Techniques for data retention

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12450261-B2
Application number	US-202418753970-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2024
Priority date	Nov 15, 2013
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

Abstract

Systems and techniques for managing data in a relational database environment and a non-relational database environment. Data in the relational database environment that is static and to be maintained beyond a preselected threshold length of time is identified. The data is copied from the relational database and stored in the data the non-relational database. Access to the data is provided from the non-relational database via a user interface that accesses both the relational database and the non-relational database.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
obtaining, by a data retention system implemented via a database system, a data retention policy associated with a tenant of a multitenant computing environment, the data retention policy indicating one or more parameters associated with temporal attributes of data to be copied from a relational database to a non-relational database;
enqueuing a job corresponding to first data, the job including the one or more parameters;
copying at least a portion of the first data, identified from the relational database based on the enqueued job, to the non-relational database, wherein the job is enqueued again until backup of the first data in the non-relational database is complete;
obtaining a query received via a user interface, the query being received in a relational database language;
using the query received in the relational database language to scan the non-relational database using data of the relational database and data of the non-relational database;
combining results of the query on the non-relational database; and
providing the combined results via the user interface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more parameters include: weekly backup retention, monthly backup retention, yearly backup retention, and/or week of year backup retention.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data retention policy specifies how frequently backups are created.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the job is a background job that is independent of the database system.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing, in parallel, multiple scans of the non-relational database.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, to an application, access to application data stored on a server system of the data retention system, the application data being stored in a non-relational format.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-relational database is stored in a columnar format.

8. A data retention system, comprising:
a database system implemented using at least a server computing device, the database system configurable to cause:
obtaining, by the data retention system, a data retention policy associated with a tenant of a multitenant computing environment, the data retention policy indicating one or more parameters associated with temporal attributes of data to be copied from a relational database to a non-relational database;
enqueuing a job corresponding to first data, the job including the one or more parameters;
copying at least a portion of the first data, identified from the relational database based on the enqueued job, to the non-relational database, wherein the job is enqueued again until backup of the first data in the non-relational database is complete;
obtaining a query received via a user interface, the query being received in a relational database language;
using the query received in the relational database language to scan the non-relational database using data of the relational database and data of the non-relational database;
combining results of the query on the non-relational database; and
providing the combined results via the user interface.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more parameters include: weekly backup retention, monthly backup retention, yearly backup retention, and/or week of year backup retention.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the data retention policy specifies how frequently backups are created.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the job is a background job that is independent of the database system.

12. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:
performing, in parallel, multiple scans of the non-relational database.

13. The system of claim 8 , the database system further configurable to cause:
providing, to an application, access to application data stored on a server system of the data retention system, the application data being stored in a non-relational format.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the non-relational database is stored in a columnar format.

15. A computer program product comprising computer-readable program code capable of being executed by one or more processors when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer-readable program code comprising computer-readable instructions configurable to cause:
obtaining, by a data retention system implemented via a database system, a data retention policy associated with a tenant of a multitenant computing environment, the data retention policy indicating one or more parameters associated with temporal attributes of data to be copied from a relational database to a non-relational database;
enqueuing a job corresponding to first data, the job including the one or more parameters;
copying at least a portion of the first data, identified from the relational database based on the enqueued job, to the non-relational database, wherein the job is enqueued again until backup of the first data in the non-relational database is complete;
obtaining a query received via a user interface, the query being received in a relational database language;
using the query received in the relational database language to scan the non-relational database using data of the relational database and data of the non-relational database;
combining results of the query on the non-relational database; and
providing the combined results via the user interface.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the one or more parameters include: weekly backup retention, monthly backup retention, yearly backup retention, and/or week of year backup retention.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the data retention policy specifies how frequently backups are created.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the job is a background job that is independent of the database system.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising: performing, in parallel, multiple scans of the non-relational database.

20. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the non-relational database is stored in a columnar format.

Assignees

• Salesforce Inc

Inventors

• Bruce Jonathan
• Levine Eli
• Toens Simon
• Varley Ian

Classifications

• G06F16/258

  Data format conversion from or to a database · CPC title

• G06F16/256

  in federated or virtual databases · CPC title

• G06F16/27

  Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor · CPC title

• G06F16/25 Primary

  Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems · CPC title

• G06F16/284 Primary

  Relational databases · CPC title