Julie A Hill

US Patent:

6502088, Dec 31, 2002

Filed:

Jul 8, 1999

Appl. No.:

09/349607

Inventors:

Kimberly Lynn Gajda - Raleigh NC
Bradley Allan Hess - Rockville MD
Julie Anne Hill Kemp - Raleigh NC
Jerry Jay Lewis - Raleigh NC
Robert Tod Thorpe - Cary NC

Assignee:

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

International Classification:

G06F 1730

US Classification:

707 2, 707 1, 707 4, 707 10

Abstract:

The method and system of the present invention provides improved access to databases in a computer system. The present invention includes a plurality of data sources, the data sources including at least one non-relational data source; a server coupled to the plurality of data sources, the server capable of providing client access to the plurality of data sources; and a store place data access layer (SPDAL) coupled to the server and the at least one non-relational data source, the SPDAL providing relational features to the at least one non-relational data source. In the preferred embodiment, the relational features provided include a two-phase commit process; a process for performing Structured Query Language (SQL) operations from within a single application; a referential integrity process; and a process for providing indices for non-relational data source files. These features allow the computer system to perform data changes across multiple database sources within a single operation; perform SQL operations from a single application across heterogeneous file systems; provide referential integrity of data in both relational and non-relational databases; and perform ad-hoc queries of data and other queries efficiently in non-relational databases. By adding these features, significant flexibility is added to the computer system.