US 20080162509 A1
Embodiments of methods and systems consistent with the present invention allow for updating tenants in a hosted provider-tenant system by analyzing data structures associated with a particular tenant to determine a delta between the data structures associated with the particular tenant and new or modified data structures at the provider. Data structures may thus be created or updated at the provider and then compared to existing data structures stored in association with one or more tenants in the system. In this way, updates may be easily determined and imported to multiple tenants in the provider-tenant system.
1. A method of updating a first data structure related to a first tenant of a plurality of tenants in a provider-tenant system where a provider communicates with the plurality of tenants over a network, comprising:
selecting the first data structure based on an update notification;
comparing the first data structure to a second data structure related to a provider;
determining an update component based on the comparison; and
importing the update component to the first tenant.
2. The method of
sending the update component to the plurality of tenants.
3. The method of
determining a difference between the first data structure related to the tenant and the second data structure.
4. The method of
creating the second data structure at the provider, wherein the second data structure is created based on a request by the first tenant.
5. The method of
comparing the content of the first data structure to the content of the second data structure.
6. The method of
determining a difference between a database schema related to the first data structure and a database schema related to the second data structure.
7. The method of
selecting the first tenant based on a business application running at the first tenant.
8. A method of updating a first business object of a first tenant, comprising:
selecting the first tenant from a plurality of tenants in a provider-tenant system;
selecting the first business object at the first tenant;
comparing the first business object of the first tenant to a second business object from the provider; and
determining an update to send to the first tenant based on the comparison.
9. The method of
determining a difference between the first business object and the second business object.
10. The method of
importing the update into a database of the first tenant.
11. The method of
sending the update to the plurality of tenants.
12. The method of
comparing the content of the first business object to the content of the second business object.
13. The method of
determining a difference between a database schema related to the first business object and a database schema related to the second business object.
14. The method of
selecting the first tenant based on a business application running at the first tenant.
15. A system for updating a first business object of a first tenant, comprising:
means for selecting the first tenant from a plurality of tenants in a provider-tenant system;
means for selecting the first business object at the first tenant;
means for comparing the first business object of the first tenant to a second business object from the provider; and
means for determining an update to send to the first tenant based on the comparison.
16. The system of
means for determining a difference between the first business object and the second business object.
17. The system of
means for importing the update into a database of the tenant.
18. The system of
means for sending the update to the plurality of tenants.
19. The system of
means for comparing the content of the first business object to the content of the second business object.
20. The system of
means for determining a difference between the database schema related to the business object and the database schema related to the second business object.
The present invention generally relates to the field of data processing in server systems. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and systems for hosting applications and providing distributed data management for multiple tenants.
As the cost to develop and maintain information technology grows over time, business enterprises increasingly outsource their business process functions to third-party providers. For instance, various types of businesses may rely on a provider to host their business application software to reduce the cost and inefficiencies of managing information technology systems that are outside the business's traditional expertise. Providers of hosting services must, therefore, support clients having different sizes and needs. Consequently, there is a demand for providers to offer services that are flexible and scalable to support the provider's variety of clients.
Conventional approaches for hosting solutions include multi-client systems and single-client systems. In a multi-client system, all clients share one data management environment, such as all hardware, databases, and application servers. The provider of the business application in a multi-client system thus sets up and administers each client's system. For example, the provider may be responsible for managing the application software over its lifecycle. This lifecycle management may include software upgrades, system landscape maintenance, and database maintenance. The clients, on the other hand, only need to manage their own data and business transactions. For example, the client does not need to set up an operating system landscape, install software components, or maintain an overall data management system. Furthermore, the client is not involved in any overall system operations, such as copying client data for backup or recovery purposes.
One disadvantage of a multi-client system is that because a large number of clients may share data in a common database, any database maintenance becomes problematic. For example, the provider must coordinate upgrades to minimize the affect of the database's downtime on each of the clients. In addition, software upgrades may require a very high level of testing to ensure reliability for all clients. Thus, as the number of clients increases, the overall upgrade time also increases, which causes the total downtime to increase for all clients.
Yet another disadvantage of the multi-client system is that deploying content to a client requires a great amount of time and manual effort. For instance, the content for all clients is distributed throughout the common database. The provider thus cannot simply copy one client's content on demand as that client's content must first be sorted from all of the other clients' content in the common database.
Finally, another disadvantage of the multi-client system is that the provider cannot use currently available database tools to backup and recover a specific client's content. More specifically, because the provider organizes each clients' content in one common database, rather than a separate physical database, the provider cannot use standard database tools to recover one client's content. The provider must thus restore the entire client environment and client content through a client export/import process, which can take several days, and in some cases, several weeks. This inability to quickly backup or recover data greatly decreases the reliability of client data.
Another solution for hosting multiple clients is the single-client system. In this approach, the provider provides each client with its own system, including, for example, hardware, databases, application servers, applications, and data. A primary advantage of the single-client approach is that the physical separation of client data allows a provider to use standard database management tools to execute a variety of important management functions, such as backup and recovery. In addition, the provider may perform management functions on demand for each client without affecting the other clients.
Because, however, under a single-client system, each client has its own complete system, the client is generally responsible for maintaining its respective system. For example, a client must decide which software components, releases, upgrades, and support packages to install on its system. Therefore, in the single-client system, the client is deeply involved in the maintenance and administration of its system. Consequently, a single-client solution often requires tremendous effort, expertise, and investment from the client to maintain the system.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a server solution that enables a provider to host a large number of clients, while enabling separate storage and management of each client's applications and data.
