Patent Issued for Systems and methods for centralized database cluster management (USPTO 11755627): United Services Automobile Association

2023 SEP 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Forrester, James Joseph (San Antonio, TX, US), Hansen, Philip (San Antonio, TX, US), Lakshmipathy, Prasad (San Antonio, TX, US), Ortega, Armondo Elias (San Antonio, TX, US), Picarazzi, Jason Patrick (San Antonio, TX, US), Puente, Jose (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on April 2, 2021, was published online on September 12, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11755627 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “A plurality of geographically distributed datacenters may be configured to contain the same database for redundancy and security, and to maintain a speedy database access for database queries and updates originating from different geographical locations. Each of the plurality of datacenters may be taking in different traffic at the same time. For example, a first datacenter may receive an update query to update a first piece of data and a second datacenter may receive an update query to update a second piece of data. When each of the respective datacenters executes the received queries, the databases within the datacenters are out of sync as to the first and second pieces of data. Each of the datacenters may receive millions of database queries throughout any given day and the database in all of the datacenters have to be synced to ensure the integrity of the data in all of the datacenters.

“Each of the plurality of data centers may comprise multiple database clusters and each cluster may comprise multiple servers. Various operations are executed within the aforementioned servers and the clusters such that the databases across the geographically distributed datacenters remain in sync. To check the status of each of the servers, a system administrator has to login to the respective server and execute commands using a command line interface (CLI). In other words, the administrator has to check each server individually using the CLI. Furthermore, the outputs in response to a CLI command may include unnecessary and cryptic information that may be hard and time consuming to sift through. In other words, executing individual CLI commands for each of the servers may add a huge overhead for a system administrator or a user to check and discern the statuses of each of the servers and clusters and the overall status of a database in the plurality of geographically distributed datacenters.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “What is therefore needed is a centralized database cluster management system and method that provides an integrated dashboard that can be used by a system administrator/user to view and manage the overall status and the statuses of each of the servers and clusters of geographically distributed datacenters.

“The systems and methods disclosed herein are intended to address the shortcomings in the art mentioned above, and provide additional or alternative benefits as well. More specifically, the systems and methods described herein may generate combined logical clusters aggregating multiple servers within geographically distributed datacenters. The systems and methods may generate a dashboard graphical user interface (GUI) that includes aggregated statuses of clusters formed by a set of servers and higher level clusters formed by sets of lower level clusters. Using the dashboard GUI, a user such as a system administrator may have a single view of the statuses of various clusters and servers of geographically distributed datacenters. Furthermore, the systems and methods may drill down from a status of a higher level cluster to render the corresponding individual statuses constituent clusters and servers in the dashboard GUI. Compared to the cumbersome conventional CLI based systems, the systems and methods described herein provide an integrated and interactive GUI based dashboard for a system administrator to maintain highly complex and geographically datacenters.

“In an embodiment, computer implemented method comprises querying, by a computer, one or more data output files generated by a plurality of maintenance scripts executing on a plurality of servers within a plurality of geographically distributed datacenters; determining, by the computer, respective statuses of the plurality of servers based on the query of the one or more data files; generating, by the computer, one or more relational tables containing the respective statuses of the plurality of servers; storing, by the computer, the one or more relational tables into a monitoring database; receiving, by the computer, a request from a user to generate a dashboard graphical user interface (GUI) with a status of at least one logical cluster formed by a set of one or more physical clusters of at least one of the plurality of servers; querying, by the computer, the monitoring database to retrieve at least one relational table associated with the one or more physical clusters and the statuses of each of the one or more physical clusters; determining, by the computer, the status of the at least one logical cluster based upon the at least one relational table and the statuses of each of the one or more physical clusters; and displaying, by the computer, a dashboard GUI containing the status of the at least one logical cluster, wherein the dashboard GUI contains one or more indicators representing the statuses of each of the one or more physical clusters within the at least one logical cluster, and wherein the dashboard GUI is configured to receive a selection of a physical cluster in at the least one logical cluster and update the dashboard GUI to display statuses of one or more servers forming the selected physical cluster.

