IP Library Granted Patent US 12,086,100
Granted Patent B2
US 12,086,100 · App. 17/171,879 · Granted Sep 10, 2024

Data deletion in multi-tenant database

Inventors: Sheng Wang (Kirkland, WA); Tuan Doan (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: STRIPE, INC.
G06F16/122G06F16/128G06F16/162G06F16/2228G06F16/9024
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,086,100
App. No.
17/171,879
Granted
Sep 10, 2024
Kind
B2
Abstract

In an example embodiment, data in a multi-tenant database is organized as a graph representing the relationships among all documents and tenants. Specifically, each document is represented as a node in the graph and each tenant also is represented as a node. The relationships between the documents themselves, or between a document and a graph, are then represented as edges in the graph. A list of tenants whose data should be marked for deletion (e.g., former customers who no longer have a relationship with the entity maintaining the database) may be maintained. Periodically (e.g., once a week), this list of tenants and the relationship graph are fed as input into a graph search algorithm that generates smaller relationship graphs comprised only of documents associated with those accounts.

Claims (53)

1. A method comprising:

obtaining a document graph of a multi-tenant database, the document graph having a first plurality of nodes, a second plurality of nodes, and edges connecting nodes in the first plurality of nodes and the second plurality of nodes, each node in the first plurality of nodes representing a document stored in the multi-tenant database, each node in-the second plurality of nodes representing a tenant of the multi-tenant database, each edge connecting a node in the first plurality of nodes to a node in the second plurality of nodes representing ownership of a corresponding document by a corresponding tenant, and each edge connecting a node in the first plurality of nodes to another node in the first plurality of nodes indicating a relationship between respective documents, the document graph having one or more cycles, each edge having a direction from a source node to a target node;

obtaining a list of one or more closed tenants, wherein a closed tenant is a former customer who no longer has a relationship with an entity associated with the multi-tenant database;

building a subgraph for each of the one or more closed tenants, each subgraph being an acyclical graph formed by iteratively traversing the document graph in a backwards direction through-each edge beginning at a node in the second plurality of nodes corresponding to a closed tenant of the one or more closed tenants and proceeding to a root node of the document graph, wherein at each iteration visited nodes are marked as visited and processing of the iteration stops when a node previously marked as visited is reached, and wherein each iteration begins at all source nodes for an edge traversed in an immediately preceding iteration, the subgraph including a first group of the first plurality of nodes, the closed tenant excluded from the multi-tenant database;

traversing each subgraph in a forward direction through each edge having a source node visited during building of the subgraph to identify tenant nodes corresponding to the documents among the first group of the first plurality of nodes;

identifying, for all of the documents among the first group of the first plurality of nodes, corresponding auto-delete edges of the subgraph for at least one of the closed tenants;

traversing, for at least one of the one or more closed tenants, all of the auto-delete edges for the subgraph; and

deleting, for the at least one of the one or more closed tenants and with the traversing all of the auto-delete edges, all documents from the multi-tenant database linked with the corresponding auto-delete edges, the plurality of documents each corresponding to a second group of the first plurality of nodes from the subgraph that excludes documents corresponding to the identified tenant nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming the document graph by:

obtaining a set of foreign keys in a collections database;

generating metadata from the set of foreign keys; and

generating the document graph using documents in the collections database and the metadata.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the metadata indicates, for a collection of documents in the collections database, all foreign keys for each document in the collection of documents.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the metadata further indicates that a role corresponding to a foreign key among the foreign keys indicated by the metadata is optional.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the metadata further indicates which foreign keys are a backedge.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the metadata further indicates which foreign keys represent corresponding auto-delete edges.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising indexing each edge in the document graph using an inverted index.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the collections database is in the form of shard snapshots.

9. A system comprising:

a network;

one or more processors; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor among the one or more processors, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a document graph of a multi-tenant database, the document graph having a first plurality of nodes, a second plurality of nodes, and edges connecting nodes in the first plurality of nodes and the second plurality of nodes, each node in the first plurality of nodes representing a document stored in the multi-tenant database, each node in the second plurality of nodes representing a tenant of the multi-tenant database, each edge connecting a node in the first plurality of nodes to a node in the second plurality of nodes representing ownership of a corresponding document by a corresponding tenant, and each edge connecting a node in the first plurality of nodes to another node in the first plurality of nodes indicating a relationship between respective documents, the document graph having one or more cycles, each edge having a direction from a source node to a target node;

obtaining a list of one or more closed tenants, wherein a closed tenant is a former customer who no longer has a relationship with an entity associated with the multi-tenant database;

building a subgraph for each of the one or more closed tenants, each subgraph being an acyclical graph formed by iteratively traversing the document graph in a backwards direction through each edge beginning at a node in the second plurality of nodes corresponding to a closed tenant of the one or more closed tenants and proceeding to a root node of the document graph, wherein at each iteration visited nodes are marked as visited and processing of the iteration stops when a node previously marked as visited is reached, and wherein each iteration begins at all source nodes for an edge traversed in an immediately preceding iteration, the subgraph including a first group of the first plurality of nodes, the closed tenant excluded from the multi-tenant database;

traversing each subgraph in a forward direction through each edge having a source node visited during building of the subgraph to identify tenant nodes corresponding to the documents among the first group of the first plurality of nodes;

identifying, for all of the documents among the first group of the first plurality of nodes, corresponding auto-delete edges of the subgraph for at least one of the closed tenants;

traversing, for at least one of the one or more closed tenants, all of the auto-delete edges for the subgraph; and

deleting, for the at least one of the one or more closed tenants and with the traversing all of the auto-delete edges, all documents from the multi-tenant database linked with the corresponding auto-delete edges, the plurality of documents each corresponding to a second group of the first plurality of nodes from the subgraph that excludes documents corresponding to the identified tenant nodes.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise forming the document graph by:

obtaining a set of foreign keys in a collections database;

generating metadata from the set of foreign keys; and

generating the document graph using documents in the collections database and the metadata.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the metadata indicates, for a collection of documents in the collections database, all foreign keys for each document in the collection of documents.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the metadata further indicates that a role corresponding to a foreign key among the foreign keys indicated by the metadata is optional.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the metadata further indicates which foreign keys are a backedge.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the metadata further indicates which foreign keys represent corresponding auto-delete edges.

15. The system of claim 10 , further comprising indexing each edge in the document graph using an inverted index.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the collections database is in the form of shard snapshots.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions which, when read by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a document graph of a multi-tenant database, the document graph having a first plurality of nodes, a second plurality of nodes, and edges connecting nodes in the first plurality of nodes and the second plurality of nodes, each node in the first plurality of nodes representing a document stored in the multi-tenant database, each node in the second plurality of nodes representing a tenant of the multi-tenant database, each edge connecting a node in the first plurality of nodes to a node in the second plurality of nodes representing ownership of a corresponding document by a corresponding tenant, and each edge connecting a node in the first plurality of nodes to another node in the first plurality of nodes indicating a relationship between respective documents, the document graph having one or more cycles, each edge having a direction from a source node to a target node;

obtaining a list of one or more closed tenants, wherein a closed tenant is a former customer who no longer has a relationship with an entity associated with the multi-tenant database;

building a subgraph for each of the one or more closed tenants, each subgraph being an acyclical graph formed by iteratively traversing the document graph in a backwards direction through each edge beginning at a node in the second plurality of nodes corresponding to a closed tenant of the one or more closed tenants and proceeding to a root node of the document graph, wherein at each iteration visited nodes are marked as visited and processing of the iteration stops when a node previously marked as visited is reached, and wherein each iteration begins at all source nodes for an edge traversed in an immediately preceding iteration, the subgraph including a first group of the first plurality of nodes, the closed tenant excluded from the multi-tenant database;

traversing each subgraph in a forward direction through each edge having a source node visited during building of the subgraph to identify tenant nodes corresponding to the documents among the first group of the first plurality of nodes;

identifying, for all of the documents among the first group of the first plurality of nodes, corresponding auto-delete edges of the subgraph for at least one of the closed tenants;

traversing, for at least one of the one or more closed tenants, all of the auto-delete edges for the subgraph; and

deleting, for the at least one of the one or more closed tenants and with the traversing all of the auto-delete edges, all documents from the multi-tenant database linked with the corresponding auto-delete edges, the plurality of documents each corresponding to a second group of the first plurality of nodes from the subgraph that excludes documents corresponding to the identified tenant nodes.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise forming the document graph by:

obtaining a set of foreign keys in a collections database;

generating metadata from the set of foreign keys; and

generating the document graph using documents in the collections database and the metadata.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the metadata indicates, for a collection of documents in the collections database, all foreign keys for each document in the collection of documents.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the metadata further indicates that a role corresponding to a foreign key among the foreign keys indicated by the metadata is optional.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jan 7, 2026
From: STRIPE, INC.
To: STRIPE, LLC
Reel/Frame 074264/0807 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 9, 2021
From: WANG, SHENG; DOAN, TUAN
To: STRIPE, INC.
Reel/Frame 055204/0022 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220253404A1 · Aug 11, 2022