U.S. patent application number 17/220887 was filed with the patent office on 2021-08-12 for system and method for global data sharing.
The applicant listed for this patent is Snowflake Inc.. Invention is credited to Pui Kei Johnston Chu, Benoit Dageville, Matthew Glickman, Christian Kleinerman, Prasanna Krishnan, Justin Langseth.
Application Number | 20210250400 17/220887 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005735951 |
Filed Date | 2021-08-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20210250400 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chu; Pui Kei Johnston ; et
al. |
August 12, 2021 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GLOBAL DATA SHARING
Abstract
Sharing data in a data exchange across multiple cloud computing
platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions is described. An
example computer-implemented method can include receiving data
sharing information from a data provider for sharing a data set in
a data exchange from a first cloud computing entity to a set of
second cloud computing entities. In response to receiving the data
sharing information, the method may also include creating an
account with each of the set of second cloud computing entities.
The method may also further include sharing the data set from the
first cloud computing entity with the set of second cloud computing
entities using at least the corresponding account of that second
cloud computing entity.
Inventors: |
Chu; Pui Kei Johnston; (San
Mateo, CA) ; Dageville; Benoit; (Foster City, CA)
; Glickman; Matthew; (Larchmont, NY) ; Kleinerman;
Christian; (Burlingame, CA) ; Krishnan; Prasanna;
(Palo Alto, CA) ; Langseth; Justin; (Kailua,
HI) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Snowflake Inc. |
San Mateo |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000005735951 |
Appl. No.: |
17/220887 |
Filed: |
April 1, 2021 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
16814875 |
Mar 10, 2020 |
10999355 |
|
|
17220887 |
|
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|
62966977 |
Jan 28, 2020 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 63/0272 20130101;
H04L 41/5096 20130101; H04L 67/16 20130101; H04L 67/10
20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/08 20060101
H04L029/08; H04L 29/06 20060101 H04L029/06; H04L 12/24 20060101
H04L012/24 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: receiving data sharing information from a
data provider for sharing a data set in a data exchange associated
with a first data provider account from a first cloud computing
entity; receiving a request for a listing of the data set share
from a set of customers associated with a set of second cloud
computing entities, wherein the set of customers has a set of
customer accounts in the set of second cloud computing entities; in
response to receiving the data share listing request, creating, by
a processing device, a corresponding second data provider account
for each of the set of second cloud computing entities; and copying
the data set from the first cloud computing entity to each of the
set of second cloud computing entities using the corresponding
second data provider accounts of the set of second cloud computing
entities.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data exchange comprises a
plurality of data listings provided by a plurality of data
providers, the plurality of data listings referencing a plurality
of data sets stored in a data storage platform, the data set is one
of the plurality of data sets, and the data provider is one of the
plurality of data providers.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first cloud computing entity
is a first cloud computing platform and at least one of the set of
second cloud computing entities is a cloud computing platform that
is different from the first cloud computing platform.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first cloud computing entity
is a first region for a cloud computing platform with a plurality
of regions and at least one of the set of second cloud computing
entities is a second region for the cloud computing platform that
is different from the first region.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a
frequency of updating the copied data set with the set of second
cloud computing entities.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the copying of the data set
comprises: determining a set of one or more objects of the copied
data set is to be replicated with the set of second cloud computing
entities; and replicating the set of one or more objects with the
set of second cloud computing entities.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the copied data set is customized
for the customer.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the data set is a subset of a
database managed by the data provider.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least copied data set
references at least one object in a second database that is
different than a first data database used to store the data
set.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising replicating the at
least one object to the set of second cloud computing entities.
11. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions
which, when executed by one or more processors of a computing
device, cause the one or more processors to: receive data sharing
information from a data provider for sharing a data set in a data
exchange associated with a first data provider account from a first
cloud computing entity; receive a request for a listing of the data
set share from a set of customers associated with a set of second
cloud computing entities, wherein the set of customers has a set of
customer accounts in the set of second cloud computing entities; in
response to receiving the data share listing request, create, by a
processing device, a corresponding second data provider account for
each of the set of second cloud computing entities; and copy the
data set from the first cloud computing entity to each of the set
of second cloud computing entities using the corresponding second
data provider accounts of the set of second cloud computing
entities.
12. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the data
exchange comprises a plurality of data listings provided by a
plurality of data providers, the plurality of data listings
referencing a plurality of data sets stored in a data storage
platform, the data set is one of the plurality of data sets, and
the data provider is one of the plurality of data providers.
13. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first
cloud computing entity is a first cloud computing platform and at
least one of the set of second cloud computing entities is a cloud
computing platform that is different from the first cloud computing
platform.
14. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first
cloud computing entity is a first region for a cloud computing
platform with a plurality of regions and at least one of the set of
second cloud computing entities is a second region for the cloud
computing platform that is different from the first region.
15. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the
instructions further cause the computing device to: determine a
frequency of updating the copied data set with the set of second
cloud computing entities.
16. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the
instructions further cause the computing device to copy of the data
set by: determining a set of one or more objects of the copied data
set is to be replicated with the set of second cloud computing
entities; and replicating the set of one or more objects with the
set of second cloud computing entities.
17. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the copied
data set is customized for the customer.
18. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the data set
is a subset of a database managed by the data provider.
19. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the copied
data set references at least one object in a second database that
is different than a first data database used to store the data
set.
20. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the
instructions further cause the computing device to replicate the at
least one object to the set of second cloud computing entities.
21. A system comprising: a first cloud computing entity; and a set
of second cloud computing entities; a data exchange to, receive
data sharing information from a data provider for sharing a data
set in a data exchange associated with a first data provider
account from a first cloud computing entity; receive a request for
a listing of the data set share from a set of customers associated
with a set of second cloud computing entities, wherein the set of
customers has a set of customer accounts in the set of second cloud
computing entities; in response to receiving the data share listing
request, create, by a processing device, a corresponding second
data provider account for each of the set of second cloud computing
entities; and copy the data set from the first cloud computing
entity to each of the set of second cloud computing entities using
the corresponding second data provider accounts of the set of
second cloud computing entities.
22. The system of claim 21, wherein the data exchange comprises a
plurality of data listings provided by a plurality of data
providers, the plurality of data listings referencing a plurality
of data sets stored in a data storage platform, the data set is one
of the plurality of data sets, and the data provider is one of the
plurality of data providers.
23. The system of claim 21, wherein the first cloud computing
entity is a first cloud computing platform and at least one of the
set of second cloud computing entities is a cloud computing
platform that is different from the first cloud computing
platform.
24. The system of claim 21, wherein the first cloud computing
entity is a first region for a cloud computing platform with a
plurality of regions and at least one of the set of second cloud
computing entities is a second region for the cloud computing
platform that is different from the first region.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Non-Provisional
application Ser. No. 16/814,875, entitled "System and Method for
Global Data Sharing," filed Mar. 10, 2020, which claims the benefit
of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/966,977, entitled
"Global Data Sharing," filed Jan. 28, 2020, the disclosures of
which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates to resource management
systems and methods that manage data storage and computing
resources.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Databases are widely used for data storage and access in
computing applications. Databases may include one or more tables
that include or reference data that can be read, modified, or
deleted using queries. Databases may be used for storing and/or
accessing personal information or other sensitive information.
Secure storage and access of database data may be provided by
encrypting and/or storing data in an encrypted form to prevent
unauthorized access. In some cases, data sharing may be desirable
to let other parties perform queries against a set of data.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] The described embodiments and the advantages thereof may
best be understood by reference to the following description taken
in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. These drawings in no
way limit any changes in form and detail that may be made to the
described embodiments by one skilled in the art without departing
from the spirit and scope of the described embodiments.
[0005] FIG. 1A is a block diagram depicting an example computing
environment in which the methods disclosed herein may be
implemented.
[0006] FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating an example virtual
warehouse.
[0007] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of data that may be used
to implement a public or private data exchange in accordance with
an embodiment of the present invention.
[0008] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of components for
implementing a data exchange in accordance with an embodiment of
the present invention.
[0009] FIG. 4A is a process flow diagram of a method for controlled
sharing of data among entities in a data exchange in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0010] FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating data used for implementing
private sharing of data in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention.
[0011] FIG. 4C is a diagram illustrating a secure view for
implementing private sharing of data in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram of a method for public
sharing of data among entities in a data exchange in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0013] FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of a method for performing
bi-directional shares in a data exchange in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0014] FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram of a method for providing
enriched data in a data exchange in accordance with an embodiment
of the present invention.
[0015] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a network environment
in which a data provider may share data via a cloud computing
service.
[0016] FIG. 9 is an example private data exchange in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0017] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example secure view of
shared data from a private data exchange.
[0018] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example tunneling of a
data listing between two private data exchanges.
[0019] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example data query and
delivery service according to some embodiments of the
invention.
[0020] FIG. 13A is a block diagram of an example system of multiple
cloud computing services sharing data with a data exchange.
[0021] FIG. 13B is a block diagram of an example system of a cloud
computing service sharing data with a data exchange across multiple
regions of the cloud computing service.
[0022] FIG. 14 is a process flow diagram of a method for sharing
data across multiple cloud computing services and/or across
multiple regions with a cloud computing service.
[0023] FIG. 15 is a process flow diagram of a method for creating a
listing within a data exchange, where the listing is available in
different cloud computing services and/or in multiple regions with
a cloud computing service.
[0024] FIG. 16 is a process flow diagram of a method for creating a
listing for personalized shares within a data exchange, where the
listing is available in different cloud computing services and/or
in multiple regions with a cloud computing service.
[0025] FIG. 17 is a process flow diagram of a method for sharing
data with a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).
[0026] FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an example computing device
that may perform one or more of the operations described herein, in
accordance with some embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0027] Data providers often have data assets that are cumbersome to
share. A data asset may be data that is of interest to another
entity. For example, a large online retail company may have a data
set that includes the purchasing habits of millions of customers
over the last ten years. This data set may be large. If the online
retailer wishes to share all or a portion of this data with another
entity, the online retailer may need to use old and slow methods to
transfer the data, such as a file-transfer-protocol (FTP), or even
copying the data onto physical media and mailing the physical media
to the other entity. This has several disadvantages. First, it is
slow. Copying terabytes or petabytes of data can take days. Second,
once the data is delivered, the sharer cannot control what happens
to the data. The recipient can alter the data, make copies, or
share it with other parties. Third, the only entities that would be
interested in accessing such a large data set in such a manner are
large corporations that can afford the complex logistics of
transferring and processing the data as well as the high price of
such a cumbersome data transfer. Thus, smaller entities (e.g., "mom
and pop" shops) or even smaller, nimbler cloud-focused startups are
often priced out of accessing this data, even though the data may
be valuable to their businesses. This may be because raw data
assets are generally too unpolished and full of potentially
sensitive data to just outright sell to other companies. Data
cleaning, de-identification, aggregation, joining, and other forms
of data enrichment need to be performed by the owner of data before
it is shareable with another party. This is time-consuming and
expensive. Finally, it is difficult to share data assets with many
entities because traditional data sharing methods do not allow
scalable sharing for the reasons mentioned above. Traditional
sharing methods also introduce latency and delays in terms of all
parties having access to the most recently-updated data.
[0028] A private data exchange may allow data providers to more
easily and securely share their data assets with other entities. A
private data exchange can be under the data provider's brand, and
the data provider may control who can gain access to it. The
private data exchange may be for internal use only, or may also be
opened to customers, partners, suppliers, or others. The data
provider may control what data assets are listed as well as control
who has access to which sets of data. This allows for a seamless
way to discover and share data both within a data provider's
organization and with its business partners.
[0029] The private data exchange may be facilitated by a cloud
computing service such as SNOWFLAKE, and allows data providers to
offer data assets directly from their own online domain (e.g.,
website) in a private online marketplace with their own branding.
The private data exchange may provide a centralized, managed hub
for an entity to list internally or externally-shared data assets,
inspire data collaboration, and also to maintain data governance
and to audit access. With the private data exchange, data providers
may be able to share data without copying it between companies.
Data providers may invite other entities to view their data
listings, control which data listings appear in their private
online marketplace, control who can access data listings and how
others can interact with the data assets connected to the listings.
This may be thought of as a "walled garden" marketplace, in which
visitors to the garden must be approved and access to certain
listings may be limited.
[0030] As an example, Company A may be a consumer data company that
has collected and analyzed the consumption habits of millions of
individuals in several different categories. Their data sets may
include data in the following categories: online shopping, video
streaming, electricity consumption, automobile usage, internet
usage, clothing purchases, mobile application purchases, club
memberships, and online subscription services. Company A may desire
to offer these data sets (or subsets or derived products of these
data sets) to other entities. For example, a new clothing brand may
wish to access data sets related to consumer clothing purchases and
online shopping habits. Company A may support a page on its website
that is or functions substantially similar to a private data
exchange, where a data consumer (e.g., the new clothing brand) may
browse, explore, discover, access and potentially purchase data
sets directly from Company A. Further, Company A may control: who
can enter the private data exchange, the entities that may view a
particular listing, the actions that an entity may take with
respect to a listing (e.g., view only), and any other suitable
action. In addition, a data provider may combine its own data with
other data sets from, e.g., a public data exchange, and create new
listings using the combined data.
[0031] A private data exchange may be an appropriate place to
discover, assemble, clean, and enrich data to make it more
monetizable. A large company on a private data exchange may
assemble data from across its divisions and departments, which
could become valuable to another company. In addition, participants
in a private ecosystem data exchange may work together to join
their datasets together to jointly create a useful data product
that any one of them alone would not be able to produce. Once these
joined datasets are created, they may be listed on a public or
private data exchange.
[0032] The systems and methods described herein provide a flexible
and scalable data warehouse using a new data processing platform.
In some embodiments, the described systems and methods leverage a
cloud infrastructure that supports cloud-based storage resources,
computing resources, and the like. Example cloud-based storage
resources offer significant storage capacity available on-demand at
a low cost. Further, these cloud-based storage resources may be
fault-tolerant and highly scalable, which can be costly to achieve
in private data storage systems. Example cloud-based computing
resources are available on-demand and may be priced based on actual
usage levels of the resources. Typically, the cloud infrastructure
is dynamically deployed, reconfigured, and decommissioned in a
rapid manner.
