Declarative OS State Querying Across Cluster Hosts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in accessing and combining operating system state data across multiple machines, requiring complex scripting and differing methods for various data types, making it difficult to query system information uniformly.
Innovation Solution
The sysSQL technology provides a declarative interface based on Structured Query Language (SQL) to access and aggregate system information across a cluster of machines, allowing users to query data using familiar SQL commands without the need for shell scripts, by converting raw system data into queryable forms using schemas and agents on each host.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If shell scripts and command-line tools are used to access operating system state data, then data can be retrieved from individual machines, but combining and querying data across multiple machines becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized query service as an intermediary between users and distributed machine data. This service receives SQL queries, distributes them to agent processes on individual machines, aggregates the results, and returns unified answers. The intermediary abstracts the complexity of multi-machine data access, allowing users to query distributed systems using familiar SQL syntax without manually combining data from multiple sources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a universal SQL interface that can query multiple types of operating system data (process information, memory usage, disk I/O, network connections) across multiple machines through a single consistent syntax. Instead of requiring different commands and scripting approaches for each data type and machine, the system provides a multi-functional query interface that handles diverse data retrieval needs uniformly.
2Adaptability or versatility
If different methods are used to access various types of system data, then comprehensive data can be obtained, but the complexity of accessing and parsing different data types increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies homogeneity by presenting a unified SQL interface for accessing diverse operating system data types. Whether querying process information, memory statistics, disk I/O, or network connections, the system uses consistent SQL syntax and data structures. The agent processes on each machine convert heterogeneous native data formats into homogeneous SQL-compatible formats, eliminating the need for users to learn different access methods for each data type.
Solution Approach 2:
The query service acts as an intermediary that translates high-level SQL queries into machine-specific data access operations. It handles the complexity of parsing different data types by implementing type-specific handlers within the service layer, while users interact only with the simplified SQL interface. This mediator absorbs the complexity of dealing with various system data formats.
3Loss of information
If system data is accessed across a cluster of machines, then comprehensive system-wide information can be obtained, but the complexity of data aggregation and query execution increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the query execution process into independent components: a centralized query service that handles query parsing and result aggregation, and distributed agent processes on individual machines that collect local data. This segmentation allows the system to obtain comprehensive cluster-wide information by combining results from multiple independent sources, while each component remains relatively simple in design.
Solution Approach 2:
The query service serves as an intermediary that manages the complexity of cross-machine data aggregation. It coordinates with agent processes on multiple machines, collects their results, performs necessary joins and aggregations, and returns unified answers. This intermediary layer shields users from the complexity of distributed query execution while ensuring complete system-wide information is gathered.
Data Source
AI summary
A sysSQL technology for querying operating system states of multiple hosts in a cluster using a Structured Query Language (SQL) query is disclosed. An administrator of a cluster can use a graphical or text-based user interface to submit an SQL query to determine the operating system states of multiple hosts in parallel. The technology parses the SQL query to determine the datasets needed to execute the SQL query and aggregates those datasets from the multiple hosts. The technology then creates a temporary database to execute the SQL query and provides the results from the SQL query for display on the user interface.