Consistent with embodiments of the present invention, methods and systems for updating a first data structure related to a first tenant of a plurality of tenants in a provider-tenant system are disclosed. For instance, such methods may select the first data structure based on an update notification, compare the first data structure to a second data structure related to a provider, determine an update component based on the comparison, and import the update component to the first tenant.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
The following description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or similar parts. While several exemplary embodiments and features of the invention are described herein, modifications, adaptations and other implementations are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, substitutions, additions or modifications may be made to the components illustrated in the drawings, and the exemplary methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding steps to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the proper scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.
Embodiments consistent with the present invention relate to systems and methods for hosting application software, such as between a provider and multiple tenants. The term “provider” refers to any device, system, or entity, such as a server, used to host application software. The term “tenant,” on the other hand, refers to any device, system, or entity using the hosted application software. As described below, the hosted application software may have one or more data structures. The term “data structure” refers to any type of data arrangement for use by a software application. For example, data structures may include tables, data fields, memo fields, fixed length fields, variable length fields, records, word processing templates, spreadsheet templates, database schema, or indexes. Data structures consistent with the invention are persistent, existing for each tenant-server session, rather than being created transiently each time a tenant-server session is established.
As described below, systems consistent with the invention may identify data structures hosted by the provider as either tenant-specific data structures or shared data structures. Tenant-specific data structures (or tenant-dependant data structures) refer to data structures that may store content specific to a particular tenant. Shared data structures (or tenant independent data structures) refer to data structures that may store data shared between more than one tenant. The provider may then organize the identified data structures within different spaces. For instance, shared data structures may be associated with a provider space and tenant-specific data structures may be associated with a tenant space associated with a particular tenant. As used herein, the term “space” generally refers to any type of processing system or processing sub-system, such as, for example, a system having a database and one or more servers or processors for processing data.
Each tenant may have access to its own tenant-specific data structures and the shared data structures. More specifically, after organizing the data structures into the provider and tenant spaces, a first tenant associated with a first tenant-specific space can then access data contained in the tenant-specific data structures stored at the first tenant-space. In addition, the first tenant may also access data contained in the shared data structures of the provider space. Likewise, a second tenant associated with a second tenant-specific space may access data contained in the tenant-specific data structures stored within the second tenant-space, as well as the data of the shared data structures of the provider space. In other words, each tenant hosted by the provider may access all data structures necessary to execute the hosted application software by accessing its corresponding tenant-specific data structures and the shared data structures. Further, because each tenant's space is isolated (physically or otherwise) from the other tenants' spaces, each tenant's data structures are secure and may be independently managed without impacting the other tenants.
Systems consistent with the invention may host a variety of application software, such as business application software. The hosted application software may thus include general-purpose software, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, database, web browser, electronic mail or other enterprise applications. By way of further example, the hosted application software may be the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Supply Chain Management (SCM) products offered by SAP AG of Walldorf, Germany. Business applications may also be composite applications that include components of other software applications, such as those within SAP's xApps family, or may be a custom application developed for a particular tenant.
As further shown in
Tenant stations 130 may be any device, system, or entity using the business application software hosted by provider 110. Tenant stations 130 may thus be associated with customers of provider 110 that, for instance, acquire (i.e., purchase, lease, license) business application software from provider 110 and, instead of maintaining the software entirely on the tenant's 130 systems, may rely on provider 110 to host, in whole or in part, the business application and its related data or content.
As shown in
Tenant terminals 132 may execute applications consistent with carrying out the present invention, including network communications and user interface software. Network communications software may encode data in accordance with one or more of network communication protocols to enable communication between tenant terminals 132 and, at least, a corresponding tenant server 114 over network 140. User interface software may allow user 134 to display and manipulate data and applications hosted by provider 110. The user interface can be, for example, a web-based interface having a web browser or can be a non-web interface, such as a SAP Graphical User Interface (SAP GUI) capable of displaying trace data stored in eXtensisble Markup Language (XML) format or other standard format for data.
Users 134 may be entities (e.g., an employee or automated process) associated with one of tenant stations 130 that accesses their respective tenant's software and data content from provider 110 over network 140.
Network 140 may be one or more communication networks that communicate applications and/or data between provider 110 and tenant stations 130. Network 140 may thus be any shared, public, private, or peer-to-peer network, encompassing any wide or local area network, such as an extranet, an Intranet, the Internet, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a public switched telephone network (PSTN), an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), radio links, a cable television network, a satellite television network, a terrestrial wireless network, or any other form of wired or wireless communication networks. Further, network 140 may be compatible with any type of communications protocol used by the components of system environment 100A to exchange data, such as the Ethernet protocol, ATM protocol, Transmission Control/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless formats, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), high bandwidth wireless protocols (e.g., EV-DO, WCDMA), or peer-to-peer protocols. The particular composition and protocol of network 140 is not critical as long as it allows for communication between provider 110 and tenant stations 130.
As described above and in more detail below, system environment 100A may be used to host a tenant's business applications. For example, provider 110 may host software and data for providing payroll functions for a tenant, such as tenant station 130 or tenant space 330. Accordingly, the tenant's employees, such as user 134, may communicate with a respective tenant server 114 over network 140 using tenant terminal 132 to access a payroll application hosted by provider 110. In this example, user 134 may be a payroll officer for the tenant that obtains payroll management services from provider 110. These payroll management services may include hosting of payroll processing software tailored to a tenant's particular business, as well as hosting of the tenant's payroll data (e.g., employee, transactional and historical data). User 134, for instance, may access the payroll software (e.g., for submitting or modifying data content) at provider 110 and/or receive output (e.g. generate reports, issue payments). Furthermore, provider 110 may provide additional services to tenant station 130 including life-cycle management of the tenant's applications and data content including, for example, software upgrades, deployment of new software, and data backup. Moreover, provider 110 may assist tenant station 130 in developing and modifying the payroll application to update the application to meet the tenant's specific needs over time.
Provider server 112 and tenant servers 114 may be may be one or more processing devices that execute software modules stored in one or more computer memory devices. Servers 112 and 114 may include components typically included in a server system, such as a data processor, a network interface and data storage device(s) 210 and 220. For example, servers 112 and 114 may include a personal computer, a minicomputer, a microprocessor, a workstation or similar computer platform typically employed in the art. Furthermore, servers 112 and 114 may execute a plurality of applications including software for managing network communications, providing a user interface, managing databases (e.g. database management system), providing applications over network 140 (e.g., application server), and other software engines consistent with hosting multiple tenants over a network. In some exemplary embodiments, provider server 112 may be a platform running SAP's NetWeaver having a suite of development and integration components, such as the NetWeaver Web Application Server (SAP Web AS), which supports both Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) code and Java code meeting the Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specifications.
Data storage devices 210 and 220 are associated with provider server 112 and tenant servers 114, respectively. These storage devices 210 and 220 may be implemented with a variety of components or subsystems including, for example, a magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, flash memory, or other devices capable of storing information. Further, although data storage devices 210 and 220 are shown as part of provider server 112, they may instead be located externally to provider server 112. For instance, data storage device 220 may be located within each tenant server, or it may be configured as network attached storage (NAS) device or a storage device attached by a storage area network (SAN). In either case, provider 110 may access data storage device 220 remotely over network 140.
Provider server 112, as shown in
Tenant servers 114 may host users 132 at tenant terminals 132, providing access to applications, data and other content associated with a respective tenant server 114. For instance, tenant servers 114A and 114B may each store data structures providing a payroll application, wherein the data structures may store each tenant's specific payroll data (e.g., employee names and salaries). Further, tenant servers 114 may store additional data structures for tailoring the business application for each respective tenant station 130A and 130B.
Tenant databases 222 may further have one or more databases that store information accessed and/or managed by tenant servers 114. Database 222 may be an Oracle™ database, a Sybase™ database, or other relational database. As shown, databases 220 may store tenant database 222 including, tenant-specific data structures 215 and shared metadata 217.
Although servers 112 and 114 are illustrated as being located within a single provider location, one or more of these servers may be located remotely from the others. Alternatively, the functionality of some or all of servers 112 and 114 may be incorporated within a single server. For instance, provider 110 may use a single server having logical partitions that isolate data associated with provider 110 and tenant stations 130, rather than the illustrated physical partitions.
Turning now to the data structures 213-217 stored in provider database 212, provider data structures 213 may include all provider and tenant data structures. Provider data structure 213, for instance, may be a repository storing an undifferentiated mix of data structures for hosting applications in a multiple tenant system. In accordance with the present invention, and as discussed in greater detail below, provider data structures 213 may be organized into categories including shared data structures 214, and tenant-specific data structures 215. In most instances, provider data structures 213 in provider database 212 are only accessible to provider 110 (e.g., the provider's administrators).
Shared data structures 214 may include data and applications that are shared across all tenant station 130 systems. In other words, shared data structures 214 may contain all information that is not specifically associated with a particular tenant, such as tenant station 130A or 130B. For instance, shared data structures may contain general purpose software applications, generic program objects (e.g., user-interfaces, communication protocols), tables of public information (e.g. tax rates for various localities), etc.
Tenant data structures 215 include data and applications that will contain data specific to tenant stations 130. Continuing with the payroll example above, tenant data structures 215 may define a schema for master data, business configuration data, transactional data and/or applications for each tenant's payroll process including, for instance, customized user-interfaces, tenant-specific scripts, transactional data and employee data and payroll data for tenant station's 130A employees.
Data dictionary 216 may be one or more data structures including metadata describing the contents of provider database 212. Data dictionary 216 may index shared data structures 214 with other data describing provider data structures 213. In addition, data dictionary 216 may include data defining an association between provider data structures 213 and a tenant-specific identifier, thereby identifying each such data structure as a tenant data structure 215. Further, metadata within data dictionary 216 may associate provider data structures 213 with a reference attribute describing a data structure as a tenant-specific data structure and/or a shared data structure. For instance, data dictionary 216 may be a local database located in provider 110. In another exemplary embodiment, data dictionary 216 may be located within a single schema in provider database 212. In yet another exemplary embodiment, data dictionary 216 may be an SAP Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) data dictionary located in provider database 212.
Shared-metadata 217 may provide an index of shared data structures 214 and tenant-specific data structures 215 along with other data describing the shared data structures 214. In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, shared-metadata 217 may include information describing the location of data of shared data structure 214 within provider database 212 and may be used by provider server 112 and/or tenant servers 114 to locate shared data structures 214. Such information may be, for example, a table resource locator, uniform resource locator, Structured Query Language (SQL) identifier, or other pointer to a physical or virtual address of shared data structures 214 within provider database 212.