[0033] In the described systems and methods, a data storage system
utilizes an SQL (Structured Query Language)-based relational
database. However, these systems and methods are applicable to any
type of database, and any type of data storage and retrieval
platform, using any data storage architecture and using any
language to store and retrieve data within the data storage and
retrieval platform. The systems and methods described herein
further provide a multi-tenant system that supports isolation of
computing resources and data between different customers/clients
and between different users within the same customer/client.
[0034] FIG. 1 A is a block diagram of an example computing
environment 100 in which the systems and methods disclosed herein
may be implemented. In particular, a cloud computing platform 110
may be implemented, such as AMAZON WEB SERVICES.TM. (AWS),
MICROSOFT AZURE.TM., GOOGLE CLOUD.TM., or the like. As known in the
art, a cloud computing platform 110 provides computing resources
and storage resources that may be acquired (purchased) or leased
and configured to execute applications and store data.
[0035] The cloud computing platform 110 may host a cloud computing
service 112 that facilitates storage of data on the cloud computing
platform 110 (e.g. data management and access) and analysis
functions (e.g. SQL queries, analysis), as well as other
computation capabilities (e.g., secure data sharing between users
of the cloud computing platform 110). The cloud computing platform
110 may include a three-tier architecture: data storage 140, query
processing 130, and cloud services 120.
[0036] Data storage 140 may facilitate the storing of data on the
cloud computing platform 110 in one or more cloud databases 141.
Data storage 140 may use a storage service such as AMAZON S3 to
store data and query results on the cloud computing platform 110.
In particular embodiments, to load data into the cloud computing
platform 110, data tables may be horizontally partitioned into
large, immutable files which may be analogous to blocks or pages in
a traditional database system. Within each file, the values of each
attribute or column are grouped together and compressed using a
scheme sometimes referred to as hybrid columnar. Each table has a
header which, among other metadata, contains the offsets of each
column within the file.
[0037] In addition to storing table data, data storage 140
facilitates the storage of temp data generated by query operations
(e.g., joins), as well as the data contained in large query
results. This may allow the system to compute large queries without
out-of-memory or out-of-disk errors. Storing query results this way
may simplify query processing as it removes the need for
server-side cursors found in traditional database systems.
[0038] Query processing 130 may handle query execution within
elastic clusters of virtual machines, referred to herein as virtual
warehouses or data warehouses. Thus, query processing 130 may
include one or more virtual warehouses 131, which may also be
referred to herein as data warehouses. The virtual warehouses 131
may be one or more virtual machines operating on the cloud
computing platform 110. The virtual warehouses 131 may be compute
resources that may be created, destroyed, or resized at any point,
on demand. This functionality may create an "elastic" virtual
warehouse that expands, contracts, or shuts down according to the
user's needs. Expanding a virtual warehouse involves generating one
or more compute nodes 132 to a virtual warehouse 131. Contracting a
virtual warehouse involves removing one or more compute nodes 132
from a virtual warehouse 131. More compute nodes 132 may lead to
faster compute times. For example, a data load which takes fifteen
hours on a system with four nodes might take only two hours with
thirty-two nodes.
[0039] Cloud services 120 may be a collection of services that
coordinate activities across the cloud computing service 110. These
services tie together all of the different components of the cloud
computing service 110 in order to process user requests, from login
to query dispatch. Cloud services 120 may operate on compute
instances provisioned by the cloud computing service 110 from the
cloud computing platform 110. Cloud services 120 may include a
collection of services that manage virtual warehouses, queries,
transactions, data exchanges, and the metadata associated with such
services, such as database schemas, access control information,
encryption keys, and usage statistics. Cloud services 120 may
include, but not be limited to, authentication engine 121,
infrastructure manager 122, optimizer 123, exchange manager 124,
security 125 engine, and metadata storage 126.
[0040] FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating an example virtual
warehouse 131. The exchange manager 124 may facilitate the sharing
of data between data providers and data consumers, using, for
example, a private data exchange. For example, cloud computing
service 112 may manage the storage and access of a database 108.
The database 108 may include various instances of user data 150 for
different users, e.g. different enterprises or individuals. The
user data may include a user database 152 of data stored and
accessed by that user. The user database 152 may be subject to
access controls such that only the owner of the data is allowed to
change and access the database 112 upon authenticating with the
cloud computing service 112. For example, data may be encrypted
such that it can only be decrypted using decryption information
possessed by the owner of the data. Using the exchange manager 124,
specific data from a user database 152 that is subject to these
access controls may be shared with other users in a controlled
manner according to the methods disclosed herein. In particular, a
user may specify shares 154 that may be shared in a public or
private data exchange in an uncontrolled manner or shared with
specific other users in a controlled manner as described above. A
"share" encapsulates all of the information required to share data
in a database. A share may include at least three pieces of
information: (1) privileges that grant access to the database(s)
and the schema containing the objects to share, (2) the privileges
that grant access to the specific objects (e.g., tables, secure
views, and secure UDFs), and (3) the consumer accounts with which
the database and its objects are shared. When data is shared, no
data is copied or transferred between users. Sharing is
accomplished through the cloud services 120 of cloud computing
service 110.
[0041] Sharing data may be performed when a data provider creates a
share of a database in the data provider's account and grants
access to particular objects (e.g., tables, secure views, and
secure user-defined functions (UDFs)). Then a read-only database
may be created using the information provided in the share. Access
to this database may be controlled by the data provider.
[0042] Shared data may then be used to process SQL queries,
possibly including joins, aggregations, or other analysis. In some
instances, a data provider may define a share such that "secure
joins" are permitted to be performed with respect to the shared
data. A secure join may be performed such that analysis may be
performed with respect to shared data but the actual shared data is
not accessible by the data consumer (e.g., recipient of the share).
A secure join may be performed as described in U.S. application
Ser. No. 16/368,339, filed Mar. 18, 2019.
[0043] User devices 101-104, such as laptop computers, desktop
computers, mobile phones, tablet computers, cloud-hosted computers,
cloud-hosted serverless processes, or other computing processes or
devices may be used to access the virtual warehouse 131 or cloud
service 120 by way of a network 105, such as the Internet or a
private network.
[0044] In the description below, actions are ascribed to users,
particularly consumers and providers. Such actions shall be
understood to be performed with respect to devices 101-104 operated
by such users. For example, notification to a user may be
understood to be a notification transmitted to devices 101-104, an
input or instruction from a user may be understood to be received
by way of the user's devices 101-104, and interaction with an
interface by a user shall be understood to be interaction with the
interface on the user's devices 101-104. In addition, database
operations (joining, aggregating, analysis, etc.) ascribed to a
user (consumer or provider) shall be understood to include
performing such actions by the cloud computing service 110 in
response to an instruction from that user.
[0045] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of data that may be used
to implement a public or private data exchange in accordance with
an embodiment of the present invention. The exchange manager 124
may operate with respect to some or all of the illustrated exchange
data 200, which may be stored on the platform executing the
exchange manager 124 (e.g., the cloud computing platform 110) or at
some other location. The exchange data 200 may include a plurality
of listings 202 describing data that is shared by a first user
("the provider"). The listings 202 may be listings in a private
data exchange or in a public data exchange. The access controls,
management, and governance of the listings may be similar for both
a public data exchange and a private data exchange. A listing 202
may include metadata 204 describing the shared data. A listing 202
may include metadata 204 describing the shared data. The metadata
204 may include some or all of the following information: an
identifier of the sharer of the shared data, a URL associated with
the sharer, a name of the share, a name of tables, a category to
which the shared data belongs, an update frequency of the shared
data, a catalog of the tables, a number of columns and a number of
rows in each table, as well as name and descriptions of the
columns. The metadata 204 may also include examples to aid a user
in using the data. Such examples may include sample tables or views
that include a sample of rows and columns of an example table,
example queries that may be run against the tables and/or possibly
the results thereof, example views of an example table, example
visualizations (e.g., graphs, dashboards) based on a table's data.
Other information included in the metadata 204 may be metadata for
use by business intelligence tools, text description of data
contained in the table, keywords associated with the table to
facilitate searching, bloom filters or other full text indices of
the data in certain columns, a link (e.g., URL) to documentation
related to the shared data, and a refresh interval indicating how
frequently the shared data is updated (or an indication that the
shared data is updated continuously) along with the date the data
was last updated.
[0046] The listing 202 may include access controls 206, which may
be configurable to any suitable access configuration. For example,
access controls 206 may indicate that the shared data is available
to any member of the private exchange without restriction (an "any
share" as used elsewhere herein). The access controls 206 may
specify a class of users (members of a particular group or
organization) that are allowed to access the data and/or see the
listing. The access controls 206 may specify that a
"point-to-point" share (see discussion of FIG. 4) in which users
may request access but are only allowed access upon approval of the
provider. The access controls 206 may specify a set of user
identifiers of users that are excluded from being able to access
the data referenced by the listing 202.
[0047] Note that some listings 202 may be discoverable by users
without further authentication or access permissions whereas actual
accesses are only permitted after a subsequent authentication step
(see discussion of FIGS. 4 and 6). The access controls 206 may
specify that a listing 202 is only discoverable by specific users
or classes of users.
[0048] Note also that a default function for listings 202 is that
the data referenced by the share is not exportable or copyable by
the consumer. Alternatively, the access controls 206 may specify
that this operation is not permitted. For example, access controls
206 may specify that secure operations (secure joins and secure
functions as discussed below) may be performed with respect to the
shared data such that viewing and exporting of the shared data is
not permitted.
[0049] In some embodiments, once a user is authenticated with
respect to a listing 202, a reference to that user (e.g., user
identifier of the user's account with the virtual warehouse 131) is
added to the access controls 206 such that the user will
subsequently be able to access the data referenced by the listing
202 without further authentication.
[0050] The listing 202 may define one or more filters 208. For
example, the filters 208 may define specific user identifiers 214
of users that may view references to the listing 202 when browsing
the catalog 220. The filters 208 may define a class of users (users
of a certain profession, users associated with a particular company
or organization, users within a particular geographical area or
country) that may view references to the listing 202 when browsing
the catalog 220. In this manner, a private exchange may be
implemented by the exchange manager 124 using the same components.
In some embodiments, an excluded user that is excluded from
accessing a listing 202, i.e. adding the listing 202 to the
consumed shares 156 of the excluded user, may still be permitted to
view a representation of the listing when browsing the catalog 220
and may further be permitted to request access to the listing 202
as discussed below. Requests to access a listing by such excluded
users and other users may be listed in an interface presented to
the provider of the listing 202. The provider of the listing 202
may then view demand for access to the listing and choose to expand
the filters 208 to permit access to excluded users or classes of
excluded users (e.g., users in excluded geographic regions or
countries).
[0051] Filters 208 may further define what data may be viewed by a
user. In particular, filters 208 may indicate that a user that
selects a listing 202 to add to the consumed shares 156 of the user
is permitted to access the data referenced by the listing but only
a filtered version that only includes data associated with the
identifier 214 of that user, associated with that user's
organization, or specific to some other classification of the user.
In some embodiments, a private exchange is by invitation: users
invited by a provider to view listings 202 of a private exchange
are enabled to do by the exchange manager 124 upon communicating
acceptance of an invitation received from the provider.
[0052] In some embodiments, a listing 202 may be addressed to a
single user. Accordingly, a reference to the listing 202 may be
added to a set of "pending shares" that is viewable by the user.
The listing 202 may then be added to a group of shares of the user
upon the user communicating approval to the exchange manager
124.
[0053] The listing 202 may further include usage data 210. For
example, the cloud computing service 112 may implement a credit
system in which credits are purchased by a user and are consumed
each time a user runs a query, stores data, or uses other services
implemented by the cloud computing service 112. Accordingly, usage
data 210 may record an amount of credits consumed by accessing the
shared data. Usage data 210 may include other data such as a number
of queries, a number of aggregations of each type of a plurality of
types performed against the shared data, or other usage statistics.
In some embodiments, usage data for a listing 202 or multiple
listings 202 of a user is provided to the user in the form of a
shared database, i.e. a reference to a database including the usage
data is added by the exchange manager 124 to the consumed shares of
the user.
[0054] The listing 202 may also include a heat map 211, which may
represent the geographical locations in which users have clicked on
that particular listing. The cloud computing service 110 may use
the heat map to make replication decisions or other decisions with
the listing. For example, a private data exchange may display a
listing that contains weather data for Georgia, USA. The heat map
211 may indicate that many users in California are selecting the
listing to learn more about the weather in Georgia. In view of this
information, the cloud computing service 110 may replicate the
listing and make it available in a database whose servers are
physically located in the western United States, so that consumers
in California may have access to the data. In some embodiments, an
entity may store its data on servers located in the western United
States. A particular listing may be very popular to consumers. The
cloud computing service 110 may replicate that data and store it in
servers located in the eastern United States, so that consumers in
the Midwest and on the East Coast may also have access to that
data.
[0055] The listing 202 may also include one or more tags 213. The
tags 213 may facilitate simpler sharing of data contained in one or
more listings. As an example, a large company may have a human
resources (HR) listing containing HR data for its internal
employees on a private data exchange. The HR data may contain ten
types of HR data (e.g., employee number, selected health insurance,
current retirement plan, job title, etc.). The HR listing may be
accessible to 100 people in the company (e.g., everyone in the HR
department). Management of the HR department may wish to add an
eleventh type of HR data (e.g., an employee stock option plan).
Instead of manually adding this to the HR listing and granting each
of the 100 people access to this new data, management may simply
apply an HR tag to the new data set and that can be used to
categorize the data as HR data, list it along with the HR listing,
and grant access to the 100 people to view the new data set.
[0056] The listing 202 may also include version metadata 215.
