Managing write accesses during database upgrade procedure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9858309-B2
Application number	US-201414508876-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2014
Priority date	Oct 7, 2014
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

As part of an upgrade procedure transitioning from a source system to a target system, table entries used by both the source system and the target system can be selectively locked on a row-by-row basis using a lock table and one or more select triggers. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
initiating an upgrade procedure that updates a source system to a target system, the upgrade procedure preparing software for the target system in parallel to operation of an application on the source system;
determining, by a select trigger, that the upgrade procedure reads a first key in a production table being used both by the upgrade procedure and the application, wherein the first key comprises a range of keys in the production table;
writing, by the select trigger, the first key into a lock table, wherein the application is able to write to the first key in the production table after switching from the source system to the target system;
determining, by a freeze trigger after the first key is written into a lock table, that the application initiated a write request for the first key in the production table;
accessing, by the freeze trigger, the lock table to identify the first key as being locked; and
preventing the application from writing to the first key in the production table based on the identification in the lock table.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the upgrade procedure comprises selectively (i) renaming source tables of the source system, (ii) cloning the renamed source tables for the target system, (iii) equipping the cloned tables with database triggers to transfer data to target tables used by the source system according to a source database schema, (iv) generating the target tables comprising updated software content for later use by the target system while the source tables are used via a bridge database schema, and (v) sharing tables between the source database schema accessed via the bridge database schema and the target system.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the upgrade procedure is a zero downtime maintenance upgrade procedure.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising clearing entries in the lock table upon switching from the source system to the target system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the source system comprises memory and at least one data processor and the target system comprises memory and at least one data processor.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the: initiating, determining, writing, determining, accessing, or preventing are implemented by at least one data processor forming part of at least one computing device.

7. A method comprising:
initiating an upgrade procedure that updates a source system to a target system, the upgrade procedure preparing software for the target system in parallel to operation of an application on the source system;
cloning, by a clone trigger, changes to a production table used by the application to a table being used by the upgrade procedure;
determining, by a select trigger, that the upgrade procedure read a first key in the production table, wherein the first key comprises a range of keys in the production table;
writing, by the select trigger, the first key into a lock table, wherein the application is able to write to the first key in the production table after switching from the source system to the target system;
determining, by a freeze trigger after the first key is written into a lock table, that the application initiated a write request for the first key in the production table;
accessing, by the freeze trigger, the lock table to identify the first key as being locked; and
preventing the application from writing to the first key based on the identification in the lock table.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the upgrade procedure comprises selectively (i) renaming source tables of the source system, (ii) cloning the renamed source tables for the target system, (iii) equipping the cloned tables with database triggers to transfer data to target tables used by the source system according to a source database schema, (iv) generating the target tables comprising updated software content for later use by the target system while the source tables are used via a bridge database schema, and (v) sharing tables between the source database schema accessed via the bridge database schema and the target system.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the upgrade procedure is a zero downtime maintenance upgrade procedure.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the source system comprises memory and at least one data processor and the target system comprises memory and at least one data processor.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the: initiating, cloning, determining, writing, determining, accessing, or preventing are implemented by at least one data processor forming part of at least one computing device.

12. A system comprising:
a source system comprising at least one data processor and memory storing instructions for execution by the corresponding at least one data processor; and
a target system comprising at least one data processor and memory storing instructions for execution by the corresponding at least one data processor;
wherein:
an upgrade procedure is initiated that updates the source system to the target system, the upgrade procedure prepares software for the target system in parallel to operation of an application on the source system;
a select trigger determines that the upgrade procedure reads a first key in a production table being used both by the upgrade procedure and the application, wherein the first key comprises a range of keys in the production table;
the select trigger writes the first key into a lock table, wherein the application is able to write to the first key in the production table after switching from the source system to the target system;
a freeze trigger determines, after the first key is written into a lock table, that the application initiated a write request for the first key in the production table;
the freeze trigger accesses the lock table to identify the first key as being locked; and
the application is prevented from writing to the first key in the production table based on the identification in the lock table.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the upgrade procedure comprises selectively (i) renaming source tables of the source system, (ii) cloning the renamed source tables for the target system, (iii) equipping the cloned tables with database triggers to transfer data to target tables used by the source system according to a source database schema, (iv) generating the target tables comprising updated software content for later use by the target system while the source tables are used via a bridge database schema, and (v) sharing tables between the source database schema accessed via the bridge database schema and the target system.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the upgrade procedure is a zero downtime maintenance upgrade procedure.

Assignees

• Eberlein Peter
• Driesen Volker
• Sap Se

Inventors

• Eberlein Peter
• Driesen Volker

Classifications

• G06F16/2343 Primary

  Locking methods, e.g. distributed locking or locking implementation details · CPC title

• G06F16/211

  Schema design and management · CPC title

• G06F16/2282

  Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof · CPC title

• G06F17/30292

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30362 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic