Abstract: A method and apparatus for directing a client to establish a secure connection with a server across a public network. The server and the client exchange a Server Authentication Public Key, a Client Authentication Public Key, and a Remote Service Unique Identifier (RSUID) during a registration process. In one embodiment, the method includes the client transmitting to the server a client information package having the RSUID and a client challenge information package encrypted with the Server Authentication Public Key, the client receiving from the server a server information package having the RSUID and a server challenge information package and a portion of the received client challenge information encrypted with the Client Authentication Public Key, the client decrypting and verifying the server challenge information package with the Client Authentication Private Key, and, the client transmitting to the server an encrypted portion of the received client challenge information.

Abstract: A communications multiplexor includes dispatcher processes for monitoring client connections. The dispatcher processes detect activity on those connections, and then pass active physical (client) connections to agent processes for servicing. Transfer is done through specific connection queues that are associated with a set of agents. A multi-queuing structure permits pooling of agents on a set of shared resources thereby reducing time required to switch between different client connections. After an agent has serviced a given connection, the agent returns that connection to the agent's dispatcher (there is a static assignment between connections and dispatchers), and then reads the next unit of work from the agent's associated connection queue. This structure may be scalable while allowing optimal performance when passing physical connections between processes.

Abstract: A system and method for accessing a relational database and estimating the selectivity of a query (e.g., an SQL query) in order to better predict the number of qualifying records for simple and complex queries. A dataset is created based upon queries applied against the database by the user community. The dataset is populated with information related to query conditions and their respective combinations. A regression function reflecting correlations between query conditions is generated and used as a data mining model to calculate table-specific estimates for the cardinality of subsequent queries. An appropriate access method is then selected from a set of available access methods based upon the number of estimated query-qualifying records. By periodically updating the regression model with FIFO managed queries, a self-tuning mechanism is achieved resulting in better selectivity/result size estimates for use in selecting access methods used in compiling subsequent SQL queries applied against the database.