Version metadata 215 may provide a way to track how the datasets
are changed. This may assist in ensuring that the data that is
being viewed by one entity is not changed prematurely. For example,
if a company has an original data set and then releases an updated
version of that data set, the updates could interfere with another
user's processing of that data set, because the update could have
different formatting, new columns, and other changes that may be
incompatible with the current processing mechanism of the recipient
user. To remedy this, the cloud computing service 112 may track
version updates using version metadata 215. The cloud computing
service 112 may ensure that each data consumer accesses the same
version of the data until they accept an updated version that will
not interfere with current processing of the data set.
[0057] The exchange data 200 may further include user records 212.
The user record 212 may include data identifying the user
associated with the user record 212, e.g. an identifier (e.g.,
warehouse identifier) of a user having user data 150 in service
database 128 and managed by the virtual warehouse 131.
[0058] The user record 212 may list shares associated with the
user, e.g., reference listings 202 created by the user. The user
record 212 may list shares consumed by the user, e.g. reference
listings 202 created by another user and that have been associated
to the account of the user according to the methods described
herein. For example, a listing 202 may have an identifier that will
be used to reference it in the shares or consumed shares of a user
record 212.
[0059] The exchange data 200 may further include a catalog 220. The
catalog 220 may include a listing of all available listings 202 and
may include an index of data from the metadata 204 to facilitate
browsing and searching according to the methods described herein.
In some embodiments, listings 202 are stored in the catalog in the
form of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) objects.
[0060] Note that where there a multiple instances of the virtual
warehouse 131 on different cloud computing platforms, the catalog
220 of one instance of the virtual warehouse 131 may store listings
or references to listings from other instances on one or more other
cloud computing platforms 110. Accordingly, each listing 202 may be
globally unique (e.g., be assigned a globally unique identifier
across all of the instances of the virtual warehouse 131). For
example, the instances of the virtual warehouses 131 may
synchronize their copies of the catalog 220 such that each copy
indicates the listings 202 available from all instances of the
virtual warehouse 131. In some instances, a provider of a listing
202 may specify that it is to be available on only on specified on
or more computing platforms 110.
[0061] In some embodiments, the catalog 220 is made available on
the Internet such that it is searchable by a search engine such as
BING or GOOGLE. The catalog may be subject to a search engine
optimization (SEO) algorithm to promote its visibility. Potential
consumers may therefore browse the catalog 220 from any web
browser. The exchange manager 124 may expose uniform resource
locators (URLs) linked to each listing 202. This web page
underlying each URL may be searchable can be shared outside of any
interface implemented by the exchange manager 124. For example, the
provider of a listing 202 may publish the URLs for its listings 202
in order to promote usage of its listing 202 and its brand.
[0062] FIG. 3 illustrates various components 300-310 that may be
included in the exchange manager 124. A creation module 300 may
provide an interface for creating listings 202. For example, a web
page interface enables a user on one or more devices 101-104 to
select data, e.g. a specific table in user data 150 of the user,
for sharing and enter values defining some or all of the metadata
204, access controls 206, and filters 208. In some embodiments,
creation may be performed by a user by way of SQL commands in an
SQL interpreter executing on the cloud computing platform 110 and
accessed by way of a webpage interface on a user device
101-104.
[0063] A validation module 302 may validate information provided by
a provider when attempting to create a listing 202. Note that in
some embodiments the actions ascribed to the validation module 302
may be performed by a human reviewing the information provided by
the provider. In other embodiments, these actions are performed
automatically. The validation module 302 may perform, or facilitate
performing by a human operator of various functions. These
functions may include verifying that the metadata 204 is consistent
with the shared data to which it references, verifying that the
shared data referenced by metadata 204 is not pirated data,
personal identification information (PII), personal health
information (PHI) or other data for which sharing is undesirable or
illegal. The validation module 302 may also facilitate the
verification that the data has been updated within a threshold
period of time (e.g., within the last twenty-four hours). The
validation module 302 may also facilitate verifying that the data
is not static or not available from other static public sources.
The validation module 302 may also facilitate verifying that the
data is more than merely a sample (e.g., that the data is
sufficiently complete to be useful). For example, geographically
limited data may be undesirable whereas an aggregation of data that
is not otherwise limited may still be of use.
[0064] The exchange manager 124 may include a search module 304.
The search module 304 may implement a webpage interface that is
accessible by a user on one or more user devices 101-104 in order
to invoke searches for search strings with respect to the metadata
in the catalog 220, receive responses to searches, and select
references to listings 202 in search results for adding to the
consumed shares 156 of the user record 212 of the user performing
the search. In some embodiments, searches may be performed by a
user by way of SQL commands in an SQL interpreter executing on the
cloud computing platform 102 and accessed by way of a webpage
interface on user devices 101-104. For example, searching for
shares may be performed by way of SQL queries against the catalog
220 within the SQL engine 310 discussed below.
[0065] The search module 304 may further implement a recommendation
algorithm. For example, the recommendation algorithm could
recommend other listing 202 for a user based on other listings in
the user's consumed shares 156 or formerly in the user's consumed
shares. Recommendations could be based on logical similarity: one
source of weather data leads to a recommendation for a second
source of weather data. Recommendations could be based on
dissimilarity: one listing is for data in one domain (geographic
area, technical field, etc.) results in a listing for a different
domain to facilitate complete coverage by the user's analysis
(different geographic area, related technical field, etc.).
[0066] The exchange manager 124 may include an access management
module 306. As described above, a user may add a listing 202. This
may require authentication with respect to the provider of the
listing 202. Once a listing 202 is added to the consumed shares 156
of the user record 212 of a user, the user may be either (a)
required to authenticate each time the data referenced by the
listing 202 is accessed or (b) be automatically authenticated and
allowed to access the data once the listing 202 is added. The
access management module 306 may manage automatic authentication
for subsequent access of data in the consumed shares 156 of a user
in order to provide seamless access of the shared data as if it was
part of the user data 150 of that user. To that end, the access
management module 306 may access access controls 206 of the listing
202, certificates, tokens, or other authentication material in
order to authenticate the user when performing accesses to shared
data.
[0067] The exchange manager 124 may include a joining module 308.
The joining module 308 manages the integration of shared data
referenced by consumed shares 156 of a user with one another, i.e.
shared data from different providers, and with a user database 152
of data owned by the user. In particular, the joining module 308
may manage the execution of queries and other computation functions
with respect to these various sources of data such that their
access is transparent to the user. The joining module 308 may
further manage the access of data to enforce restrictions on shared
data, e.g. such that analysis may be performed and the results of
the analysis displayed without exposing the underlying data to the
consumer of the data where this restriction is indicated by the
access controls 206 of a listing 202.
[0068] The exchange manager 124 may further include a standard
query language (SQL) engine 310 that is programmed to receive
queries from a user and execute the query with respect to data
referenced by the query, which may include consumed shares 156 of
the user and the user data 112 owned by the user. The SQL engine
310 may perform any query processing functionality known in the
art. The SQL engine 310 may additionally or alternatively include
any other database management tool or data analysis tool known in
the art. The SQL engine 310 may define a webpage interface
executing on the cloud computing platform 102 through which SQL
queries are input and responses to SQL queries are presented
[0069] Referring to FIG. 4A, the illustrated method 400 may be
executed by the exchange manager 124 in order to implement a
point-to-point share between a first user ("provider 402") and a
second user ("consumer 404").
[0070] The method 400 may include the provider entering 406
metadata. This may include a user on devices 101-104 of the
provider entering the metadata into fields of a form in a web page
provided by the exchange manager 124. In some embodiments, entering
406 of metadata may be made using SQL commands by way of the SQL
engine 310. The items of metadata may include some or all of those
discussed above with respect to the metadata 204 of a listing 202.
Step 406 may include receiving other data for a listing 202, such
as access controls 206 and parameters defining a filter 208.
[0071] The provider 402 may then invoke, on the devices 101-104,
submission of the form and the data entered.
[0072] The exchange manager 124 may then verify 408 the metadata
and validate 410 the data referenced by the metadata. This may
include performing some or all of the actions ascribed to the
validation module 302.
[0073] If the metadata and shared data are not successfully
verified 408 and validated 410, the exchange manager 124 may notify
the provider 402, such as by means of a notification through the
web interface through which the metadata was submitted at step
406.
[0074] If the metadata and shared data are not successfully
verified 408 and validated 410, the exchange manager 124 may notify
the provider 402, such as by way of the web interface through which
the metadata was submitted at step 406.
[0075] The exchange manager 124 may further create 412 a listing
202 including the data submitted at step 406 and may further create
an entry in the catalog 220. For example, keywords, descriptive
text, and other items of information in the metadata may be indexed
to facilitate searching.
[0076] Note that steps 406-412 may be performed by means of
interface provided to the provider 402. Such an interface may
include any suitable features including elements for inputting data
(e.g., elements 204-210), and elements for generating a data
listing. In addition, the interface may include elements to publish
or unpublish a data listing to make the listing un-viewable to at
least some other users. The interface may also include an element
to update versions of the data listing or to roll back to a prior
version of the listing or of the metadata associated with the
listing. The interface may also include a list of pending requests
to add a data listing or to add members to the data exchange. The
interface may also include an indication of the number and other
non-identifying information related to the data consumers who have
accessed a given listing, as well as a representation of usage
patterns of the data referenced by a listing by the data consumers
of that listing.
[0077] Another user acting as a consumer 404 may then browse 414
the catalog. This may include accessing a webpage providing a
search interface to the catalog. This webpage may be external to
the virtual warehouse 131, i.e. accessible by users that are not
logged into the virtual warehouse 131. In other embodiments, only
users that are logged in to the virtual warehouse 131 are able to
access the search interface. As noted above, browsing of the
catalog 220 may be performed using queries to the SQL engine 310
that reference the catalog 220. For example, user devices 101-104
may have a web-based interface to the SQL engine 310 through which
queries against the catalog 220 are input by the consumer 404 and
transmitted to the SQL engine 310.
[0078] In response to the consumer's browsing activities, the
exchange manager 124 may display the catalog and perform 416
searches with respect to the catalog to identify listings 202
having metadata corresponding to queries or search strings
submitted by the consumer 404. The manner in which this search is
performed may be according to any search algorithm known in the
art. In the case of an SQL query, the query may be processed
according to any approach for processing SQL queries known in the
art.
[0079] The exchange manager 124 may return results of a search
string or SQL query to the consumer's 404 devices 101-104, such as
in the form of a listing of references to listings 202 identified
according to the search algorithm or processing the SQL query. The
listing may include items of metadata or links that the consumer
404 may select to invoke display of metadata. In particular, any of
the items of metadata 204 of a listing 202 may be displayed in the
listing or linked to by an entry in the listing corresponding to
the search record 202.
[0080] Note that the exchange referenced in FIG. 4A may be a
private exchange or a public exchange. In particular, those
listings 202 that are displayed and searched 416 and viewable by
the consumer 404 during browsing 414 may be limited to those having
filters 208 that indicate that the listing 202 is viewable by the
consumer 404, an organization of the consumer, or some other
classification to which the consumer 404 belongs. Where the
exchange is public, then the consumer 404 is not required to meet
any filter criteria in some embodiments.
[0081] The method 400 may include the consumer 404 requesting 418
to access data corresponding to a listing 202. For example, by
selecting an entry in the listing on the devices 101-104 of the
consumer 404, which invokes transmission of a request to the
exchange manager 124 to add the listing 202 corresponding to the
entry to the consumed shares 156 in the user record 212 of the
consumer 404.
[0082] In the illustrated example, the listing 202 of the selected
entry has access controls 206. Accordingly, the exchange manager
124 may forward 420 the request to the provider 402 along with an
identifier of the consumer 404. The consumer 404 and provider 402
may then interact to one or both of (a) authenticate (login) 424
the consumer 404 with respect to the provider 402 and (b) process
424 payment for access of the data referenced by the listing 202.
This interaction may be according to any approach to logging in or
authenticating or known in the art. Likewise, any approach for
processing payment between parties may be implemented. In some
embodiments, the data warehouse module may provide a rebate to the
provider 402 due to credits consumed by the consumer 404 when
accessing the shared data of the provider. Credits may be units of
usage purchased by a user that are then consumed in response to the
services of the virtual warehouse 131 used by the consumer 404,
e.g. queries and other analytics performed on data hosted by the
virtual warehouse 131. The interaction may be directly between
devices 126 of the consumer 404 and provider 402 or may be
performed by way of the exchange manager 124. In some embodiments,
the exchange manager 124 authenticates the consumer 404 using the
access control information 206 such that interaction with the
provider 402 is not needed. Likewise, the listing 202 may define
payment terms such that the exchange manager 124 processes payment
without requiring interaction with the provider 402. Once the
provider 402 determines that the consumer 404 is authenticated and
authorized to access the data referenced by the listing 202, the
provider 402 may notify 426 the exchange manager 124 that the
consumer 404 may access the data referenced by the listing 202. In
response, the exchange manager 124 adds 428 a reference to the
listing 202 to the consumed shares 156 in the user record 212 of
the consumer 404.
[0083] Note that in some instances a listing 202 does not list
specific data, but rather references a particular cloud service
120, e.g. the brand name or company name of a service. Accordingly,
the request to access the listing 202 is a request to access user
data 150 of the consumer making the request. Accordingly, steps
422, 424, 426 including authenticating the consumer 404 with
respect to the authentication engine 121 such that the cloud
service 120 can verify the identity of the consumer 404 and inform
the exchange manager 124 of which data to share with the consumer
404 and to indicate that the consumer 404 is authorized to access
that data.
[0084] In some embodiments, this may be implemented using a "single
sign on" approach in which the consumer 404 authenticates (logs in)
once with respect to the cloud service 120 and thereafter is
enabled to access the consumers 404 data in the service database
158. For example, the exchange manager 124 may present an interface
to the cloud service 120 on the devices 101-104 of the consumer
404. The consumer 404 inputs authentication information (username
and password, certificate, token, etc.) into the interface and this
information is forwarded to the authentication engine 121 of the
cloud service 120. The authentication information processes the
authentication information and, if the information corresponds to a
user account, notifies the exchange manager 124 that the consumer
404 is authenticated with respect to that user account. The
exchange manager 124 may then identify the user data 150 for that
user account and create a database referencing it. A reference to
that database is then added to the consumed shares 156 of the
consumer 404.
