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.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for performing a two-phase commit protocol for a transaction in a system having a plurality of data sources. An availability status is verified for all of the data sources, and the two-phase commit protocol for the transaction is completed for those data sources that are available, while the transaction is logged for data sources that are unavailable.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for performing a two-phase commit protocol for a transaction in a system having a plurality of data sources. An availability status is verified for all of the data sources, and the two-phase commit protocol for the transaction is completed for those data sources that are available, while the transaction is logged for data sources that are unavailable.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for managing data privacy in a database management system is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a database management system, for storing and retrieving data from a plurality of database tables wherein the data in the database tables is controllably accessible according to privacy parameters stored in the database table, a database management system interface operatively coupled to the database management system and controlling access to the data within the database tables according to the privacy parameters, and an audit module, communicatively coupled to the database management system interface, for validating enforcement of the data privacy parameters in the database management system.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for distributing computer resources in a network environment. A network of computer systems is partitioned into at least one computing system partition, and is configured into at least one redundancy group. The computing system partitions include applications, computing system nodes, and copies of a database schema. The copies of the database schema are replicated at each computing system partition within a network. The computing system partition manages interactions between the instances, the computing system nodes, and the copy of the database schema within the respective computing system partition. The redundancy group comprises at least one computing system and at a plurality of computing system partitions, and manages the replication of the database schema within the computing system and computing system partitions.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for storing and retrieving data in a database implementing privacy control is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a data storage device, storing a database table comprising a plurality of data columns an at least one data control column for storing data control information reflecting consumer privacy parameters, wherein the database table comprises an identity segment for storing identity information and a personal information segment for storing personal information, and a processor, operatively coupled to the data storage device, the processor implementing a dataview suite for presenting data retrieved from the database table in accordance with the data control information.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for operating parallel databases in a multi-processor computer system. Client Applications interact with a Navigation Server executing on the computer system, and through it, with one or more Data Servers. The Navigation Server receives requests from the Client Applications, which it compiles or translates into a plurality of parallel SQL statements. These parallel SQL statements are communicated to particular ones of the Data Servers for execution. The Data Servers, each of which may execute on different processors in the computer system, perform their respective SQL statements and thus access their database partitions concurrently and in parallel, thereby reducing the overall access time of a given request from a given Client Application. The computer system behaves, and is presented to users, as if the database resides under the control of a single Data Server, even though the database is partitioned across multiple Data Servers.