Oracle International Corporation

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Zheng Zeng

Xiang Liu

Lawrence W Jacobs

Shehzaad Nakhoda

Rajiv Mishra

Wei-Ming Hu

Mark Dilman

Leonid Novak

Ilya Taranov

Jean De Lavarene

Sachin Desai

Vidya Hegde

Ghazi Nourdine Benadjaoud

Stephen Ball

Roger J Bamford

Shu Ling

Fredric Scott Goell

Ramkumar Venketaramani

Senthilnathan Arunagirinathan

Leslie Bruce Lowenthal

Alok Agrawal

Yuhui Zhu

Techniques are provided for creating, organizing, and maintaining a sharded database. A sharded database can be created using user-defined sharding, system-managed sharding, or composite sharding. The sharded database is implemented with relational database techniques. The techniques described can be used to route database requests and process queries in a sharded database.

Request routing and query processing in a sharded database

Techniques are provided for creating, organizing, and maintaining a sharded database. A sharded database can be created using user-defined sharding, system-managed sharding, or composite sharding. The sharded database is implemented with relational database techniques. The techniques described provide improvements to load distribution, organization, query processing, and schema propagation in a sharded database.

Relational database organization for sharding

A method of servicing a request for a document over a computer network includes independently caching portions of pages called blocks. Each block includes a reference to a data source and code that is adapted to access the data source and to format the data accessed from the data source. When a request for a page is received over a computer network, one or more of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document may be retrieved from a cache memory. Any block that is not found in the cache memory is dynamically generated and a copy thereof is stored in the cache memory. The requested page may then be assembled from the page blocks retrieved from the cache memory and/or the dynamically generated page blocks.

Methods and systems for partial page caching of dynamically generated content

A system and method for enabling a cache system, operating on behalf of a data server (e.g., web server, application server, database server), to serve one set of data in response to multiple requests that differ in content or form. In particular, the requests may include different session identifiers for identifying different users, clients or sessions, but they target the same basic set of data (e.g., a web page). When a set of data is cached in response to a request having one session identifier, it can also be served in response to another request having a second session identifier because the session identifiers are deleted, masked, replaced or otherwise ignored when searching the cache system for data responsive to the second request. Also, the cache system may include a requestor's session identifier as part of a data identifier (e.g., URI, hyperlink) within data served to the requester.

System and method for serving one set of cached data for differing data requests

A system and method for facilitating the invalidation of cached data, in which the data to be invalidated are identified using information other than a primary key. The primary key for a cached data object, such as a web page, may be a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Instead of using an object's URL to identify to a cache the data to be invalidated, a secondary key is used, such as the object's data source or a template from which the object was created. An application communicates the secondary key to a cache, and the cache identifies cached objects that match the secondary key. Those data objects are then invalidated without having to issue multiple invalidation messages from the application.

Invalidating cached data using secondary keys

A method and system are provided for caching data in a manner that substantially maintains a desired level of system performance. A cache server receives data requests on behalf of a data server. When new data on the data server is generated or stored that replaces or changes data cached on the cache server, the corresponding data on the cache server is invalidated. A subsequent request for the new data may be forwarded to the data server or may be served with the invalid data on the cache server. Determining how to serve the request may depend on a possible impact on system performance and/or one or more characteristics or parameters associated with the requested data. The impact on system performance may be determined by examining actual and/or desired operating conditions (e.g., rate or number of requests, load on the data server, response time to requests, number of open connections, throughput). The data parameters that may be considered may include the popularity of the data; frequency of access to the data; number of accesses; age, size, or type of the data; whether or when a version of the data on the cache server is invalid; how severely invalid the cache server version is; the cost of retrieving the data from the data server; etc. One request received for the new data may be forwarded to the data server in order to receive the new data, cache it and return in to the requester. In order to promote performance, however, any number of requests for new data that is to replace cached data (even a first request received after the cached data is invalidated) may be served with cache data that is responsive but invalid.

Performance-based caching

A system and methods are provided for enabling a cache system, operating on behalf of a data server (e.g., web server, application server, database server), to cache and customize one set of data (e.g., a web page) in different ways for different requests (e.g., to include a client's name, account information, a special logo). An application that generates or produces the data on the data server embeds or includes special tags or markers in customizable data, to identify where custom data should be inserted or substituted. The custom data may be included in client requests or retrieved from the cache system, data server or elsewhere. When the cache system receives a new request for cached data that is customizable, the data is retrieved from cache, the custom data is retrieved and inserted at the corresponding tags and the customized data is served.

System and method for customizing cached data

A system and method for caching multiple versions of a data item (e.g., web page, portion of a web page, data table, data object) and determining which of the multiple versions is most responsive to a particular request. A request is received and an initial cache lookup is done with a data identifier (e.g., URL, URI) extracted from the request. If the lookup is unsuccessful (i.e., nothing is returned), the request is passed to an origin server (e.g., web server, data server). If the lookup is successful, it may provide or identify the desired data item (if one version of the data item is served for all requests) or a policy to be applied to determine which version to serve. The cache applies the policy, which identifies the additional parameters, cookies or other information to be considered, and a second lookup is done with the additional information.

Multi-version data caching

A session-aware system and method for caching and serving data. A session-aware cache system stores data that may be designated or restricted for service to registered sessions or data requests that include session identifiers. A request for a restricted set of cached data that omits a session identifier is passed to an origin server (e.g., web server, data server) so that a session may be established and a session identifier assigned. The session-aware cache system may determine whether a session identifier of a data request is near expiration. If so, the request may be passed to the origin server so that the session lifetime may be extended.

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Foster City, CA, United States of America

Zheng Zeng