[0085] In some embodiments, the user's authentication with respect
to the virtual warehouse 131 is sufficient to authenticate the user
with respect to the cloud service 120 such that steps 422, 424 are
omitted in view of the prior authentication of the consumer 404.
For example, the virtual warehouse 131 may be indicated by the
consumer 404 to the cloud service 120 to be authorized to verify
the identity of the consumer 404.
[0086] In some embodiments, the exchange manager 124 authenticates
the consumer 404 using the access control information 206 such that
interaction with the provider 402 is not needed. Likewise, the
listing 202 may define payment terms such that the exchange manager
124 processes payment without requiring interaction with the
provider 402. Accordingly, in such embodiments, step 422 is
performed by the exchange manager 124 and step 426 is omitted. The
exchange manager 124 then performs step 428 once the consumer 404
is authenticated and/or provided required payment.
[0087] In some embodiments, adding a listing 202 to the consumed
shares of a consumer 404 may further include receiving, from the
consumer 404, consent to the terms presented to the consumer 404.
In some embodiments, where the terms of the agreement are changed
by a provider 402 after a consumer 404 has added the listing 202
according to the method 400 or other method described herein, the
exchange manager 124 may require the consumer 404 to agree to the
changed terms before being allowed to continue to access the data
referenced by the listing 202.
[0088] Adding 428 the data reference by the listing 202 may include
creating a database referencing the data. A reference to this
database may then be added to the consumed shares 156 and this
database may then be used to process queries referencing the data
referenced by the share record. Adding 428 the data may include
adding data filtered according to filters 208. For example, data
referenced by the listing 202 (e.g., a filtered view of the data)
and that is associated with the consumer 404, organization of the
consumer 404, or some other classification of the consumer 404.
[0089] In some embodiments, adding the listing 202 to the user
record 212 may include changing the access controls 206 of the
listing 202 to reference the identity data 214 of the consumer 404
such that attempts to access the data referenced by the listing 202
will be permitted and executed by the exchange manager 124.
[0090] The consumer 404 may then input 432 queries to the SQL
engine 310 by way of the consumer's devices 101-104. The queries
may reference the data referenced in the listing 202 added at step
428 as well as other data referenced in the user database 152 and
consumed shares 156. The SQL engine 310 then processes 430 the
queries using the database created at step 428 and returns the
result to the consumer 404 or creates views, materialized views, or
other data that may be accessed or analyzed by the user. As noted
above, the data of consumed shares operated upon by the queries may
have been previously filtered to include only data relating to the
consumer 404. Accordingly, different consumers 404 adding the same
listing 202 to their consumed shares 156 will see different
versions of the database referenced by the listing 202.
[0091] Referring to FIG. 4B, in some embodiments, the private
sharing of data and filtering of data according to identify of the
consumer 404 may be implemented using the illustrated data
structures. For example, the service database 158 of the provider
402 may include a customer map 434 that includes entries for
customer identifiers 436 of users of the service provided by the
provider 402, e.g. a service implemented by the cloud service 120
of the server and the customer identifier 436 being an identifier
for authenticating with the authentication interface 120. The
customer map 434 may map each customer identifier 436 to a
warehouse identifier 438, i.e. a user identifier used by a user to
authenticate with the virtual warehouse 131 such that the same user
corresponds to both identifiers 436, 438. The mapping between the
identifiers 436 and 438 may be performed by authenticating as
described above (e.g., the single sign on approach described
above).
[0092] The customer map 434 may further include a reference 440 to
an entitlement table 442, which may be one of a plurality of
entitlement tables 442. Each entitlement table 442 defines which of
one or more tables 444 of the provider 402 may be accessed with the
customer ID 436 to which it is mapped. The entitlement table 442
may further define columns of a table 444 that can be accessed with
the customer ID 436. The entitlement table 442 may further define
rows or types of rows based on one or more filtration criteria of a
table 444 that can be accessed with the customer ID 436. The
entitlement table 442 may further define a schema for a table 444
that can be accessed with the customer ID 436.
[0093] A listing 202 for a table 444 may therefore specify that
access to a data table 444 is to be performed as defined by the
customer map 434. For example, referring to FIG. 4C, when a
consumer 404 requests to add a listing 202 for a database for which
access is defined according to the customer map, the exchange
manager 124 may create a secure view 446 according to the customer
identifier 436 and entitlement table 442 mapped to the warehouse
identifier 438 of the consumer 404. The secure view may be
generated by performing an inner join of the data tables 444 of the
database specified in the entitlement table 442 (or portions
thereof as specified in the entitlement table 442) that is filtered
according to the customer identifier 436 such that a result of the
join includes only data for the specific customer identifier 436
and includes only those portions of the database (tables 444 and/or
portions of tables 444) specified in the entitlement table 442. The
manner in which the secure view is generated may be as described in
U.S. application Ser. No. 16/055,824 filed Aug. 6, 2018, and
entitled SECURE DATA SHARING IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE and U.S.
application Ser. No. 16/241,463 filed Jan. 7, 2019 and entitled
SECURE DATA SHARING IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE.
[0094] FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative method 500 for sharing
data that may be performed when the consumer requests 418 to add a
listing 202 that is available to the public or to all users of a
private exchange. In that case, the exchange manager 124 adds 428
the reference to the listing 202 to the consumed shares 156 of the
consumer 404 and authentication or payment steps are omitted. Step
428 may be performed as described above except that no change to
access controls 206 is performed. Likewise, steps 430 and 432 may
be performed with respect to the shared data as described above.
The exchange of FIG. 5 could be a public exchange or a private
exchange as described above with respect to FIG. 4. FIG. 5
illustrates the case where if a listing 202 is viewable (i.e.
filter criteria permit viewing by the consumer 404 as described
above), the consumer 404 is able to add the listing 202 to the
consumed shares 156 of the consumer 404 without further
authentication or payment.
[0095] Note that when a listing 202 is added to the consumed shares
156 of a user according to any of the methods disclosed herein, the
exchange manager 124 may notify consumers of the listing 202 when
the data referenced by the listing 202 is updated.
[0096] Referring to FIG. 6, in some embodiments, a method 600 may
include a consumer 404 browsing a catalog and selecting a listing
202 as described for the other methods described herein (see, e.g.,
FIGS. 4A and 5), from the exchange manager 124, a bidirectional
share with respect to the data referenced by the listing ("the
shared data") and additional data in the user's database 112 ("the
user's data"). Note that in some embodiments the listing 202 of the
provider 402 does not reference any specific data (e.g., a specific
table or database) and instead offers to perform a service with
respect to data provided by the consumer 404. Accordingly, in such
instances "the shared data" as discussed below may be understood to
be replaced with "the offered service."
[0097] In response to this request, the exchange manager 124
implements 604 a point-to-point share of the shared data with
respect to the consumer 404 and the provider 402. This may be
performed as described above with respect to FIG. 4A, e.g. include
authentication of the consumer 404 and possibly filtering of the
shared data to only include data associated with the consumer 404
as described above. The exchange manager 124 may further implement
a point-to-point share of the user's data with respect to the
provider 402 as described with respect to FIG. 4A except: (a) the
consumer 404 acts as the provider and the provider 402 acts as the
consumer for the user's data and the user's data is added to the
consumed shares 156 of the provider 402 and (b) the consumer 404
need not create a listing 202 for the user's data and the user's
data need not be listed in the catalog 220.
[0098] Following step 606, both the consumer 404 or the provider
402 have access to the shared data and the user's data. Either may
then run queries against both of these, join them, perform
aggregations on the joined data, or perform any other actions or
enrichments known in the art with respect to multiple
databases.
[0099] In some embodiments, a bi-directional share may include, or
be requested by the consumer 404 to include, the provider 402 also
joining 608 the shared data and the user data to obtain joined data
and returning 610 a reference to the joined data to the exchange
manager 124 with a request to add 612 a reference to the joined
data to the consumed shares 156 of the consumer 404, which the
exchange manager 124 does.
[0100] Accordingly, the consumer 404 will now have access to the
joined data. Step 608 may further include performing other actions
(aggregations, analysis) on the user data and shared data either
before or after joining. Step 608 may be performed by the virtual
warehouse 131 in response to the request form the consumer 404 to
do so.
[0101] Note that the result of the join may be either (a) a new
database that is a result of the join or (b) a joined database view
that defines a join of the shared data and the user data.
[0102] The result from step 608 (joining, aggregating, analyzing,
etc.) may alternatively be added to the original share performed at
step 606, 608, e.g. a view (materialized or non-materialized)
defining the operations performed at step 608.
[0103] Steps 608-612 may also be performed by the virtual warehouse
131 in response to a request from the consumer 404 or provider 402
to do so independently from the request made at step 602.
[0104] Note that in many instances there are many consumers 404
that attempt to perform bi-directional shares with respect to the
provider 402 and these consumers 404 may seek bi-directional shares
with respect to their user data that may be in many different
formats (schemas) that may be different from a schema used by the
shared data of the provider 402. Accordingly, step 608 may include
a transformation step. The transformation step maps a source schema
of the user's data to a target schema of the shared data. The
transformation may be a static transformation provided by a human
operator. The transformation may be according to an algorithm that
maps column labels of the source schema to corresponding column
labels of the target schema. The algorithm may include a machine
learning or artificial intelligence model that is trained to
perform the transformation. For example, a plurality of training
data entries may be specified by human annotators that each include
as an input a source schema and as an output include a mapping
between the source schema and the target schema. These entries may
then be used to train a machine learning or artificial intelligence
algorithm to output a mapping to a target schema for a given input
source schema.
[0105] Data added to the shares consumed by the consumer 404 and
provider 402 may then be operated on by the consumer 404 and
provider 402, respectively, such as by executing queries against
the data, aggregating the data, analyzing the data, or performing
any other actions described herein as being performed with respect
to shares added to the consumed shares 156 of a user.
[0106] In particular embodiments, a data provider may improve its
relationship with business partners by enabling the secure
interchange of data in a bi-directional manner, as discussed above.
Traditional methods of bi-directional data sharing have been
challenging to accomplish, and only very limited sets of data are
shared via APIs, FTP, or file transfer between companies. And this
often comes at great cost, expense, data latency, and even some
security risk.
[0107] A data provider may instead host a private data exchange,
and invite their customers and partners to participate in the
exchange. Customers and partners may access data in secure views,
for example, and they may also push data in the other direction as
well. This could be to share data back to the host, but also to
potentially list data so that other participants of the ecosystem
can securely share it as well. Data from a public data exchange,
other private exchanges, or from other external sources may also be
included.
[0108] Every large company depends on other companies, and on its
customers. Bidirectionally sharing data not only from the company
to and from these parties, but also between these external parties
themselves, can allow rich, collaborative data ecosystems to
develop where groups of companies can work together around data.
They can securely discover, combine, and enrich data assets to help
service a common customer, or to form new partnerships amongst
themselves. Some of these relationships may even lead to
opportunities to sell data, secure views of or functions across
data to other participants of a walled garden ecosystem.
[0109] Referring to FIG. 7, the approach to sharing and consuming
data as described herein enables enrichment of data and return of
that enriched data to the exchange. For example, provider A may
request 702 sharing of data (share 1) with the exchange in the same
manner as for other methods described herein. The exchange manager
124 verifies, validates, and adds 704 share 1 to the catalog
220.
[0110] A second provider B may then browse the catalog 220 and add
706 share 1 to its consumed shares 156. Provider B may perform 708
operations on the shared data such as joining it with other data,
performing aggregations, and/or performing other analysis with
respect to share 1, resulting in modified data (share 2). Provider
B may then request 710 sharing of share 2 with the exchange as
described herein. Note that the joining of step 708 may include
joining any number of databases, such as any number of shares based
on any number of listings by any number of other users.
Accordingly, iterations of steps 702-710 by many users may be
viewed as a hierarchy in which a large number of listings 202 of
multiple users are narrowed down to a smaller number of listings
202 based on the data from the larger number of listings 202.
[0111] The exchange manager 124 verifies, validates, and adds 712
share 2 to the catalog 220. This process may be repeated 714 with
respect to share 2, as provider A, provider B, or a different
provider adds share 2, generates modified data based on it, and
adds the result back to the catalog in the same manner. In this
manner, a rich ecosystem of data and analysis may be made available
to users. The shares according to the method 700 may be any shares,
point-to-point shares, private exchange shares, or bi-directional
exchange shares according to the methods disclosed herein.
[0112] Note that there is a possibility that provider may perform
steps 708 and 710 with respect to a listing 202 that is based on a
listing 202. For example, listing L1 of provider A is used by
provider B to create listing L2, which is used by provider C to
create listing L3, which is used by provider A to define listing
L1. Such a flow could include any number of steps. This may be
undesirable in some cases such that modification of listing L1 to
reference L3 is not permitted in view L3 being derived from L1. In
other instances, such a loop is permitted provided there is a time
delay in when the data referenced by each listing is refreshed. For
example, L1 may reference L3 provided L3 will not be refreshed
until some time after L1 is refreshed and therefore the circular
reference will not result in continuous updating of L1 and L3 ad
infinitum. Non-looping flows are also contemplated by this
disclosure, such that listing L1 is not influenced by other
providers' use of listing L1
[0113] The listing created at step 712 (Share 2) may either (a)
include copies of the data from Share 1 remaining after step 708
and as modified according to step 708 or (b) include a view
referencing Share 1 (e.g., a database created based on the listing
202 for Share 1 according to the methods disclosed herein) and
defining the operations performed at step 708 without including
actual data from Share 1 or derived from Share 1. Accordingly, a
hierarchy as described above may be a hierarchy of views that
either reference one or both of listing 202 that are views created
according to the method 700 or listing 202 of data from one or more
providers according to any of the methods disclosed herein.
