Patent ID: 7287048

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of transparently archiving data stored in one or more first data sources of a federated relational database management system, comprising: storing a first set of rules in the federated relational database management system, the first set of rules being stored in a data structure, the first set of rules comprising at least one rule, said at least one rule comprising a specified data source of said one or more first data sources, a specified archive target, a specified predicate, a specified timestamp, a specified retention period, and a specified archiving schedule, the specified predicate being a condition to evaluate, the specified retention period specifying a duration of time to retain data that satisfies the condition, the specified timestamp specifying a column of said specified data source comprising a time from which to calculate a particular retention period based on the specified retention period of the data that satisfies the condition; reading, by a first data mover, the first set of rules that is stored in the data structure, wherein the specified data source, the specified archive target, the specified predicate, the specified timestamp, the specified retention period and the specified archiving schedule are read; generating, by the first data mover, at least one command to move a first subset of data from the one or more first data sources to a first federated archive in accordance with the first set of rules, a particular command of said at least one command being generated to move data from the specified data source to the specified archive target based on the specified predicate, the specified timestamp and the specified retention period; and moving, by the first data mover by causing the at least one command to be executed, the first subset of data from the one or more first data sources to the first federated archive in accordance with the first set of rules, wherein the particular command is executed in accordance with the specified archiving schedule.