Patent ID: 7343377

Claim:
A computer implemented method for a primary application to provide an indication of integrity of a database including the steps of: i. obtaining a first reference reduced representation by: a. applying a process to obtain first schema metadata of a database structure of a database, where the first schema metadata is selected from a set of tables, columns in tables, data types of columns, lengths of columns, custom database data types foreign keys, constraints, stored procedures, views, triggers, indices, and scheduled jobs; b. creating a first reference reduced representation of the first obtained schema metadata using an algorithm, where the algorithm is a hash function selected from a set of MD5 (Message-Digest algorithm 5) and CRC32 (Cyclic redundancy check 32); and c. storing the first reference reduced representation by embedding the first reference reduced representation within configuration files for the primary application; ii. during execution of the primary application, applying a process to obtain second schema metadata of the database structure of a same database, where the second schema metadata is selected from the set of tables, columns in tables, data types of columns, lengths of columns, custom database data types foreign keys, constraints, stored procedures, views, triggers, indices, and scheduled jobs; iii. creating a second reduced representation of the second obtained schema metadata using the algorithm; iv. comparing the stored first reference reduced representation with the created second reduced representation so as to provide an indication of the integrity of the database by determining whether the database structure changed during a time when the first reference reduced representation and second reduced representation were obtained; v. controlling execution of the primary application dependent on the indication, where the execution of the primary application is controlled by the primary application sending an error message to one selected from a set of a user of the primary application, a manager of the primary application, a manager of the database and the database; and vi. requesting a schema stability lock to guarantee that the schema of the database does not change between subsequent database integrity verifications.