[0114] In the methods disclosed herein approaches are disclosed for
creating shares (listings 202) and for adding shares. In a like
manner, a consumer 404 may instruct the exchange manager 124 to
remove added shares. A provider 402 may instruct the exchange
manager 124 to cease sharing certain listings 202. In some
embodiments, this may be accompanied by actions to avoid disrupting
consumers 404 of those listings 202. Such as by notifying these
consumers 404 and ceasing to share the listings 202 only after a
specified time period after the notification or after all consumers
404 have removed references to the listings 202 from their consumed
shares 156.
Use Cases
[0115] In a first use case a company implements a private exchange
according to the methods described above. In particular, listing
202 of the company are viewable only by consumers 404 that are
associated (employees, management, investors, etc.) with the
company. Likewise, adding of listing 202 is permitted only for
those associated with the company. When adding a listing 202 to the
consumed shares 156, it may be filtered based on the identity of
the consumer that adds it, i.e. data that is relevant to the
consumer's role within the company.
[0116] In a second use case, a provider 402 creates a reader or
reader/writer account for a consumer 404 that is not yet a user of
the virtual warehouse 131. The account may be associated with the
account data of the consumer (see consumer map of FIG. 4B discussed
above). The consumer 404 may then log on to that account and then
access the provider's listings to access the consumer's data 404
that is managed by the provider 402 (see, e.g. discussion of FIG.
4A).
[0117] In a fifth use case a consumer 404 adds shares that are
private (e.g., accessible due to the identity of the consumer 404
according to the methods described above) and shares that are
public. These may then be joined by the consumer 404 and used to
process queries.
[0118] In a sixth use case, a listing 202 may be shared based on a
subscription (e.g., monthly) or be accessed based on per-query
pricing, or a credit uplift multiplier. Accordingly, the exchange
manager 124 may manage processing of payment and access such that
the consumer 404 is allowed to access the data subject to the
pricing model (subscription, per query, etc.).
[0119] In a seventh use case, the exchange manager 124 implements
secure functions and secure machine learning models (both training
and scoring) that may be used to process private data such that the
consumer 404 is allowed to use the result of the function or
machine learning model but does not have access to the raw data
processed by the function or machine learning model itself.
Likewise, the consumer of the shared data is not allowed to export
the shared data. The consumer is nonetheless allowed to perform
analytical functions with respect to the shared data. For example,
the following secure function may be implemented to enable viewing
of customer shopping data in a secure manner:
TABLE-US-00001 create or replace secure function
UDF_DEMO.PUBLIC.get_market_basket(input_item_sk number(38)) returns
table (input_item NUMBER (38,0), basket_item_sk NUMBER(38,0),
num_baskets NUMBER(38,0)) as `select input_item_sk, ss_item_sk
basket_Item, count(distinct ss_ticket_number) baskets from
udf_demo.public.sales where ss_ticket_number in (select
ss_ticket_number from udf_demo.public.sales where ss_item_sk =
input_item_sk) group by ss_item_sk order by 3 desc, 2`;
[0120] In an eighth use case, the exchange manager 124 may provide
usage statistics of a listing 202 by one or more consumers 404 to
the provider 402 of the listing, e.g. queries, credits used, tables
scanned, tables hit, etc.
[0121] In a ninth use case, the systems and methods disclosed
herein are used for industry-specific applications. For
example:
1. Cybersecurity
[0122] a. Allows for sharing of risk vectors, bad actors, IP
white/black lists, realtime attacks in progress, known good/bad
emailers, etc.
2. Healthcare
[0122] [0123] a. Secure sharing of patient information, including
cost information and outcome information, among other types of
information [0124] b. Secure multi-hospital databases so patients
can share their information to multiple providers. (e.g., if
patient A lives in California and travels to Florida on vacation,
is injured, and is treated in an emergency room, the hospital in
Florida may be able to access patient A's records from disparate
hospitals and providers.)
[0125] Other industries may also benefit from private or public
sharing of data according to the systems and methods disclosed
herein. Such as the financial services industry, telecommunications
industry, media and advertising industry, government agencies,
militaries, and intelligence agencies.
[0126] In a tenth use case, a first user provides marketing
services for a second user and, therefore, the second user shares a
customer list with the first user. The first user shares data
regarding a marketing campaign to the second user, such as campaign
metadata, current user events (session start/end for specific
users, purchases for specific users, etc.). This may be
accomplished using the bi-directional sharing of FIG. 6. This data
may be joined (customer list+customer events from first user) in
order to obtain a better understanding about events for a specific
user or groups of users. As noted above, this exchange of data may
be performed without creating copies or transferring data--each
user accesses the same copy of the shared data. Since no data is
transferred, the data may be accessed in near real time as customer
events occur.
[0127] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a network environment
in which a data provider may share data via a cloud computing
service. A data provider 810 may upload one or more data sets 820
in cloud storage using a cloud computing service 112. These data
sets may then become viewable by one or more data consumers
101-104. The data provider 810 may be able to control, monitor, and
increase the security of its data using the cloud computing service
112 using the methods and systems discussed herein. In particular
embodiments, the data provider 810 may implement a private data
exchange on its own online domain using the functionality, methods,
and systems provided by cloud computing service 112. Data providers
810 may be any provider of data, such as retail companies,
government agencies, polling agencies, non-profit organizations,
etc. The data consumers 101-104 may be internal to the data
provider 810 or external to the data provider 810. A data consumer
that is internal to the data provider may be an employee of the
data provider. The data provider may be a bike-share company, which
provides bicycles for a daily, monthly, annual, or trip-based fee.
The bike share company may gather data about its users, such as
basic demographic information as well as ride information,
including date of ride, time of ride, and duration of ride. This
information may be available to employees of the bike share company
via the cloud computing service 112.
[0128] The interaction between a data provider 810, private data
exchange 812 (as implemented by cloud computing service 112), and a
data consumer may be as follows. The data provider may create one
or more listings 811 using data sets 820. The listings may be for
any suitable data. For example, a consumer data company may create
a listing called "video streaming" that contains data related to
the video streaming habits of a large number of users. The data
provider may set listing policies 821 related to who may view the
listing 811, who may access the data in the listing 811, or any
other suitable policy. Such listing policies are discussed above
with reference to FIG. 2. The data provider 810 may then submit to
the private exchange 812 at step 813. The private data exchange 812
may be embedded inside a web domain of the data provider 810. For
example, if the web domain of the consumer data company is
www.entityA.com, the private data exchange may be found at
www.entityA.com/privatedataexchange. The private data exchange 812
may receive the listing and approve it at step 814 if the listing
complies with one or more rules as determined by the cloud
computing service 112. The private data exchange 812 may then set
up access controls at 815 at least in part according to the listing
policies what were set in step 821. The private data exchange 812
may then invite members at step 816. The members may be data
consumers 801. The data consumers 801 may accept the invitation at
step 817 and then may begin consuming the data at 818. The type of
data consumption may depend on the access controls that were
established at 815. For example, the data consumer may be able to
read the data only or share the data. As another example, a data
consumer may be able to do any combination of the above read, or
share operations on the data, subject to the access controls. In
general, data sharing does not involve altering shared data.
[0129] In some embodiments, a data consumer 801 may independently
access the private data exchange 812, either by directly navigating
to the private data exchange 812 in a browser, or by clicking on an
advertisement for the private data exchange 812, or by any other
suitable mechanism. A private data exchange may also be rendered
via custom or other code by accessing listing and other information
via an API. If the data consumer 801 wishes to access the data
within a listing and the listing is not already universally
available or the data consumer 801 does not already have access,
the data consumer 801 may need to request access at step 820. The
data provider may approve or deny the request at 822. If approved,
the private data exchange may grant access to the listing at 823.
The user may then begin consuming the data as discussed above.
[0130] In particular embodiments, one or more data exchange
administrator accounts may be designated by the cloud computing
service 112. The data exchange administrator may manage members of
the private data exchange by designating members as data providers
810 or data consumers 801. The data exchange administrator may be
able to control listing visibility by selecting which members can
see a given listing. The data exchange administrator may also have
other functions such as approving listings before they are
published on the private data exchange, track usage of each of the
listings, or any other suitable administrative function. In some
embodiments, the data provider and the data exchange administrator
are part of the same entity; in some embodiments, they are separate
entities. The provider may create listings, may test sample queries
on the data underlying a listing, may set listing access, grant
access to listing requests, and track usage of each of the listings
and the data underlying the listings. A data consumer 801 may visit
a private data exchange and browse visible listings which may
appear as tiles. To consume the data underlying a listing, the
consumer may either immediately access the data, or may request
access to the data.
[0131] FIG. 9 is an example private data exchange 900 in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention. Private data exchange
900 may be what a data consumer sees when she navigates to the
private data exchange on the web. For example, the data consumer
may enter www.entityA.com/privatedataexchange in her browser. As
discussed herein, "Entity A Data Exchange" may be a private data
exchange that is facilitated by the cloud computing service 112 and
is embedded into Entity A's own web domain or into an application,
or may be accessed via an API. Private data exchange 900 may
include several listings for different data sets, for example
listings A-L. The listing A-L may also be referred to herein as a
data catalog, which may allow visitors to the private data exchange
to view all the available listings in the private data exchange.
These listings may be placed by an administrator internal to Entity
A. Providing a data catalog in this manner may serve to combine the
benefits of crowdsourced content, data quality, and the right level
of centralized control and coordination that can overcome the
challenges that have slowed the adoption of other approaches to
enterprise data cataloging (e.g., indexing and crawling systems).
It allows users across an enterprise to contribute data, use data
from other groups, and join data together to create enriched data
products, for both internal use as well as potentially for external
monetization.
[0132] As an example and not by way of limitation, Entity A may be
a consumer data company that has collected and analyzed the
consuming habits of millions of individuals in several different
categories. Their data sets may include data in the following
categories: online shopping, video streaming, electricity
consumption, automobile usage, internet usage, clothing purchases,
mobile application purchases, club memberships, and online
subscription services. Each of these data sets may correspond to
different listings. For example, Listing A may be for online
shopping data, Listing B may be for video streaming data, Listing C
may be for electricity consumption data, and so on. Note that the
data may be anonymized so that individual identities are not
revealed. The listings located below line 915 may correspond to
third-party listings that entity A may allow on its private data
exchange. Such listings may be generated by other data providers
and may be subject to approval by Entity A before being added to
the private data exchange 900. A data consumer may click on and
view any of the listings subject to various access controls and
policies as discussed above with reference to FIGS. 2, 4, and
8.
[0133] In particular embodiments, a data provider may invite
members to access its private data exchange, as discussed with
reference to FIG. 8. One class of members may be the physical and
digital supply chain suppliers of the data provider. For example, a
data provider may share data with suppliers on its inventory levels
or consumption of things provided by the suppliers, so they can
better meet the needs of the data provider. In addition, digital
data providers may provide data directly into its private data
exchange, to make it immediately usable and joinable to the
internal enterprise data, saving costs for both parties on
transmitting, storing, and loading the data.
[0134] Some companies such as hedge funds and marketing agencies
bring in data from many external sources. Some hedge funds evaluate
hundreds of potential data sets per year. A private data exchange
may be used to not only connect with data that has already been
purchased, but can also be used to evaluate new data assets. For
example, a hedge fund could have potential data suppliers list
their data on their private exchange, and the fund could explore
and "shop" for data in a private data store where they are the only
customer. Such an internal data store could also "tunnel" in data
assets from a public Data Exchange (e.g., the SNOWFLAKE public Data
Exchange), as discussed with reference to FIG. 11.
[0135] As another example, an existing provider of marketing data
to a company could list some additional datasets that their
customer could use via their private exchange on a trial basis, and
if the customer finds them useful, the supplier can immediately
provide full access through the same exchange. These arrangements
can bring much greater depth of data, bi-directional and much
fresher data, and greater trust and transparency to relationships
between suppliers of data and physical goods and their
customers.
[0136] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example secure view of
shared data from a private data exchange. When a data consumer 1020
wishes to access data in a listing (e.g., Listing H), the cloud
computing service 112 may facilitate access via a secure view of
shared data 1010. The secure view of shared data 1010 may include
metadata 1015 that includes the metadata and access controls
discussed herein with reference to FIG. 2. This may allow data
providers to share data without exposing the underlying tables or
internal details. This makes the data more private and secure. With
a secure view of shared data 1010, the view definition and details
are only visible to authorized users.
[0137] In a private data exchange, data may be shared both within
the same entity and between different entities. Additionally, the
data sharing may be one-way, two-way, or multi-way. In one
embodiment, his can lead to up to five main use-cases for sharing
data: two-way inter-entity, two-way intra-entity, one-way
inter-entity, one-way intra-entity, and multi-way multi-entity. An
example of two-way inter-entity data sharing may be data sharing
from portfolio companies to a parent company and between portfolio
companies. An example of two-way intra entity data sharing may be
data sharing from the headquarters of a large company to the
different business units within that company, and also data sharing
from the business units to headquarters. An example of one-way
inter-entity data sharing may be a large data provider (e.g., a
national weather service) that shares data with lots of different
entities, but does not receive data from those entities. An example
of one-way intra-entity may be a large company that provides data
to its respective business units but does not receive data from
those business units. In particular embodiments, data may be shared
as "point-to-point shares" of specific data, or as "any-shares." A
point-to-point share of specific data may include a private data
exchange share between a parent company and specific portfolio
companies. An any-share may include a private data exchange share
from a parent company to a broad group of data consumers on a
public or within a private exchange.
[0138] In particular embodiments, the cloud computing service 112
may generate a private data exchange for an entity who is the owner
of the data to be shared on the private data exchange. The cloud
computing service 112 may designate one or more administrators of
the private data exchange. These administrators may have control
over the access rights of the private data exchange with regard to
other users. For example, an administrator may be able to add
another user account to the private data exchange and designate
that account as a data provider, data consumer, exchange
administrator, or a combination of these.
[0139] In particular embodiments, the exchange administrator may
control viewing and access rights to the private data exchange.
