Table arrangement for a directory service system and for related method facilitating queries for the directory

Abstract

A directory services system, such as one providing a X.500 or LDAP directory service, having a design and a method of operation which facilitates queries in and out of the directory, table organisation / layout and clustering. In the arrangement of the directory service, tables are organized corresponding to their function, thereby permitting an arrangement based on service modeling and functional organisation that permits clustering. A preferred layout design incorporates principal, conceptual, logical and / or physical designs.

Description

[0001] This is a divisional of U.S. Ser. Number 08 / 793,575, which is currently pending and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.[0002] 1. Field of the Invention[0003] The present invention relates to the field of directory services. In particular, the present invention is directed to application of X.500, LDAP and similar services to a relational database, a database design and use of the database to perform X.500 services.[0004] One aspect of the invention relates to the design of a directory service(s) system, including table organisation and clustering, and method of operation which facilitates queries in and out of the directory.[0005] Other aspects of the present disclosure are directed to an implementation using a RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) and also a table structure and methods of operation of a database application.[0006] 2. Description of the Related Art[0007] X.500 is the International Standard for Electronic Directories [CCITT89 or ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0021] Furthermore, in the present invention each service is modeled, instead of each data type as seen in the prior art, and relationships are defined between each service, rather than between each data type as in the prior art. Implementation of service modeling using relational queries to satisfy directory services, such as X.500 services, enables the benefits of RDBMS to be optimally exploited.

[0155] An innovation is to use an "aliased EID" column or A_EID to store "where" the alias "points to". This removes the need to repeatedly navigate through an alias.16TABLE 2.4 Conceptual Design with X.500 attributes, names and aliases Hierarchy Table EID Parent Path Alias A_EID Name 10 0 10. 0 0 Datacraft 30 10 10.30. 0 0 Chris, MASTERS 31 10 10.31. 0 0 Alana, MORGAN 35 10 10.35. 1 31 Support Engineer Object Table EID AID VID Disting Value 10 10 1 1 Datacraft 10 16 1 0 PO Box 123 CROYDON 30 3 1 1 Chris 30 4 1 1 MASTERS 30 12 1 0 Sales Manager 30 20 1 0 03 727-9456 30 20 2 0 018 042671 31 3 1 1 Alana 31 4 1 1 MORGAN 31 12 1 0 Sales Support 31 20 1 0 03 727-9455 35 4 1 1 Support Engineer 35 7 1 0 Datacraft / Alana,Morgan Attribute Table AID Type Syntax ObjectId 1 Alias Name Distinguished 2.5.4.1 Name 3 Name string 2.5.4.3 4 Surname string 2.5.4.4 10 Organisation string 2.5.4.10 12 Title string 2.5.4.12 16 Postal Address address string 2.5.4.16 20 Phone telephone string 2.5.4.20

Problems solved by technology

The problem, therefore, is to address the need of data managers and implement X.500 with all the flexibility of object-oriented systems but using an SQL product so that it can achieve the scalability and performance inherent in relational systems coupled with the stability, robustness, portability and cost-effectiveness of current SQL products.

None of these products use a SQL database as an underlying data store, and none of these products therefore address successfully the market need of implementing X.500 using an SQL RDBMS.

The Directory System disclosed, as with many prior art systems, is relatively slow in operation, particularly where the database is relatively extensive and is incomplete in its implementation of X.500, such as aliases, subsearch and entry information.

As noted above, there have been a number of attempts made to address prior art problems, but none of the attempts have resulted in a product that has proven to be commercially accepted by the market.

In particular, the prior art has been unable to address problems that are associated with queries in and out of the directory, table organisation and layout, and clustering.

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