Tenant database 222 may contain tenant-specific data structures 224 defining parameters of, for example, a tenant-specific environment and tenant-specific application environment (e.g., application server data, tenant master data, tenant transactional data, or initial content used by the tenant). After tenant data structures 215 are exported form provider database 212 to a particular tenant database 224A or 224B, the tenant data structures 215 may thereafter be populated with data content specific to the respective tenant; accordingly, such data structures are tenant-specific data structures. For example, as described above, tenant-specific data structures 215A for tenant station 130A may include a payroll administration application and payroll data for the tenant's employees. Similar information may be stored separately for tenant station 130B in tenant database 220B. Tenant-specific data 224A and 224B are thus stored separate from one another in servers 114A and 114B to ensure each of tenants' 130A and 130B information remains isolated and secure.
In systems consistent with the invention, tenant station 130 may not store shared data structures 214. Instead, tenant station 130 may store identifiers, such as table links 225, that reference shared data structures 214 in provider database 212. For instance, table links 225 may include an alternate name for a table (or any other type of data structure) and/or a logical connection or reference to the data structure. The logical connection may be, for example, a database uniform resource locator, or other pointer to a physical or virtual address of shared data structures 214. In some instances, table links 225 may be referenced by tenant servers 114 in the same manner as other data structures; however, instead of returning data, table links 225 may redirect the reference to the actual location of the referenced data structure at provider server 112. For example, it may be necessary for a tenant application executed by a tenant server 114 to access shared data structures 214 through the use of table links 225. Accordingly, tenant server 114 may access tenant-specific data structures in tenant database 222 and shared data structures 214 in provider database 212 in the same manner and may thus be unaware that shared data 214 is stored outside of tenant database 222. Further, table links 225 may store additional information in association with shared data structures 214 including, for instance, permission data which may enable/disable tenant server 114 from writing data to a shared data structure 214. Because table links 225 are not included in all embodiments of the present invention, they are optional and thus illustrated in
As shown in
In an alternate embodiment, instead of storing table links 225 in tenant database 222, shared-metadata 217 describing the location of shared data structures 214 may be stored within tenant server 114 itself. In this case, when tenant station 130 requests data, tenant server 114 determines whether the requested data structure is a tenant-specific data structure stored in tenant database 222 or a shared data structure stored in provider database 212, based on shared-metadata 217. In accordance with the determination, tenant server 114 request may retrieve the data structure from the appropriate location as identified in the shared-metadata 217, and provides the requested data to tenant station 130.
Tenant-specific data structures 215 are stored within tenant space 330 and, thus, may be accessed directly from the tenant database (not shown in
As further shown in the exemplary illustration of
In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, tenant spaces 330A and 330B may also include table links 225 referring to shared data structures 214 (BBB, CCC) stored at provider space 310. In particular,
Data dictionary 216 defines attributes of each data structure included within provider data structures 213. That is, when a data structure is added to provider database 212, an entry for that data structure is added to data dictionary 216 along with attributes describing that data structure. For example, an attribute may be associated with a table name, tenant field, or other identifier. Attributes may also include a unique tenant identifier such as a string “tenant.” The attributes themselves may be of different types, such as a character type located in a column of a table, a boolean type, a date field, a numeric type, or other type. In accordance with certain aspects of the present invention, one or more attributes may particularly define a data structure as being tenant-specific or shared. Alternatively, one or more attributes may be identified by provider 110 as being indicative of whether a data structure is tenant-specific. In either case, based on at least the attributes defined in data dictionary 216, provider 110 may identify data structures AAA-FFF as being shared data structures 214 or tenant-specific data structures 215. Further, based on the tenant identification, provider 110 may identify tenant-specific data structures 215 as being specific to either tenant station 130A or 130B.
As shown for example, data dictionary 216 may associate data structures AAA-FFF with a tenant identifier (001 or 002) and/or a group (1 or 2). Within provider data structures 213, data structures AAA, DDD, EEE, and FFF belong to group 1 which, in this example, provider 110 identifies as correlating with tenant data structures 215. Data structures BBB and CCC belong to group 2 which provider space 310 correlates to shared data structures 214. In addition, data dictionary 216 may also identify which data structure correlates to a particular tenant station 130A or 130B. Thus, as shown in the example of
Based on data dictionary 216, provider 110 may thus categorize each of the data structures AAA-FFF as part of one of shared data structures 214 or tenant data structures 215. In this example, provider space 310 may determine that data structures BBB and CCC should be classified as shared data 214 because they have no specific association with tenant stations 130A or 130B. Data structures AAA, EEE and FFF are categorized as specific to tenant station 130A. Data structures DDD, EEE and FFF are categorized as specific to tenant station 130B.
Based on the above-described identification, provider 110 divides data structures 213 (AAA-FFF) between provider space 310 and tenants spaces 330A and 330B. Accordingly, provider 110 may export data structures AAA, EEE and FFF to the tenant-specific data structure 224A location of tenant space 330A. Similarly, data structures DDD, EEE and FFF, may be exported to tenant-specific data structure 224B location of tenant space 330B. In comparison, provider space 310 may associate shared data structures BBB and CCC, which may be accessed by either tenant stations 130A or 130B, or both, as part of shared data structures 214 by provider server 112 or tenant servers 114.
