DBMS Callback Security Context Setup Without Remote Call Overhead
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing database management systems face significant overhead delays due to remote calls and redundant security enforcement in multi-tier architectures, particularly in cloud computing environments with numerous mid-tier servers, which diminish the effectiveness of traditional application session management approaches.
Innovation Solution
The proposed Backend Application Session Management (BASM) approach shifts the creation and management of application sessions to the database management system (DBMS), where the DBMS generates adjunct security contexts using end-user tokens piggybacked through database requests, eliminating the need for remote calls and reducing overhead.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional application session management is used in multi-tier architectures, then security context management is achieved, but significant overhead delays occur due to remote calls and redundant security enforcement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the application session management function from the mid-tier application layer and relocates it to the database management system. This extraction eliminates the need for remote procedure calls between mid-tier servers and database servers, directly resolving the overhead delay problem while maintaining security context management capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a callback mechanism as an intermediary between the database session and the security context. The callback function, registered with the database management system, allows the database to directly retrieve and apply security contexts without requiring mid-tier intervention, thereby eliminating redundant security enforcement and associated delays.
2Productivity
If connection pooling is used to reduce overhead, then database session creation overhead is reduced, but security context tailoring for each end user becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing security contexts in the database management system before end users access the database. Security contexts are prepared in advance and can be quickly retrieved and applied when needed, eliminating the complexity of tailoring security contexts at runtime while maintaining efficient connection pooling.
Solution Approach 2:
The database management system performs self-service by automatically retrieving and applying appropriate security contexts based on the end user's identity and the registered callback function. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for complex manual security context tailoring while working seamlessly with connection pooling to provide efficient database access.
Data Source
AI summary
Under Backend Application Session Management (“BASM”), a DBMS not only creates an application session but also the respective adjunct security context to which to attach the adjunct security context. The middle tier does not need to create the application session or its adjunct security context. Instead, the middle tier sends an end-user token that the middle tier piggybacks to database requests that are sent through database connections. The end-user token identifies an end user and has been authenticated by the middle tier. The generation of the end-user token is concomitant to the process of the middle tier authenticating the end user. The DBMS invokes a user-defined function to generate an adjunct security context. The user-defined function generates the adjunct security context based on the end-user token. Application developers can customize the user-defined function to customize backend security for their needs.