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A toolkit for the incremental implementation of heterogeneous database management systems

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Abstract

The integration of heterogeneous database environments is a difficult and complex task. The A la carte Framework addresses this complexity by providing a reusable and extensible architecture in which a set of heterogeneous database management systems can be integrated. The goal is to support incremental integration of existing database facilities into heterogeneous, interoperative, distributed systems. The Framework addresses the three main issues in heterogeneous systems in tegration. First, it identifies the problems in integrating heterogeneous systems. Second, it identifies the key interfaces and parameters required for autonomous systems to interoperate correctly. Third, it demonstrates an approach to integrating these interfaces in an extensible and incremental way. The A la carte Framework provides a set of reusable, integrating components which integrate the major functional domains, such as transaction management, that could or should be integrated in heterogeneous systems. It also provides a mechanism for capturing key characteristics of the components and constraints which describe how the components can be mixed and interchanged, thereby helping to reduce the complexity of the integration process. Using this framework, we have implemented an experimental, heterogeneous configuration as part of the object management work in the software engineering research consortium, Arcadia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Pamela Drew Ph.D. (Lecturer of Computer Science)

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

    Roger King Ph.D. (Associate Professor) & Dennis Heimbigner Ph.D. (Research Faculty Member)

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  1. Pamela Drew Ph.D.
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  2. Roger King Ph.D.
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  3. Dennis Heimbigner Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Pamela Drew Ph.D..

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Drew, P., King, R. & Heimbigner, D. A toolkit for the incremental implementation of heterogeneous database management systems. VLDB Journal 1, 241–284 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01231701

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