Furthermore, based on the above division of data structures, provider may generate a data structure including the results of the identification and/or the location of each data structure within provider database 212 and/or tenant databases 222. These references may be included, at least in part, in table links 225 and/or shared-metadata 217, thereby enabling the shared data structures 214 and tenant-specific data structures 215 to be located within the system. For example, table links 225 are illustrated in
Next, provider 110 may extract shared data structures 214 and tenant-specific data structures 215 from provider data structures 213 in accordance with the identification step described above. First, shared data structures 214 are placed in provider server (S. 710). Notably, because shared data structures 214 may already be stored at provider server, this step may only require placing the shared data structures in a common space of provider server.
In conjunction with extracting the data structures from provider data structures 213, provider 110 generates reference data defining the location of shared data structures 214 and tenant-specific data structures 215 in the provider database (S. 712). As described previously, shared reference data may be generated as shared-metadata identifying the location of shared data structures 214 within the provider database, in accordance with the embodiment illustrated in
Next, provider 110 stores a copy of tenant-specific data structures 215A associated with tenant station 130A at tenant server 114 in tenant database 222 (S. 714). Provider also stores, at tenant server 114A, references to the shared data 214 in tenant space 330A. More specifically, in accordance with the embodiment of
In the same manner as above, tenant-specific data structures 215B are stored at tenant space 330B (S. 718), and shared data references are also stored at tenant server 114B (S. 719). As described above, the shared-metadata 217 may be either stored within tenant 114B as shared-metadata, or as table links 225 in tenant database 222B.
Once the tenant-specific data structures 215A and shared data structures 214 are identified and stored in their respective servers 112 and 114, and each data structure may be populated with its corresponding shared and/or tenant-specific data content. Subsequently, when the hosted application software is executed, tenant server 114A may receive a data query from user 134A at tenant terminal 132A associated with tenant station 130A (S. 722). Tenant server 114A, based on its physical separation from tenant server 114B, may only access tenant-specific data structures 215A. Thus, if user 134A is associated with tenant station 130A, tenant terminal 132 may then access only tenant server 114A. In other words, user 134A is isolated or prevented from accessing tenant-specific data structures 215 associated with tenant server 114B and, therefore, may not access tenant-specific data 114B of tenant station 130B.
After receiving user's 134A query at the tenant server 14A, tenant-server 114 accesses tenant-specific data structure 224A stored in tenant server 114A, as well as the shared data structures 214 stored in provider server 112. The shared data structures 214, although not stored at tenant server 114A, may be accessed by tenant server 114A by referencing the shared-data structure 214. As discussed above, in accordance with the embodiment of
Likewise, if provider 110, through tenant server 114B, received a request for access to tenant-specific data (S. 726), provider 110 would enable user 134B to access only the tenant-specific data structures 215B stored in tenant server 114B and the shared data structures stored in provider server 112 (S. 728). Thus, provider 110 also isolates user 134B from accessing tenant server 114A and thereby prevents access tenant-specific data structures 215A. In either embodiment, the division of tenant-specific data 224A and shared data 214 between the provider and tenant spaces is transparent to user 134A.
As shown in
Attribute analyzer 804 may analyze provider data structures 213 using data dictionary 216, to determine which data structures are independent of the tenant (i.e., shared data structures 214) and which data structures are dependent upon the tenant (i.e., tenant-specific data structures 215).
Data dictionary 216 may, therefore, allow for the analysis of provider data structures 213, which, as described above with respect to
Systems and methods consistent with the invention may encode or program data structures in data dictionary 216 to include supplemental data fields, as well. For example, data structures in data dictionary 216 may include at least one data field containing a designation 860. Designation 860 may identify whether a corresponding data structure is a shared data structure 214 or a tenant-specific data structure 224. In one exemplary embodiment shown in
Provider 110 need not perform process 900 each time a software application is executed. Instead, provider 110 may perform process 900 when, for example, first deploying a new tenant in system environment 100A or 100B. For instance, provider 110 may use process 900 to determine which data structures associated with a new tenant are to be shared data structures 214 or tenant data structures 215. Further, process 900 may be performed for a single data structure, multiple data structures, or entire schemas at once.
As shown in
Next, attribute analyzer 804 uses data dictionary 216 to review at least one attribute (e.g., attribute 840) associated with a first data structure processed by analyzer 804 (S. 920). Attribute analyzer 804 may use attribute 840 to determine if the data structure is a shared data structure or a tenant-specific data structure (S. 930). For example, turning back to
If attribute analyzer 804 determines that the data structure is independent of any particular tenant, then the data structure may be stored so that it is accessible by multiple tenants. To this end, attribute analyzer 804 may cause the data structure to be stored in shared data structures 214 (S. 940). In one exemplary embodiment, attribute analyzer 804 may assign at least one additional data field to the data structure in data dictionary 216 describing the provider data structure 213 (or to the provider data structure 213 itself) such as designation 860, which may designate the data structure as “shared.” Because designation 860 may be assigned to or programmed into the provider data structure 213 itself, provider 1.10 may later recognize that the data structure has already been determined to be independent of the tenant or “shared,” and thus simplify or eliminate the above analysis of analyzer 804.
Attribute analyzer 804 may instead determine that the data structure is tenant-specific. Accordingly, in one exemplary embodiment, provider 110 may store the data structure in a new schema called tenant template 808 (S. 950). Tenant template. 808 may be a database schema separate from provider data structures 213, which may be used to generate tenant database 222, and thus may include tenant-specific data structures 215 and table links 225 (described in more detail below). As described above, tenant template 808 may be a database schema located in provider database 212. Further, as shown in
Next, process 900 may check to confirm whether all provider data structures 213 have been analyzed (S. 960). If not, the process may loop back and continue to analyze other data structures of provider data structures 213.
