Abstract: A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for managing metadata in a database management system is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of accepting a command in the database management system that implicates a metadata modification and providing that command to a metadata service, parsing the command to determine if the command requires a metadata modification, accessing a rule set defining rules for modifying the metadata when indicated by the parsed commands, and enforcing the rule defined in the rule set. The article of manufacture comprises a program storage device with a medium tangibly embodying processing instructions for performing the foregoing operations. The apparatus comprises a means for performing the foregoing steps. The article of manufacture comprises a means for performing these steps, including a computer implementing a database management system. The functions herein described can be performed by a special purpose processor, a single multipurpose computer.