Functional compensation in a heterogeneous, distributed database environment

Claim 1

A method of compensating for functional differences between heterogeneous database management systems, wherein data associated with a client is distributed among said heterogeneous database management systems, comprising the steps of: (1) simulating support of multiple pending database actions on a single connection, said single connection being a logical link between a client and a database instance, wherein said database instance is instantiated in any of said heterogeneous database management systems which does not support multiple pending database actions on a single connection; (2) simulating support of cursors declared "with hold" in any of said heterogeneous database management systems which does not support cursors declared "with hold"; and (3) compensating for security log-in procedure differences between said heterogeneous database management systems, said step of compensating comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a local user identification and a local password when a user logs into said client; (b) receiving a database statement issued by said client; (c) identifying which of a plurality of database instances instantiated from said heterogeneous database management systems are needed to process said database statement; (d) selecting one of said identified database instances; (e) determining whether a record associated with said user and said selected database instance exists in a log-in table; (f) if a record associated with said user and said selected database instance exists in said log-in table, then logging into said selected database instance using information contained in said record; (g) if a record associated with said user and said selected database instance does not exist in said log-in table, then logging into said selected database instance using said local user identification and said local password; and (h) performing steps (d)-(g) for each of said identified database instances.

Claim 2

A method of compensating for functional differences between heterogeneous database management systems, wherein data associated with a client is distributed among said heterogeneous database management systems, comprising the steps of: (1) simulating support of multiple pending database actions on a single connection, said single connection being a logical link between a client and a database instance, wherein said database instance is instantiated in any of said heterogeneous database management systems which does not support multiple pending database actions on a single connection; (2) simulating support of cursors declared "with hold" in any of said heterogeneous database management systems which does not support cursors declared "with hold"; and (3) compensating for security log-in procedure differences between said heterogeneous database management systems, said step of compensating comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a local user identification and a local password when a user logs into said client; (b) receiving a database statement issued by said client; (c) identifying which of a plurality of database instances instantiated from said heterogeneous database management systems are needed to process said database statement; (d) selecting one of said identified database instances; (e) determining whether a record associated with said user and said selected database instance exists in a log-in table; (f) if a record associated with said user and said selected database instance exists in said log-in table, then logging into said selected database instance using information contained in said record; (g) if a record associated with said user and said selected database instance does not exist in said log-in table, then logging into said selected database instance using said local user identification and said local password; and (h) performing steps (d)-(g) for each of said identified database instances.

Claim 3

A system for compensating for functional differences between heterogeneous database management systems, wherein data associated with a client is distributed among said heterogeneous database management systems, comprising: multiple pending database actions supporting means for simulating support of multiple pending database actions on a single connection, said single connection being a logical link between a client and a database instance, wherein said database instance is instantiated in any of said heterogeneous database management systems which does not support multiple pending database actions on a single connection; cursor supporting means for simulating support of cursors declared "with hold" in any of said heterogeneous database management systems which does not support cursors declared "with hold"; and security compensating means for compensating for security log-in procedure differences between said heterogeneous database management systems, said security compensating means comprising: means for receiving a local user identification and a local password when a user logs into said client; means for receiving a database statement issued by said client; means for identifying a database instance instantiated from said heterogeneous database management systems that is needed to process said database statement; means for determining whether a record associated with said user and said database instance exists in a log-in table; means for logging into said database instance using information contained in said record if a record associated with said user and said database instance exists in said log-in table; and means for logging into said database instance using said local user identification and said local password if a record associated with said user and said database instance does not exist in said log-in table.

Claim 4

A system for compensating for functional differences between heterogeneous database management systems, wherein data associated with a client is distributed among said heterogeneous database management systems, comprising: multiple pending database actions supporting means for simulating support of multiple pending database actions on a single connection, said single connection being a logical link between a client and a database instance, wherein said database instance is instantiated in any of said heterogeneous database management systems which does not support multiple pending database actions on a single connection; cursor supporting means for simulating support of cursors declared "with hold" in any of said heterogeneous database management systems which does not support cursors declared "with hold"; and security compensating means for compensating for security log-in procedure differences between said heterogeneous database management systems, said security compensating means comprising: means for receiving a local user identification and a local password when a user logs into said client; means for receiving a database statement issued by said client; means for identifying a database instance instantiated from said heterogeneous database management systems that is needed to process said database statement; means for determining whether a record associated with said user and said database instance exists in a log-in table; means for logging into said database instance using information contained in said record if a record associated with said user and said database instance exists in said log-in table; and means for logging into said database instance using said local user identification and said local password if a record associated with said user and said database instance does not exist in said log-in table.