In one exemplary embodiment, attribute generator 802 maygenerate a new schema called tenant template 808, based on the results of process 900.
Generator 802 may access provider data structures 213 which were determined to be dependent upon a tenant (S. 1010). In this regard, generator 802 may access the data structures in tenant data structures 215 designated as dependent or tenant-specific, as described above with respect to step 950. In one embodiment, generator 802 may use designations 860 to access those data structures that were designated as dependent upon the tenant or tenant-specific. In another embodiment, generator 802 may use designations 860 from data dictionary 216 to determine which data structures were designated as dependent upon the tenant or tenant-specific.
Generator 802 may then import or copy at least one tenant data structure 215 into a new schema called tenant template 808 (S. 1020). Tenant template 808 may be located in its own tablespace, schema, or other data structure within provider database 212, or may be located in its own local database. When copying tenant data structure 215 into tenant template 808, generator 802 may also copy some of the data content from tenant data structures 215.
Next, generator 802 may import or copy tenant template 808 into tenant template database 806 (S. 1030). As described above, tenant template database 806 may also include additional data. Alternatively, in one embodiment, tenant template 808 may be created in tenant template database 806 directly. Generator 802 may perform this function by using database management system tools. Tenant template 808 may be used to deploy, clone, backup, recover, restore, edit, update, and alter tenants. In one exemplary embodiment, as shown in
As described above, multiple tenants may have access to shared data structures 214. For example, in one exemplary embodiment, a tenant application executing on tenant server 114 may need to access data in shared data structures 214. A tenant is not, however, required to store shared data structures 214. Instead, the tenant may store identifiers, such as table links 225, to reference shared data structures 214 included in provider database 212. Therefore, as part of process 1000, generator 802 may create and store table links 225 in tenant template 808 (S. 1040). A process for generating table links 225 is described in greater detail below with respect to
In one exemplary embodiment, generator 802 may create and store table links 225 in tenant template 808, concurrently with the analysis of process 900. As each data structure designated as independent of the tenant receives its designation 860, for example, generator 802 may create and store a table link 225. In another exemplary embodiment, multiple versions of tenant template 808, corresponding to multiple tenants, may be created and stored in provider 110. Provider 110 may then use these tenant templates 808 for various lifecycle management actions, such as applying patches to or upgrading software, as described more below. Further, in one exemplary embodiment, as also described below, a tenant application or tenant server 820 may use table links 225 to query, retrieve, view, process, or join data from shared data structures 214.
After generating table links 225, template generator 802 may store table links 225 in tenant template 808 (S. 1130). After generating each table link, the process may check to confirm whether all table links have been generated (S. 1140). If not, the process may loop back and continue to review shared data structures 214, generate table links 225, and store the generated table links 225 in tenant template 808, as discussed above. In one exemplary embodiment, multiple table links may be associated with one data structure. For instance, each tenant station 130 may include a tenant server 114 that may call or request a shared data structure by using different parameters, where each set of different parameters may be associated with a particular table link 225.
The process may also generate and store lookup table 1150 in tenant template 808. Lookup table 1150 may include the names of shared data structures 214 as mapped to the related table links 225.
As described above, tenant database 222 may include tenant-specific data structures 224. An exemplary process for exporting tenant-specific data structures 224 to tenant database 222 is described below with respect to
After the selection of template 808, provider 110 may create a copy of the tenant template database 806 containing the selected template 808 for deployment to tenant space 330 (S. 1220). The copy may be generated by one of several methods. In one method, a copy of tenant template database 806 may be created using, for example, database commands (e.g., “copy” or “restore backup”). In a second method, tenant template database 806 may be created by copying one or more data volumes that include tenant template database 806, as well as data structures, applications and other contents that are included in new tenant space 330. In this case, a copy may be generated by making a physical copy of the data volume containing the selected template, such as by performing a snapshot operation on the selected volume. In a third method, a new tenant space 330 may be created by exporting the tenant template 808 in a new tenant database 222 and later installing the data and applications that are included in the tenant space 330.
Once the copy of tenant template database 806 is created, the copy and its contents (e.g., the template's folder structure) may be associated with a unique identifier assigned to the new tenant by provider 110 (e.g., a system ID) (S. 1230). The unique identifier enables the provider to associate content and data with tenant-specific data structures 224. Further, the identifier may be used later by the provider to individually address and manage each tenant space 330. Although provider 110 may later change the names or identifiers of data structures within the copy of tenant template 808 to reflect the identifier assigned to the tenant, provider 110 would not later change the content of these data structures in exemplary embodiments. After renaming the copied tenant template, provider 110 may deploy the renamed tenant template 808 at tenant space 330 (S. 1240). As part of this deployment, the tenant template 808 may be exported to the new tenant, and file names, user names and other profile parameters may be changed in accordance with the new tenant's name or identifier. Once deployed, the data structures 224 may be populated with initial data and other content as defined by the tenant template 808 and/or supplied by the tenant. For instance, in accordance with the aforementioned payroll example, some tenant-specific data structures 224 may be populated with the tenant's payroll data such as current employee information, historical data and other content associated with the tenant's business process.