Viewing rights may include a list of entities that may view the
listing in the private data exchange. Access rights may include a
list of entities that may access the data after selecting a
particular listing. For example, a company may publish private data
exchange 900 and may include several listings, Listing A through
Listing L. Each of these listings may include their own individual
viewing and access rights. For example, Listing A may include a
first list of entities that have rights to view the listing on the
private data exchange 900 and a second list of entities that have
rights to access the listing. Viewing a listing may simply be to
see that the listing exists on the private data exchange. Accessing
a listing may be to select the listing and access the underlying
data for that listing. Access may include both viewing the
underlying data, manipulating that data, or both. Controlling
viewing rights may be useful for data providers who do not want
some users to even know that a certain listing exists on the
private data exchange. Thus, when a user who does not have viewing
rights to a particular listing visits the private data exchange,
that user will not even see the listing on the exchange. In
particular embodiments, the above discussed viewing and access
rights may be provisioned via an application program interface
(API). The exchange catalog may be queries and updated via the API.
This may allow a data provider to show listings on its own
application or website to anyone who visits. When a user wants to
access or request access to data, the user may then create an
account with the cloud computing service 112 and obtain access. In
some embodiments, a URL may be called with a user requests access
to data within a listing. This may allow for integration with
external request approval workflows. For example, if a user makes
an access request, an external request approval workflow of the
data provider may be accessed and activated. The external request
approval workflow may then operate normally to perform an external
request approval process. In some embodiments, a listing may be
unlisted, which means that the listing exists but is not visible on
the data exchange. To access an unlisted listing, a consumer may
input a global URL into the browser. This may require a unique URL
for each listing.
[0140] In particular embodiments, when a new private data exchange
is created for a data provider, the cloud computing service 112 may
designate an exchange admin (e.g., the data exchange administrator,
as discussed above), and may also generate the following metadata
about the private data exchange: the name of the private data
exchange, which needs to be unique, a display name, a logo, a short
description of the private data exchange, and an indication of
whether approval from the exchange admin is necessary for
publishing (e.g., Admin_Approval_for_Publishing). This may be a
true/false statement. It may be set to true if the exchange admin
needs to approve listings submitted to the private data exchange
before they are published. It may be set to false if the exchange
admin does not need to provide such approval. In this case,
providers can publish data directly. If the exchange admin sets the
Admin_Approval_for_Publishing to True, the exchange admin may be
able to see a list of Listings, and select a listing to preview and
approve/reject. The owner of the private data exchange may be the
account that is paying for the private data exchange. This metadata
information may be stored as part of an Exchange object. Also
stored in association with the private data exchange may be the
users and accounts who provide data to the exchange, the consumers
of the exchange, and the exchange admin(s).
[0141] In particular embodiments, the exchange admin may add
members (e.g., data providers and data consumers) to the private
data exchange by inviting the members in any suitable manner. For
example, by inviting the users' accounts on the cloud computing
service 112, or by sending an email to the users' email account
addresses. When the exchange admin adds a member to the private
data exchange, the exchange admin may also specify one or more
member-types: exchange admin, provider, or consumer. An exchange
admin may be able to add and remove members from the private data
exchange and to edit metadata associated with the private data
exchange. For each user, the exchange admin may designate whether
the user is an exchange admin, a data provider, and a data
consumer, or multiple of these roles. The following table
summarizes the rights associated with each type of account.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 1 Rights Associated with Each Type of Private
Data Exchange Account is_Exchange_ is_Data_ is_Data_ Admin Provider
Consumer Description False False True Can Discover & Consume
listings (subject to Listing visibility and access rules), but
cannot publish listings False True True Can Discover & Consume
listings (subject to Listing visibility and access rules), plus can
publish listings False True False Can publish listings, but when
they go to the consumer view they only see their own listings. They
will not be able to `get` their own listing as they will get a
self-sharing prohibited error. True False False Can add members,
remove members, change member roles, access list of member
accounts, and edit metadata. True True True Can do everything a
data provider and a data consumer can do, as well as add members,
remove members, change member roles, access list of member
accounts, and edit metadata.
[0142] In some embodiments, if the exchange admin removes a member
or changes a member's type from provider to a consumer only, then
existing listings published by that member may become unpublished
from the Exchange. Additionally, existing shares added to the
Exchange by the member are no longer considered part of the private
data exchange. The listings published by that member may be
archived, and are no longer visible in the UI to anyone, including
the member. The cloud computing service 112 can un-archive this if
the same member (same account on the cloud computing service 112)
who has been removed is made a Provider again.
[0143] In some embodiments, the exchange admin may be able to
specify a list of categories as well as edit an existing list.
Categories may have icons associated with them, and the exchange
admin may be able to specify the icon along with the category
name.
[0144] When a member becomes a data provider, a provider profile
may be generated that includes a logo, a description of the
provider, and a URL to the provider's website. When submitting
listings, a provider may do the following: select which private
data exchange to publish the data in (e.g., many private exchanges
may exist and the provider may need to select a subset of these
exchanges, which may be one or more), and set metadata about the
new listing. The metadata may include a listing title, a listing
type (e.g., Standard or Personalized), a listing description, one
or more usage examples (e.g., title and sample queries), a listing
category, which may be input as free form text, an update frequency
for the listing, a support email/URL, and a documentation link. The
provider may also set access for the listing. The provider may
allow the exchange admin to control the visibility of the listing,
or the provider may retain that control for itself. The provider
may also associate a share with a listing. For a standard share, a
listing may be associated with zero or more shares. The provider
may associate shares to a listing through the UI or SQL. For
personalized shares, when the provider provisions a share in
response to a request, the provider may associate that share with
the listing. When the provider wishes to publish the listing, the
listing may first need approval from the exchange admin, depending
on the publishing rules of the private data exchange.
[0145] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example tunneling of a
data listing between a public data exchange and a private data
exchange. Alternatively, data may be tunneled between two public
data exchanges or between two private data exchanges, or from one
public exchange to multiple private exchanges, or any other
suitable combination. In some embodiments, an entity may wish to
offer a publicly listed data listing on its private data exchange.
For example, Entity B may wish to include Listing F of public data
exchange 1100 on its own private data exchange 1000. The data
underlying Listing F may be tunneled from public data exchange 1100
to private data exchange 1000. In particular embodiments, data may
be tunneled between two private data exchanges. At times, a first
data provider may wish to allow a second data provider to list data
belonging to the first data provider on a private data exchange of
the second data provider. Tunneling of data listings may allow the
two data providers to offer the same listing. As an example, Entity
A and Entity B may have a business agreement to share listing F on
each of their private data exchanges. Listing F may be the property
of Entity A, but Entity B may have a license to offer it on its
private data exchange as well. In this case, both of the listings
titled "Listing F" will point to the same data set stored in cloud
computing platform 110. The tunnel 1015 is a representation to
illustrate that Listing F may be shared securely and easily between
two or more data exchanges 1100 and 1000. No data is copied or
transferred in the tunneling. Instead, each listing contains a
pointer to the data referenced by Listing F as discussed
herein.
[0146] In particular embodiments, tunnel linking may be
accomplished between a private data exchange and a public data
exchange, or vice versa. For instance, data exchange 1100 may be a
public data exchange. Entity B may use a listing listed on the
public data exchange 1100 on its own private data exchange 1000 via
tunnel 1015. In some embodiments, a data listing may be tunneled
from one data exchange to another data exchange and then the
underlying data may be joined with another data set, and then a new
listing may be generated from the combined data set. As an example
and not by way of limitation, a first data set may be listed on a
private data exchange that includes NBA player shooting statistics
over the last five years. A second data set may be listed on a
different data exchange that includes weather data over the same
time span. These two data sets may be joined and listed as a new
listing in either a private or a public data exchange. Data
consumers may then access this data set, subject to the viewing and
access controls discussed herein, to gain insight into how the
weather might affect player shooting percentages. Additionally, if
data is listed on a public data exchange (e.g., a data exchange
hosted by the cloud computing service 112), this data may be
tunneled to a private data exchange.
[0147] In some embodiments, tunneling of datasets may be used to
create an "industry-wide" data exchange that is either public or
private. Many different entities may tunnel datasets to a "mega
ecosystem data exchange." If a private ecosystem data exchange
really takes off, it could become so big and influential that it
could become the standard place for a whole industry to
interchange, collaborate around, and monetize data. There is
probably room for one or two "mega ecosystem data exchanges" in
each industry. Once any one gains significant traction, it could
become the "go to" place for that industry. If more than one viable
exchange emerges in an industry, the respective hosts of these
could decide to partner and "cross-tunnel" some (but maybe not all)
assets between their exchanges to get critical mass.
[0148] While it is possible that industry coalitions could host
such exchanges via tunneling, it may be more likely that one or two
large players in each industry will bootstrap ecosystem private
data exchanges fast and broadly enough to become the defacto data
exchange for their industry. This provides a significant incentive
for companies that want to become major players in the data side of
their industries to start as soon as they can to build their
internal data exchanges and then open them up quickly to their
suppliers, customers, and partners.
[0149] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example data query and
delivery service 1200 according to some embodiments of the
invention. Data query and delivery service 1200 illustrates four
ways a data provider may be able to share data. The first way is
through a data exchange 900. The data exchange 900 may be a public
data exchange or a private data exchange. The data provider 1210
may list 1211 the data on the data exchange according to the
methods and systems described herein with reference to FIGS. 2, 4,
and 8. The data consumer 1220 may access the data in the listings
by either accepting an invitation from the data provider as
discussed herein or by requesting 1212 access to the listing as
discussed herein with reference to FIG. 8. The second way data may
be shared is by directly sharing the data at 1213. This may be a
point-to-point share as discussed with reference to FIG. 4, or may
be any other suitable type of share, accomplished using the secure
data share methods discussed herein. Note that the data provider
1210 and the data consumer 1220 are both users of the cloud
computing service 112. If the data provider 1210 wishes to share
data with a non-user 1230, this is possible as a third way to share
the data, with a reader account 1215a or with a reader/writer
account 1215b. Here the non-user may need to have a reader account
but may not need to be an actual user of the cloud computing
service 112. A reader account may allow the non-user 1230 to view
the data but do nothing else to the data. Finally, a fourth way to
share data is via a file drop to cloud storage 1214. Here the data
provider 1210 may make a copy of a data set 1216 and may allow for
another non-user 1230 to have the data set 1216. This way of
sharing data may not allow the data provider 1210 to retain control
of the data set. Thus, using the fourth way, the non-user 1230 may
be able to view, manipulate, and re-share the data.
Global Data Sharing
[0150] As described above, the private data exchange is used within
one data region of a cloud computing service or within a single
cloud computing service. A customer may like to be able to have one
or more listings across multiple regions of a cloud computing
platform and/or across multiple cloud computing platforms. In order
for a data provider to share data sets across multiple cloud
computing platform regions and/or multiple cloud computing
platforms, the data providers would need to set up accounts in
different regions, login to each account to setup replication, and
refresh using tasks. The data provider would need to share with the
consumer in the target region as well as needing to replicate the
entire database. This whole process adds significant overhead for a
data provider. In addition, when a virtual private cloud (VPC)
customer wants to consume shared data through the data exchange,
this customer currently does not have a way to do this within their
VPC account. A workaround, such as asking the customer to open a
multi-tenant account and persisting the shared data there, puts a
burden on the consumer. In one embodiment, a multi-tenant account
is an account in a system that supports isolation of computing
resources and data between different customers/clients and between
different users within the same customer/client. Thus it is
difficult. It would be useful to a data provider (and to a customer
who consume this data) to achieve cross-region and cross-cloud data
sharing.
[0151] In one embodiment, for global data sharing, there are two
types of data: standard and personalized. Standard data represent
data that is the same for every consumer. For example, there is no
dynamic filtering of rows based on the consumer's account. In
contrast, personalized data represents data that is unique to each
consumer (or a group of consumers). In one embodiment, personalized
data can have a secure view to dynamically filter rows of the data
based on the consumer's account, so each consumer sees their own
slice of the data. In a further embodiment, for a data provider,
this can mean they can create a view for some, or all their
consumers instead of a view for each consumer.
[0152] In one embodiment, a listing for shared data can include
metadata associated with zero or more shares, or collection of
database (DB) objects. In addition, the listing can be for free
data or paid data. Furthermore, a data provider can grant access to
a consumer for shared data depending on whether the shared data is
standard, where the customers each get access to the same shared
data, or whether the shared data is personalized, where data is
shared on an individual or group basis. For personalized data, in
one embodiment, a data provider adds each customer of the data to
an entitlements table. Alternatively, a non-personalized data may
still require some sort of approval process for the customer to
access the data. For example and in one embodiment, in a private
exchange, getting access to a share might need an approval workflow
even though the data itself is not personalized. Thus, in one
embodiment, for a standard data share, a data provider does not
need to be in the request fulfillment loop. Any consumer account
that discovers the listing can access the data and use this data to
create a database from it. Alternatively, for data shared by
request, a data provider will need to explicitly add the consumer
to the share.
[0153] In another embodiment, standard shares may exist in the
context of the data exchange (whether, public or private) as the
data exchange represents the membership base that it is made
available to and how listings are discovered. In one embodiment,
data shared by a data provider is also called a data share. In one
embodiment, a consumer should not really care about the underlying
share type (e.g., Standard or By Request). In addition, a consumer
can always interact with the standard listing. In this embodiment,
a data provider will have to be aware of shares to create them.
However, the data exchange will handle the creation of these
shares.
[0154] In one embodiment, data shares outside of an exchange are,
by definition, By Request shares. In addition, the data exchange
can include unlisted or undiscoverable Standard Listings which do
not have an entry in a data exchange. The effective membership base
for this is any Snowflake customer. The listing, however, is not
discoverable by consumers as the data provider would send around a
listing URL. In this embodiment, anyone who views that URL and logs
into the data exchange can view the data and, for example, create a
DB from the share.
[0155] In one embodiment, both Standard Listings and By Request
listings could be free or paid. If the data share is free, a
consumer can create a DB from the shared data, once the consumer
accepts the provider terms. If data share is paid, the consumer can
accept terms and arrange for payment. Then the consumer can create
a DB from share. In one embodiment, for a standard listing, the
data can be available in a region or not: If the data is not yet
available in a region, consumer still clicks get and can create a
DB from the share. At this point, the data exchange can let them
know that the data will be available in a certain amount of time
(e.g., could have visual countdown if it's in seconds or progress
bar indication in the UI). In one embodiment, a personalized data
share can be a type of By Request share or listing.
