causing the database object to be instantiated on the second node;
• and
• copying data from the database object on the first node into the database object on the second node.

A method for use within a relational database system for generating on a second node a replicated database object based on a particular database object on a first node, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving, at the second node, sequence data indicating a sequence of identifiers for attributes of the particular database object;
• receiving, at the second node, a series of values from the first node;
• and
• storing the series of values at locations within the replicated database object based on the sequence data and a mapping between the attributes of the particular database object and attributes of the replicated database object.

A method for use within a relational database system for generating on a second node a replicated database object based on a particular database object on a first node, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining a sequence for sending to the second node values of attributes of the particular database object;
• sending to the second node sequence data indicating the sequence, the sequence data including for each attribute in the sequence a built-in type defined by the database system and a user-defined name defined by a user of the database system;
• and
• sending to the second node a series of values from the particular database object based on the sequence.

A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for replicating a database object of a relational database managed by a database system from a first node on a network to a second node on the network, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• determining that the database object on the first node includes a user-defined object defined by a user of the database system, and
• causing the database system to copy the database object, including the user-defined object, to the second node of the network, wherein:
• the database object is a table for logically arranging data items in rows and columns, each column having a column type, the data items in each column having a data type corresponding to the column type of the column in which the data items reside, the column types for the columns in the table stored in a data structure describing the table;
• the user-defined object is a data item in a first column of a first row of the table;
• and
• the step of causing the database system to copy the database object includes causing the database system to copy, as part of said database object, said data item from said first column of said first row of the table.

A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for replicating a database object of a relational database managed by a database system from a first node on a network to a second node on the network, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• determining that the database object on the first node includes a user-defined object defined by a user of the database system;
• causing the database system to copy the database object, including the user-defined object, to the second node of the network;
• copying a name of a user-defined type of the user-defined object from the first node to the second node;
• copying a first definition of the user-defined type from the first node to the second node;
• and
• after copying the first definition of the user-defined type, and after copying the name of the user-defined type, copying a second definition of the database object from the first node to the second node, the second definition including the name of the user-defined type.

A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for replicating a database object of a relational database managed by a database system from a first node on a network to a second node on the network, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• determining that the database object on the first node includes a user-defined object defined by a user of the database system, and
• copying the database object to the second node of the network, including performing the steps of:
• copying a name of a user-defined type of the user-defined object from the first node to the second node;
• copying a first definition of the user-defined type from the first node to the second node;
• copying a second definition of the database object from the first node to the second node, the second definition including the name of the user-defined type;
• instantiating the database object on the second node;
• and
• copying data from the database object on the first node into the database object on the second node.

A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for use within a relational database system for generating on a second node a replicated database object based on a particular database object on a first node, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors on the second node causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• receiving sequence data indicating a sequence of identifiers for attributes of the particular database object;
• receiving a series of values from the first node;
• and
• storing the series of values at locations within the replicated database object based on the sequence data and a mapping between the attributes of the particular database object and attributes of the replicated database object.

A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for use within a relational database system for generating on a second node a replicated database object based on a particular database object on a first node, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors on the first node causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• determining a sequence for sending to the second node values of attributes of the particular database object;
• sending to the second node sequence data indicating the sequence, the sequence data including for each attribute in the sequence a built-in type defined by the database system and a user-defined name defined by a user of the database system;
• and
• sending to the second node a series of values from the particular database object based on the sequence.