Next, the newly deployed tenant space 330 may begin execution of the hosted business process at tenant server 114, at which time the identity of the new tenant space 330 is registered with provider 110 (S. 1250). In particular, a user 134 may execute a business application hosted by provider 110 through a user-interface provided at tenant terminal 132. In accordance with the disclosed invention, if user 134 submits a query to tenant server 114 for data specific to the tenant, such data may be retrieved from the tenant-specific data structures 224 stored within tenant space 330. However, if the query submitted by user 134 requires data common to more than one tenant, the data may be retrieved by redirecting the query to retrieve data from shared data structures 214 stored at the provider space 310. Access to shared data structures 214 in provider database 212 may be limited by provider server 212 based upon whether a tenant's unique access identifier received from tenant space 320 is registered with provider 110.
As described above, tenant template 808 may also include table links 225. Therefore, when provider 110 deploys a new tenant, tenant database 222 may also get a copy of table links 225 used to access shared data structures 214. As described below, tenant server 114 may execute a query for a data structure by using table links 225.
After receiving the query from tenant server 114, tenant database 222 may recognize that the requested data (for example, the requested tax rate from table tax table 1400 called “T”) is not available to be queried at tenant database 222. In such a case, tenant database 222 may first use the requested data structure name to examine lookup table 1150. Tenant database 222 may use lookup table 1150 to determine which table link 225 is related to the requested data structure name, as shown in
Based on lookup table 1150, tenant database 222 may transmit another query to provider database 212 (S. 1320). The query to provider database 212 may use table link 225 to retrieve data from the shared data structure requested by tenant server 114. In one embodiment, the query to provider database 212 may include only the logical connection from table link 225. In another embodiment, the query to provider database 212 may include only the name of the shared data structure requested by tenant server 114. In yet another embodiment, the query may include table link 225 (which, as described above and as shown in
Provider database 212 receives the query and determines which shared data structure 214 is requested (S. 1330). Provider database 212 may then send any data contained in the requested shared data structure 214 to, for example, tenant database 222 (S. 1340). Tenant server 114 may then retrieve the requested data from tenant database 222 (not shown). Once the data is available at tenant database 222, tenant station 130 may perform any desired actions or operations by using the requested data.
To further illustrate the use of table links 225, in one exemplary embodiment, table link 225 may be used to access and view a tax rate for a particular employee, as shown in
In this example, generator 802 may generate table link 1404 having an alternative name “TAX” for the shared data structure 1400, and a logical connection to the shared data structure 1400. The logical connection may be any type of valid connection, such as a database universal resource locator to tax table 1400. After creating table link 1404, table link 1404 may be stored at tenant database 222.
After table link 1404 is stored at tenant database 222, the payroll application may execute a query for the tax type or tax rate for a particular employee in the company. The payroll application running on tenant server 114 may be unaware that the requested data structure is located at provider database 212. Therefore, the payroll application's query may simply include a reference to tax table 1400. Tenant database 222 receives the query, and resolves that tax table 1400 is not located at tenant database 222. In one example, tenant database 222 checks the query against lookup table 1150 table and resolves that tax table 1400 relates to a table link 1404. Therefore, tenant database 222 sends another query to provider database 212, including table link 1404, in order to retrieve data from tax table 1400.
After receiving the query, provider database 212 determines that tax table 1400 is the requested shared data structure 214, and that tax table 1400 therefore contains the data requested by the payroll application. After provider database. 212 determines that tax table 1400 contains the requested data, the requested data from tax table 1400 may be sent to tenant database 222. Once the data is available to the payroll application at tenant database 222, a tenant may perform any desired actions or operations by using the requested data.
Turning to other features of the invention, systems consistent with the invention allow for efficient deployment of service packs and other upgrades to tenant stations 130. In conventional systems, a provider may need to apply a separate upgrade to each client system, and then, after doing so, may need to thoroughly test each client system before the client system can be used again. In addition, the provider may produce a high number of different release combinations, which may necessarily increase the complexity of the upgrade process for the provider.
As shown in
In one embodiment, before applying a patch, provider 110 may notify a tenant administrator (not shown) of the existence of a new patch. The tenant administrator may authorize provider 110 to apply the patch. Further, in the embodiment described above, provider 110 may backup tenant space 330 by using, for example, snapshot technology to copy tenant database 222. If the patch fails, system environment 100A or 100B may then switch to the backup version of tenant space 330.
To determine which tenant-specific data structures 215 or content a provider 110 may need to export to a tenant space 330, provider 110 may determine a delta upgrade (S. 1540). The delta upgrade (not shown in
In one embodiment, a provider 110 may apply a patch by, for example, exporting the patch directly to a dedicated storage volume (e.g., database 222), registering the patch, and notifying an administrator, such as a provider administrator, of the existence of the patch. If provider 110 delivers only a new kernel (e.g., an application server or engine) as an upgrade, then a system, such as a tenant system, can be easily switched to the new kernel before it restarts, for example, its application server. Alternatively, a system, such as a tenant system, can initiate a restart by switching to the new kernel. In conventional systems, in contrast, upgrading a client is performed manually and requires a huge amount of time and effort.
In one embodiment, all upgrades or updates made to the cloned tenant database 222 may be thoroughly tested using automatic testing tools or creating dedicated tenant spaces only for test purposes. Such testing may include acceptance and regression analysis. For instance, acceptance testing may be performed to determine that the cloned tenant database 222, as upgraded, meets the tenant's requirements. Regression testing may be used to determine if business processes, such as order entry, still work the same way after the upgrade.