[0156] FIG. 13A is a block diagram of an example system 1300 of
multiple cloud computing platform sharing data with a data
exchange. In FIG. 13A, the system 1300 includes two different cloud
computing platforms 1302A-B, where each of the cloud computing
platforms 1302A-B can be one of the cloud computing platforms
described above in FIG. 1. Each of the cloud computing platforms
1302A-B are coupled to a data exchange 1306. In one embodiment, the
data exchange 1306 is similar to the data exchanges described
above, with the exception that data exchange 1306 can support data
sharing across multiple cloud computing platforms, such as cloud
computing platforms 1302A-B.
[0157] In one embodiment, cloud computing platform 1302A includes
data provider share 1304. In this embodiment, the data provider
shares some or all of its data 1304 via the data exchange 1306 that
is visible to data consumers in both cloud computing platforms
1302A-B. For example and in one embodiment, data consumer 1308 that
is in a different cloud computing platform (e.g., cloud computing
platform 1302B) can view the listing for the data provider share
1304 via the data exchange. If the data consumer 1308 requests the
listing, in response, the data exchange 1306 can create a provider
account in cloud computing platform 1302B for the data provider
share 1304, and replicate the data share to the cloud computing
platform 1302B. With the data share replicated 1310 in cloud
computing platform 1302B, the data consumer 1308 can access the
data. In one embodiment, the data exchange 1306 can replicate the
entire data provider share 1304, or can replicate some of the data
provider share 1304. In one embodiment, the data provider indicates
which parts of the data provider share 1304 to be replicated. In
another embodiment, the data exchange 1304 infers what parts of the
data provider share 1304 to replicate. In this embodiment, the data
exchange can infer the objects of the data provider share that need
to be replicated, the frequency as which these objects need to be
replicated, and/or region of the consumer account and the
corresponding provider secondary account.
[0158] FIG. 13B is a block diagram of an example system 1320 of a
cloud computing platform sharing data with a data exchange across
multiple regions of the cloud computing platform. In FIG. 13B, the
system 1320 includes a cloud computing platform with two different
regions 1322A-B, where each of the cloud computing platforms region
1322A-B can be a different geographic region for that cloud
computing platform (e.g., US-West, US-East, Europe, Asia, and/or
another type of geographic region). In one embodiment, each of the
cloud computing platform regions 1322A-B are coupled to a data
exchange 1306. In one embodiment, the data exchange 1306 is similar
to the data exchanges describe, with the exception that data
exchange 1306 can support data sharing across multiple cloud
computing platforms, such as cloud computing platform regions
1322A-B.
[0159] In one embodiment, the cloud computing platform region 1322A
includes data provider share 1304. In this embodiment, the data
provider shares some or all of its data 1304 via the data exchange
1306 that is visible to data consumers in both cloud computing
platforms 1302A-B. For example and in one embodiment, data consumer
1308 that is in a different cloud computing platform region (e.g.,
cloud computing platform region 1302B) can view the listing for the
data provider share 1304 via the data exchange. If the data
consumer 1308 requests the listing, in response, the data exchange
1306 can create a provider account in cloud computing platform
region 1322B for the data provider share 1304, and replicate the
data share to the cloud computing platform region 1322B. With the
data share replicated 1310 in cloud computing platform region
1322B, the data consumer 1308 can access the data. In one
embodiment, the data exchange 1306 can replicate the entire data
provider share 1304, or can replicate some of the data provider
share 1304. In one embodiment, the data provider indicates which
parts of the data provider share 1304 to be replicated. In another
embodiment, the data exchange 1304 infers what parts of the data
provider share 1304 to replicate. In this embodiment, the data
exchange can infer the objects of the data provider share that need
to be replicated, the frequency as which these objects need to be
replicated, and/or region of the consumer account and the
corresponding provider secondary account.
[0160] In one embodiment, there are different types of use cases
for data sharing across deployments, such as across regions, across
clouds, and/or as well as into/out from a VPC. For example and in
one embodiment, a data provider can provide non-personalized By
Request data shares either in a data exchange or outside of the
data exchange, where consumers can be in different deployments. In
one embodiment, this is the basic building block that some of the
other type can be built on. Another use case type is a data
provider of a standard listing that used for many different
consumers (e.g. weather data on a public or private exchange). A
third use type case can be a data provider of personalized
shares/listings. This use case type could be on the public data
exchange, in a private data exchange, or outside the Exchange (just
data sharing). Lastly, a use case type could be a consumer on VPC
wanting access to a data share in a cloud computing platform. In
one embodiment, an additional nuance is that a private data
exchange adds that providers are added by the data exchange
administrator. The data exchange administrator would ideally like
to not have to train the providers in managing the complexities of
setting up replication to share data from that provider to other
private exchange members who may be on different
regions/clouds.
[0161] In one embodiment, a reservations data provider wants to
share select tables and/or views whose data is stored on is the
US-West region of a cloud computing platform and with a marketing
data firm (whose main account is on the same cloud computing
platform, but in a different region, say US-East). In this
embodiment, the reservations data provider is a customer of
marketing data provider. A primary goal is for marketing data
provider to process and incorporate this info into a product of the
marketing data provider. In one embodiment, costs should impact
marketing data provider data exchange account, but not the account
of the reservations data provider. In this embodiment, a secondary
goal is for the marketing data provider to share certain views from
the marketing data provider to reservations data provider. In this
case, the reservations data provider is a customer of the marketing
data provider, and so the marketing data provider does not want to
make reservations data provider do the work. In addition, the
marketing data provider have a view that references objects in
another database, so both databases must be replicated. In one
embodiment, the reservations data provider determines which tables
and/or views to list in the data exchange. In response to the
marketing data provider requesting the data share via the data
exchange, the data exchange creates an account in the US-East
region of the cloud computing provider and replicates the relevant
data shares of the reservations data providers (e.g., the main data
share indicated by the reservations data provider as well as the
dependent data). Sharing data across cloud computing platforms
and/or regions is described further in FIG. 14 below.
[0162] In a further embodiment, in a private exchange, a non-profit
research institution wants listings that members have to request
access to. In this embodiment, these requests trigger a workflow
with cloud computing platform, and each consumer is added once the
approval is done. This is a common scenario in private exchange,
where the data is not personalized but the consumer needs to go
through an approval workflow. Sharing data across cloud computing
platforms and/or regions using an approval workflow is described
further in FIG. 14 below.
[0163] In another embodiment, is that a data provider wishes to
replicate a customized set of data shares for a consumer across
different cloud computing platforms and/or regions. In this
embodiment, the data provider wishes only to replicate certain
tables of their database. A transportation analytics company its
data in a cloud computing service, where each table contains data
for a specific dataset. This company shares specific datasets with
customers based on what datasets that customer is subscribed to.
The transportation analytics company wants to model their data in
cloud computing service independent of how shares will be created.
Then, when the transportation analytics company creates shares for
specific customers, they want only those tables to be replicated.
Sharing data across cloud computing platforms and/or regions using
an approval workflow is described further in FIG. 14 below.
[0164] In one embodiment, a standard listing on a public exchange
can represent increased opportunities for the data exchange and/or
the cloud computing service. Paid standard shares present a new
revenue stream with monetization. In one embodiment, an experience
for the consumer to be able to get the free or paid listing as
immediately as possible. Since the provider is not explicitly
adding the consumer to the share, they are not in the user flow. In
addition, a data provider has also said it would also be ideal to
incur replication cost based on demand. For example and in one
embodiment, a weather data provider has made available a free
subset of their data as a free standard listings and wish to have a
paid standard listing, where a customer can immediately pay and get
the pre-defined package. Third, for more custom packages they want
the consumer to contact them and they will set up a direct share
with the consumer. The most likely scenario in this case is that
free listing is made available in (almost) all regions. For the
paid listing, data providers would want it to be available on any
deployment as soon as there is at least one paying consumer in that
deployment or if the cloud computing service covers replication
cost. Note that while free vs paid shares could be set up as a
filter on rows (secure view within one share) or set up as separate
shares altogether, one scenario is that these are two separate
shares. For example, a retail analytics provider would make a
different share with a different set of objects available for free
vs paid. Within the paid share, this data provider would have the
ability for the consumer to select which rows they want, to create.
dynamically created packages. For instance, a consumer will select
through the data exchange user interface that they want only
location data for "Type=McDonald's" and "State=CA", and therefore
pay only for the rows they get.
[0165] In one embodiment, various scenarios can be handled using
the data replication described above. For example and in one
embodiment, a brand data provider is building its data-driven
marketing solution on a cloud computing service. They will be a
provider of both standard and personalized shares, on the public
exchange. They have hundreds of TBs of data and can have hundreds
of clients to share with, where most of whom will be new to the
cloud computing service. Based on the data set a client has
purchased on their platform, they automatically insert the clients
ID into an entitlements table in the cloud computing service and
add their consumer account to the share. They want this automatic
sharing pipeline to work across regions & clouds with little or
no manual effort. In addition, the brand data provider may also
want to share data into a VPC.
[0166] A customer relationship company builds mobile marketing
campaigns and shares the results with customers via the data
exchange. In one example, the campaign data arrives into their 50
TB event table at least every 15 minutes and consumer-specific data
gets shared with consumers. In addition, this company wants a
15-minutes latency (or less) to their consumers.
[0167] An equipment manufacturer wants to share machine health data
with 200 dealers so they can take corrective actions. Data is not
large in volume but is coming throughout the day and they want
latency and/or freshness guarantees for their dealers. "I expected
remote data sharing to be a continuous data stream instead of a
batch model." The company will set up secure views based on an
entitlements table that maps dealers to equipment, so that each
dealer only sees rows that are relevant for them.
[0168] In another example, and embodiment, VPC customers want to
consume shares from data providers who are in a multi-tenant
deployment. In one embodiment, a VPC is an on-demand configurable
pool of shared computing resources allocated within a public cloud
environment, providing a level of isolation between the different
organizations using the resources. For example, a financial company
wants to consume marketing data from companies like marketing
companies. However, when directly consuming data from these data
sources, considerable effort is necessary to ingest the data, and
manage and maintain the ingestion process, and change management of
the underlying schemas. Solving problems, which usually are called
"first mile problem of data ingestion," can provide tremendous
benefits. The financial company can have the data processed by a
third party before ingesting the data from the exchange. In
addition, the financial company has multiple business units (Bus),
which have different needs and visibility requirements for shared
data. For that reason, the financial company needs the ability to
apply fine grained security controls when sharing the data provided
by the third party company to its internal customers (BUs).
Furthermore, any solution to be considered must be easy to use (no
additional coding and/or engineering time), robust (no fragile
ongoing or maintenance processes.) Handling a workflow of this type
is further described in FIG. 16 below.
[0169] FIG. 14 is a process flow diagram of a method 1400 for
sharing data across multiple cloud computing services and/or across
multiple regions with a cloud computing service. In general, the
method 1400 may be performed by processing logic that may include
hardware (e.g., processing device, circuitry, dedicated logic,
programmable logic, microcode, hardware of a device, integrated
circuit, etc.), software (e.g., instructions run or executed on a
processing device), or a combination thereof. For example, the
processing logic may be implemented as exchange manager 124. Method
1400 may begin at step 1402, where the processing logic receives an
indication for data sharing across different cloud computing
platforms or a cloud computing platform that has multiple regions.
In one embodiment, a data provider can create a listing that is a
standard one available to all customers, a data share that is
available by request, and/or other types of data share as described
above. Creating a list is further described in FIG. 15 below. At
block 1404, processing logic receives request for listing of data
sharing. In one embodiment, the request is associated with a
customer account for an account that is part of a cloud computing
platform or cloud computing platform region. For example and in one
embodiment, the request could be associated with a customer account
that is a different cloud computing platform and/or cloud computing
platform region that is different with the cloud computing platform
and/or cloud computing platform region associated with the listing.
Processing logic determines if a provider customer account is
allowed in the cloud computing platforms and/or cloud computing
platform regions associated with the listing request. For example
and in one embodiment, the provider may have information that is
not allowed out a certain region (e.g., security data). If not,
executing proceeds to block 1406, where an error is returned. If
the provider customer account is allowed, processing logic creates
the customer account the listing request at block 1410. In one
embodiment, if the request is for a consumer that is in different
cloud computing platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions,
processing logic creates a provider account in that cloud computing
platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions, so the data
provider can share the data with the requesting customer.
[0170] At block 1412, processing logic shares the data. In one
embodiment, processing logic shares the data by replicating the
data to the cloud computing platforms and/or cloud computing
platform regions associated with the consumer who made the original
listing request. In one embodiment, processing logic can replicate
the entire data share, or parts of the data share. In this
embodiment, processing logic can infer which parts of the data is
to be shared based on characteristics of the requesting consumer
(geographical, temporal, etc.). In a further embodiment, processing
logic can customize the data based on the consumer (e.g., paid data
represents one view as opposed to unpaid data, data shared is based
on the region of the consumer, a consumer's affiliations, and/or
other types of characteristics). Processing logic sets up tasks for
frequency replication at block 1414. In one embodiment, by setting
up these tasks, the data that is shared with the different cloud
computing platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions can be
periodically refreshed, so that the data provider or consumer does
not need to manually refresh the data.
[0171] In FIG. 14, a consumer requests shared data across different
cloud computing platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions.
In one embodiment, the data provider can create a listing that
allows for data to replicated across different cloud computing
platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions. FIG. 15 is a
process flow diagram of a method 1500 for creating a listing within
a data exchange, where the listing is available in different cloud
computing services and/or in multiple regions with a cloud
computing service. For example, the processing logic may be
implemented as exchange manager 124. Method 1500 may begin at step
1502, where the processing logic receives a request to create a
data listing from a data provider. In one embodiment, the data
listing can include a listing types (e.g., Standard or By Request,
whether a free or a paid listing, what data is to be shared (e.g.,
which tables, rows, etc. of a database to share), any sharing
restrictions, data provider information, and/or other information
used for the listing. At block 1504, processing logic creates the
listing in the data exchange. Processing logic can pre-emptively
replicate the shared data, based on characteristics of the data to
be shared and the cloud computing entities (e.g., cloud computing
platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions) for the listing.
