Abstract: A method and system of data replication and distribution does not replicate the actual contents of a file to the non-local site or remote host until a user or application opens/accesses the file. However, the file does appear to be a locally resident file on the remote host. The demand-based system and methods will copy only the file metadata, or “stub” to the remote hosts. This stub provides the appearance of a local copy of the file at the remote host, but the actual contents are only conveyed if/when the file is accessed/opened at the remote host. The result is a data replication process that operates under a “just in time, just as needed” approach. The stub that is copied is comparatively very small and easily replicated with very little resources, thus saving communications bandwidth.

Abstract: A mechanism for managing the growth of databases allows the user to drop tables containing less active data without actually losing access to the data that existed within the table. The storage manager takes the form of a proxy that is configured to reside in the stream between the database client application and the database server. The storage manager acts by intercepting the DROP TABLE command within the SQL and acts to archive the contents of the table prior to passing the command on to the database server for normal execution. Subsequent database queries are monitored for references to tables that have been previously archived. When needed, the storage manager can restage the data from the archive and recreate the table that had been previously dropped in the same form as it had existed prior to that DROP TABLE command execution.