In one exemplary embodiment, the cloned tenant database may serve as a new tenant database 222, and the original tenant database may serve as a backup for tenant station 130. Further, as described above, if an unexpected failure occurs, the original tenant database may be used again immediately, since it was not modified during the upgrade process.
After upgrading each tenant, process 1500 may check to confirm whether all tenants have been upgraded or updated (S. 1570). If not, the process may loop back and continue to upgrade other tenant spaces 330. In this way, multiple tenants may be upgraded without the need to shutdown all tenants at once.
Moreover, in one exemplary embodiment, a tenant, such as tenant station 130 or tenant space 330, may individually schedule a time to run an individual upgrade. For example, the tenant may schedule next Sunday morning, this evening, or another timeframe (e.g., within the next two weeks) to run the upgrade process of
Most business applications can perform many different types of functions and operations, some of which may not be appropriate, or may not be absolutely necessary, for the business using the application. Additionally, business applications may need frequent updating and maintenance. Consequently, a business application may need to be configured, customized, or updated for the needs of the business, and to do so, it may be necessary to upgrade, update, or otherwise modify data and applications in tenant spaces 330. For example, during regular operation, provider 110 may change the content of tables stored in provider space 310 or tenant spaces 330 according to business needs. In one example, a user may define new business intelligence queries (BI queries) at provider space 310, and the new BI queries may be sent to tenant spaces 330. BI queries allow a user to build applications that display analytical data and perform business analytics. In one embodiment, using SAP's R/3™ system, users may create BI queries for any data service, such as tenant database 222, in the hosted system.
As described previously, an initial tenant template 808 may be created and then deployed to tenant space 330, using methods and systems described above with respect to
As described above with respect to
An update component may be determined by, for example, comparing data structures (such as tables, columns of tables, or rows of tables) to determine one or more differences between an original tenant template 808 and a patched tenant template 808. In one embodiment, an update between two tables may be determined by a SQL query, which may return rows of tables that have different data values. In another embodiment, a database compare tool, known in the art, may be used to determine an update component between tenant templates 808.
Another solution may be to determine differences between business objects in tenant space 330. In this regard,
1710). The tenant may be selected based on scheduled times for updates, or based on a request from a tenant or customer. In one embodiment, provider 110 may select a group of tenants at the same time.
Next, provider 110 may select a business object associated with the selected tenant to analyze (S. 1720) (e.g., to compare to the business object at provider space 330). Provider 110 may select the business object based on a the selected tenant's business application, the tenant or customer's needs or requests, or based on the need for an update to the business object. One skilled in the art will recognize that many means and methods may be used to select a business object for management and delta comparison.
Next, provider 110 compares the business object from the selected tenant to a related business object at provider space 310 (S. 1730). A business object may be a data structure, schema, table, rule, etc. used in a business application, such as the R/3 system. For example, a business object may be defined across ten or more different database tables that are not easily accessed, displayed, or understood together. In one embodiment, provider 110 may compare the entire database schema of the business object from tenant space 330 to the related the database schema of the business object from provider space 310.
The comparison may be based on differences between the business objects, such as differences between tenant-specific data structures 224, or tables, or may be based on indexes, views, table links 225, etc. For example, the comparison may determine if any tables, indexes, views, or table links 225 are new, deleted, changed, and/or what content within tables, indexes, views, or table links 225 is changed. The comparison may be made using database comparison tools known in the art.
In one exemplary embodiment, these comparison tools may read information from data dictionary 216 (e.g., table definitions, index definitions, view definitions, table links 225) related to a database schema where a tenant template 808 is stored. Next, the tool may read information from data dictionary 216 (e.g., table definitions, index definitions, view definitions, table links 225) related to a database schema where a new version of tenant template 808 is stored. The tools may compare which tables are new or deleted, which tables structures have been changed or unchanged, which indexes are new or deleted, which index structures have been changed or unchanged, which views are new or deleted, which view structures have been changed or unchanged, which table links 225 are new or deleted, and the content of tables (e.g., initial number of rows, changed rows, new rows, or deleted rows). Results of the comparison may be used to create a delta upgrade and apply the delta upgrade to a tenant to update to the new version.
In one embodiment, each tenant template 808 may be stored in a dedicated database schema. Consequently, by comparing database schemas, provider 110 may easily compare different versions of tenant templates 808. The comparison of database schemas may save time and effort (i.e., instead of merely comparing business objects associated with tenant template 808).
After comparing business objects or database schemas, provider 110 determines what updates, such as changes to table content, indexes, additional data structures, etc., to send to tenant space 330 (S. 1740). Next, provider 110 may import the updates to tenant space 330 (S. 1750). Alternatively or additionally, provider 110 may import the same updates to all tenant spaces 330 for a single customer at once, or to all tenant spaces 330 for customers of a certain type at once.
In one embodiment, provider 110 may simply replace tenant template 808 for existing tenants. In another embodiment, if only the content of tables or the content of the business objects has been updated, provider 110 may import only the differences in content to tenant space 330, instead of replacing tenant template 808 at tenant space 330.
In the exemplary embodiment of
Continuing with the above exemplary embodiments of
In another embodiment, a database transport, known in the art, may be created, which includes all transport objects that include all changed entries (e.g. new BI queries). This transport can be imported to all tenants, to tenants of a certain customer, or to all customers at once.
For purposes of explanation only, certain aspects and embodiments are described herein with reference to the components illustrated in
Further, the sequences of events described in
Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.