For example and in one embodiment, processing logic may share
standard data to different cloud computing platforms where existing
consumers are present, or may preemptively share data based on
geographic regions (e.g., sharing weather data based on cloud
computing platform regions), and/or other characteristics.
Processing logic sets up tasks for frequency replication at block
1508. In one embodiment, by setting up these tasks, the data that
is shared with the different cloud computing platforms and/or cloud
computing platform regions can be periodically refreshed, so that
the data provider or consumer does not need to manually refresh the
data.
[0172] In one embodiment, another type of sharing model is one
where a data provider provides the shared data to one or more third
party entities before sharing the data with the consumer. This can
be used to personalize the shared data for the consumer. FIG. 16 is
a process flow diagram of a method 1600 for creating a listing for
personalized shares within a data exchange, where the listing is
available in different cloud computing services and/or in multiple
regions with a cloud computing service. For example, the processing
logic may be implemented as exchange manager 124. Method 1600 may
begin at step 1602, where the processing logic receives a request
to create a listing from a data provider at block 1602. In one
embodiment, a data provider can create a listing that is a standard
one available to all customers, a data share that is available by
request, and/or other types of data share as described above. In a
further embodiment, the listing can include a set of cloud
computing platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions where
the list can be visible. Listing could be visible in all possible
cloud computing regions and/or cloud computing platforms clouds or
can be a subset of all possible cloud computing regions and/or
cloud computing platforms clouds. In addition, the listing can
include other information (e.g., allowed consumers for the data).
Processing logic creates the listing in the data exchange at block
1604. In one embodiment, processing logic creates the listing by
creating an entitlements map, which maps a consumer identifier to
the data provider. In addition, the listing can include a secure
view of the data, which is added to the shared data.
[0173] At block 1606, processing logic determines which third party
account will receive the data. In one embodiment, the shared data
can be replicated to another party for processing before the data
is shared with a consumer. Processing logic determines which
objects are to be replicated to potential third parties at block
1608. At block 1610, processing logic replicates the data to the
third party accounts. Processing logic determines the secure view
for the shared data for potential consumers at block 1612. In one
embodiment, a secure view is used to create a secure way for the
potential consumers to access the shared data. In this embodiment,
there can be different secure view for different potential
consumers, group of consumers, or the same secure view for all
potential consumers.
[0174] At block 1614, processing logic can pre-emptively replicate
the shared data and the entitlements table, based on
characteristics of the data to be shared and the cloud computing
entities (e.g., cloud computing platforms and/or cloud computing
platform regions) for the listing. For example and in one
embodiment, processing logic may share standard data to different
cloud computing platforms where existing consumers are present, or
may preemptively share data based on geographic regions (e.g.,
sharing weather data based on cloud computing platform regions),
and/or other characteristics.
[0175] Processing logic receives a listing request at block 1616.
In one embodiment, the request is associated with a consumer
account for an account that is part of cloud computing platform
and/or cloud computing region. For example, and in one embodiment,
the request could be associated with a consumer account that is on
a different cloud computing platforms and/or cloud computing
platform regions that is different with the cloud computing
platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions than associated
with the listing. Processing logic determines if a provider
customer account is allowed in the cloud computing platform, cloud
computing platform region, and/or VPC associated with the listing
request. For example and in one embodiment, the provider may have
information that is not allowed out a certain region (e.g.,
security of data, personally identifiable information, government
restrictions, and/or other types of restrictions). If not,
processing logic returns an error. If the provider customer account
is allowed, processing logic creates the customer account the
listing request at block 1618. In one embodiment, if the request is
for a consumer that is in different cloud computing platform, cloud
computing platform region, and/or VPC, processing logic creates a
provider account in that cloud computing platforms and/or cloud
computing platform regions, so the data provider can share the data
with the requesting customer.
[0176] At block 1620, processing logic shares the data using the
secure view associated with the consumer. In one embodiment,
processing logic shares the data by replicating the data using the
secure view to the cloud computing platforms and/or cloud computing
platform regions associated with the consumer who made the original
listing request. In one embodiment, processing logic can replicate
the entire data share, or parts of the data share. In this
embodiment, processing logic can infer which parts of the data is
to be shared based on characteristics of the requesting consumer
(geographical, temporal, etc.). Processing logic sets up tasks for
frequency replication at block 1622. In one embodiment, by setting
up these tasks, the data that is shared with the cloud computing
platforms and/or cloud computing platform regions can be
periodically refreshed, so that the data provider or consumer does
not need to manually refresh the data.
[0177] FIG. 17 is a process flow diagram of a method 1700 for
sharing data with a VPC. For example, the processing logic may be
implemented as exchange manager 124. Method 1700 may begin at step
1702, where the processing logic receives a listing request from a
consumer using a VPC. In one embodiment, processing logic uses an
account of the VPC that has been created beforehand to share the
data. At block 1704, processing logic replicates the data to the
consumer's VPC using the account. In one embodiment, processing
logic can replicate the entire data share, or parts of the data
share. In this embodiment, processing logic can infer which parts
of the data is to be shared based on characteristics of the
requesting consumer (geographical, temporal, etc.). In this
embodiment, the consumer sees the data share though a user
interface associated with the VPC account. The consumer can create
a database from the shared data. Processing logic sets up tasks for
frequency replication at block 1706. In one embodiment, by setting
up these tasks, the data that is shared with the VPC can be
periodically refreshed, so that the data provider or consumer does
not need to manually refresh the data.
[0178] FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an example computing device
1800 that may perform one or more of the operations described
herein, in accordance with some embodiments. Computing device 1800
may be connected to other computing devices in a LAN, an intranet,
an extranet, and/or the Internet. The computing device may operate
in the capacity of a server machine in client-server network
environment or in the capacity of a client in a peer-to-peer
network environment. The computing device may be provided by a
personal computer (PC), a set-top box (STB), a server, a network
router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set
of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to
be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single computing
device is illustrated, the term "computing device" shall also be
taken to include any collection of computing devices that
individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of
instructions to perform the methods discussed herein.
[0179] The example computing device 1800 may include a processing
device (e.g., a general purpose processor, a PLD, etc.) 1802, a
main memory 1804 (e.g., synchronous dynamic random access memory
(DRAM), read-only memory (ROM)), a static memory 1806 (e.g., flash
memory and a data storage device 1818), which may communicate with
each other via a bus 1830.
[0180] Processing device 1802 may be provided by one or more
general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor,
central processing unit, or the like. In an illustrative example,
processing device 1802 may comprise a complex instruction set
computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing
(RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW)
microprocessor, or a processor implementing other instruction sets
or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets.
Processing device 1802 may also comprise one or more
special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific
integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA),
a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or the like.
The processing device 1802 may be configured to execute the
operations described herein, in accordance with one or more aspects
of the present disclosure, for performing the operations and steps
discussed herein. In one embodiment, processing device 1802
represents cloud computing platform 110 of FIG. 1. In another
embodiment, processing device 1802 represents a processing device
of a client device (e.g., client devices 101-104).
[0181] Computing device 1800 may further include a network
interface device 1808 which may communicate with a network 1820.
The computing device 1800 also may include a video display unit
1810 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube
(CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 1812 (e.g., a keyboard), a
cursor control device 1814 (e.g., a mouse) and an acoustic signal
generation device 1816 (e.g., a speaker). In one embodiment, video
display unit 1810, alphanumeric input device 1812, and cursor
control device 1814 may be combined into a single component or
device (e.g., an LCD touch screen).
[0182] Data storage device 1818 may include a computer-readable
storage medium 1828 on which may be stored one or more sets of
instructions, e.g., instructions for carrying out the operations
described herein, in accordance with one or more aspects of the
present disclosure. Private data exchange instructions 1826 may
also reside, completely or at least partially, within main memory
1804 and/or within processing device 1802 during execution thereof
by computing device 1800, main memory 1804 and processing device
1802 also constituting computer-readable media. The instructions
may further be transmitted or received over a network 1820 via
network interface device 1808.
[0183] While computer-readable storage medium 1828 is shown in an
illustrative example to be a single medium, the term
"computer-readable storage medium" should be taken to include a
single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed
database and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one
or more sets of instructions. The term "computer-readable storage
medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable
of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for
execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform the
methods described herein. The term "computer-readable storage
medium" shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited
to, solid-state memories, optical media and magnetic media.
[0184] Unless specifically stated otherwise, terms such as
"receiving," "receiving," "creating," "determining," "sharing,"
"providing," "designating," or the like, refer to actions and
processes performed or implemented by computing devices that
manipulates and transforms data represented as physical
(electronic) quantities within the computing device's registers and
memories into other data similarly represented as physical
quantities within the computing device memories or registers or
other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
Also, the terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," etc., as used
herein are meant as labels to distinguish among different elements
and may not necessarily have an ordinal meaning according to their
numerical designation.
[0185] Examples described herein also relate to an apparatus for
performing the operations described herein. This apparatus may be
specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise
a general purpose computing device selectively programmed by a
computer program stored in the computing device. Such a computer
program may be stored in a computer-readable non-transitory storage
medium.
[0186] The methods and illustrative examples described herein are
not inherently related to any particular computer or other
apparatus. Various general purpose systems may be used in
accordance with the teachings described herein, or it may prove
convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the
required method steps. The required structure for a variety of
these systems will appear as set forth in the description
above.
[0187] The above description is intended to be illustrative, and
not restrictive. Although the present disclosure has been described
with references to specific illustrative examples, it will be
recognized that the present disclosure is not limited to the
examples described. The scope of the disclosure should be
determined with reference to the following claims, along with the
full scope of equivalents to which the claims are entitled.
[0188] As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are
intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context
clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the
terms "comprises", "comprising", "includes", and/or "including",
when used herein, specify the presence of stated features,
integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do
not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other
features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or
groups thereof. Therefore, the terminology used herein is for the
purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not
intended to be limiting.
[0189] It should also be noted that in some alternative
implementations, the functions/acts noted may occur out of the
order noted in the figures. For example, two figures shown in
succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or
may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the
functionality/acts involved.
[0190] Although the method operations were described in a specific
order, it should be understood that other operations may be
performed in between described operations, described operations may
be adjusted so that they occur at slightly different times or the
described operations may be distributed in a system which allows
the occurrence of the processing operations at various intervals
associated with the processing.
[0191] Various units, circuits, or other components may be
described or claimed as "configured to" or "configurable to"
perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, the phrase "configured
to" or "configurable to" is used to connote structure by indicating
that the units/circuits/components include structure (e.g.,
circuitry) that performs the task or tasks during operation. As
such, the unit/circuit/component can be said to be configured to
perform the task, or configurable to perform the task, even when
the specified unit/circuit/component is not currently operational
(e.g., is not on). The units/circuits/components used with the
"configured to" or "configurable to" language include hardware--for
example, circuits, memory storing program instructions executable
to implement the operation, etc. Reciting that a
unit/circuit/component is "configured to" perform one or more
tasks, or is "configurable to" perform one or more tasks, is
expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph,
for that unit/circuit/component. Additionally, "configured to" or
"configurable to" can include generic structure (e.g., generic
circuitry) that is manipulated by software and/or firmware (e.g.,
an FPGA or a general-purpose processor executing software) to
operate in manner that is capable of performing the task(s) at
issue. "Configured to" may also include adapting a manufacturing
process (e.g., a semiconductor fabrication facility) to fabricate
devices (e.g., integrated circuits) that are adapted to implement
or perform one or more tasks. "Configurable to" is expressly
intended not to apply to blank media, an unprogrammed processor or
unprogrammed generic computer, or an unprogrammed programmable
logic device, programmable gate array, or other unprogrammed
device, unless accompanied by programmed media that confers the
ability to the unprogrammed device to be configured to perform the
disclosed function(s).
[0192] Any combination of one or more computer-usable or
computer-readable media may be utilized. For example, a
computer-readable medium may include one or more of a portable
computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM)
device, a read-only memory (ROM) device, an erasable programmable
read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) device, a portable compact
disc read-only memory (CDROM), an optical storage device, and a
magnetic storage device. Computer program code for carrying out
operations of the present disclosure may be written in any
combination of one or more programming languages. Such code may be
compiled from source code to computer-readable assembly language or
machine code suitable for the device or computer on which the code
will be executed.
[0193] Embodiments may also be implemented in cloud computing
environments. In this description and the following claims, "cloud
computing" may be defined as a model for enabling ubiquitous,
convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of
configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage,
applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned
(including via virtualization) and released with minimal management
effort or service provider interaction and then scaled accordingly.
A cloud model can be composed of various characteristics (e.g.,
on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling,
rapid elasticity, and measured service), service models (e.g.,
Software as a Service ("SaaS"), Platform as a Service ("PaaS"), and
Infrastructure as a Service ("IaaS")), and deployment models (e.g.,
private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud).
The flow diagrams and block diagrams in the attached figures
illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of
possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program
products according to various embodiments of the present
disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flow diagrams or
block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code,
which comprises one or more executable instructions for
implementing the specified logical function(s). It will also be
noted that each block of the block diagrams or flow diagrams, and
combinations of blocks in the block diagrams or flow diagrams, may
be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that
perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special
purpose hardware and computer instructions. These computer program
instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium that
can direct a computer or other programmable data processing
apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the
instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an
article of manufacture including instruction means which implement
the function/act specified in the flow diagram and/or block diagram
block or blocks.
[0194] The foregoing description, for the purpose of explanation,
has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However,
the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be
exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms
disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view
of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described
in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments and its
practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art
to best utilize the embodiments and various modifications as may be
suited to the particular use contemplated. Accordingly, the present
embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not
restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details
given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents
of the appended claims.
* * * * *
References