“In another embodiment, a computer implemented system comprises a non-transitory storage medium configured to store a monitoring database; a processor connected to the non-transitory storage medium and configured to: query one or more data output files generated by a plurality of maintenance scripts executing on a plurality of servers within a plurality of geographically distributed datacenters; determine respective statuses of the plurality of servers based on the query of the one or more data files; generate one or more relational tables containing the respective statuses of the plurality of servers; store the one or more relational tables into the monitoring database; receive a request from a user to generate a dashboard graphical user interface (GUI) with a status of at least one logical cluster formed by a set of one or more physical clusters of at least one of the plurality of servers; query the monitoring database to retrieve at least one relational table associated with the one or more physical clusters and the statuses of each of the one or more physical clusters; determine the status of the at least one logical cluster based upon the at least one relational table and the statuses of each of the one or more physical clusters; and display a dashboard GUI containing the status of the at least one logical cluster, wherein the dashboard GUI contains one or more indicators representing the statuses of each of the one or more physical clusters within the at least one logical cluster, and wherein the dashboard GUI is configured to receive a selection of a physical cluster in at the least one logical cluster and update the dashboard GUI to display statuses of one or more servers forming the selected physical cluster.

“In yet another embodiment, a computer readable non-transitory medium contains one or more computer instructions, which when executed by a processor cause the processor to query one or more data output files generated by a plurality of maintenance scripts executing on a plurality of servers within a plurality of geographically distributed datacenters; determine respective statuses of the plurality of servers based on the query of the one or more data files; generate one or more relational tables containing the respective statuses of the plurality of servers; store the one or more relational tables into a monitoring database; receive a request from a user to generate a dashboard graphical user interface (GUI) with a status of at least one logical cluster formed by a set of one or more physical clusters of at least one of the plurality of servers; query the monitoring database to retrieve at least one relational table associated with the one or more physical clusters and the statuses of each of the one or more physical clusters; determine the status of the at least one logical cluster based upon the at least one relational table and the statuses of each of the one or more physical clusters; and display a dashboard GUI containing the status of the at least one logical cluster, wherein the dashboard GUI contains one or more indicators representing the statuses of each of the one or more physical clusters within the at least one logical cluster, and wherein the dashboard GUI is configured to receive a selection of a physical cluster in at the least one logical cluster and update the dashboard GUI to display statuses of one or more servers forming the selected physical cluster.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer implemented method comprising: generating, by a computing system, a dashboard graphical user interface (GUI) with a status of at least one logical cluster formed by a set of physical clusters of at least one of a plurality of servers; querying, by the computing system, a database to retrieve at least one relational table associated with the set of physical clusters and the statuses of each of the set of physical clusters; determining, by the computing system, the status of the at least one logical cluster based upon the at least one relational table and the statuses of each of the set of physical clusters; displaying, by the computing system, a dashboard GUI containing the status of the at least one logical cluster and a cluster hierarchy formed by one or more indicators simultaneously representing the statuses of each of the set of physical clusters within the at least one logical cluster, wherein the dashboard GUI is configured to receive a selection of a physical cluster in the at least one logical cluster and update the dashboard GUI to display statuses of one or more servers forming the selected physical cluster; and in response to the computing system receiving an indication for a failover operation associated with the at least one logical cluster, updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display one or more action notifications which include at least one user-interactive icon for in-progress or completed failover operations.

“2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: querying, by the computing system, the database to retrieve updated statuses of the set of physical clusters; and updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display the updated statuses of the set of physical clusters.

“3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the computing system, a selection of a server within the one or more servers; and updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display statuses of one or more components forming the selected server.

“4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the one or more action notifications displayed on the dashboard GUI includes an action type, an action description, and a date and time of an action request.

“5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to the computing system receiving the indication for the failover operation: updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display an interaction graphical icon.

“6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: updating, by the computing system, the status of the at least one logical cluster in response to determining that the failover operation has been completed.

“7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more indicators representing the statuses of each physical cluster within each logical cluster are selectable graphical objects.

“8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a process comprising: generating, by a computing system, a dashboard graphical user interface (GUI) with a status of at least one logical cluster formed by a set of physical clusters of at least one of a plurality of servers; querying, by the computing system, a database to retrieve at least one relational table associated with the set of physical clusters and the statuses of each of the set of physical clusters; determining, by the computing system, the status of the at least one logical cluster based upon the at least one relational table and the statuses of each of the set of physical clusters; causing display, by the computing system, of a dashboard GUI containing the status of the at least one logical cluster and a cluster hierarchy formed by one or more indicators simultaneously representing the statuses of each of the set of physical clusters within the at least one logical cluster, wherein the dashboard GUI is configured to receive a selection of a physical cluster in the at least one logical cluster and update the dashboard GUI to display statuses of one or more servers forming the selected physical cluster; and in response to the computing system receiving an indication for a failover operation associated with the at least one logical cluster, updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display one or more action notifications which include at least one user-interactive icon for in-progress or completed failover operations.

“9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: querying, by the computing system, the database to retrieve updated statuses of the set of physical clusters; and updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display the updated statuses of the set of physical clusters.

“10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: receiving, by the computing system, a selection of a server within the one or more servers; and updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display statuses of one or more components forming the selected server.

“11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the indication of the one or more action notifications displayed on the dashboard GUI includes an action type, an action description, and a date and time of an action request.

“12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: in response to the computing system receiving the indication for the failover operation: updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display an interaction graphical icon.

“13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: updating, by the computing system, the status of the at least one logical cluster in response to determining that the failover operation has been completed.

“14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more indicators representing the statuses of each physical cluster within each logical cluster are selectable graphical objects.

“15. A computing system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform a process comprising: generating, by a computing system, a dashboard graphical user interface (GUI) with a status of at least one logical cluster formed by a set of physical clusters of at least one of a plurality of servers; querying, by the computing system, a database to retrieve at least one relational table associated with the set of physical clusters and the statuses of each of the set of physical clusters; determining, by the computing system, the status of the at least one logical cluster based upon the at least one relational table and the statuses of each of the set of physical clusters; causing display, by the computing system, of a dashboard GUI containing the status of the at least one logical cluster and a cluster hierarchy formed by one or more indicators simultaneously representing the statuses of each of the set of physical clusters within the at least one logical cluster, wherein the dashboard GUI is configured to receive a selection of a physical cluster in the at least one logical cluster and update the dashboard GUI to display statuses of one or more servers forming the selected physical cluster; and in response to the computing system receiving an indication for a failover operation associated with the at least one logical cluster, updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display one or more action notifications which include at least one user-interactive icon for in-progress or completed failover operations.

“16. The computing system according to claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: querying, by the computing system, the database to retrieve updated statuses of the set of physical clusters; and updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display the updated statuses of the set of physical clusters.

“17. The computing system according to claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: receiving, by the computing system, a selection of a server within the one or more servers; and updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display statuses of one or more components forming the selected server.

“18. The computing system according to claim 15, wherein the indication of the one or more action notifications displayed on the dashboard GUI includes an action type, an action description, and a date and time of an action request.

“19. The computing system according to claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: in response to the computing system receiving the indication for the failover operation: updating, by the computing system, the dashboard GUI to display an interaction graphical icon.

“20. The computing system according to claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: updating, by the computing system, the status of the at least one logical cluster in response to determining that the failover operation has been completed.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Forrester, James Joseph. Systems and methods for centralized database cluster management. U.S. Patent Number 11755627, filed April 2, 2021, and published online on September 12, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11755627)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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