Method and apparatus for communication of message data

• US 20020062356A1
• Filed: 09/21/2001
• Published: 05/23/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Raja, Mayur, Clarke, Paul Geoffrey, OʼDowd, Anthony John
• Granted Patent: US 6,999,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes

Abstract

A method and apparatus for communicating message data between a plurality of subsystems (201, 202, 301, 302, 303, 404, 406, 408) in the form of distributed resource managers. The subsystems are coupled together through a coupling means (206, 306, 410) with a shared memory with at least one shared queue (308, 414) in the shared memory. Access to the shared queue (308, 414) is available from each of the coupled subsystems and message data can be communicated between the subsystems via the shared queue (308, 414). Each subsystem has a long running process (304) checking the shared queue for messages for that subsystem.

Claims

1. A method of communicating message data between a plurality of subsystems which are distributed across a data communications network, the method comprising:

coupling the distributed subsystems together through a coupling means with a shared memory;

providing at least one shared queue in the shared memory;

providing access to the shared queue from each of the coupled subsystems; and

communicating message data between the distributed subsystems by means of the shared queue.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of subsystems is a distributed network of resource managers.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of subsystems are all part of a sysplex.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one application program is connected to a subsystem, and wherein the subsystem manages the message data for the at least one application program.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coupling means is a coupling facility with data structures for the at least one shared queue and a database.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the database stores queue definitions for the at least one shared queue.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one shared queue includes a shared transmission queue.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each subsystem has a long running process to check the at least one shared queue for message data for that subsystem.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subsystems also have local non-shared queues.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein message data is sent from a first subsystem to a second subsystem by the first subsystem putting a message on a shared queue and the second subsystem getting the message from the shared queue.

11. An apparatus for communicating message data, comprising:

a plurality of subsystems distributed across a data communications network;

a coupling means with a shared memory the shared memory having at least one shared queue;

means associated with each subsystem for accessing the at least one shared queue; and

wherein

message data is communicated between the distributed subsystems by means of the shared queue.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the plurality of subsystems is a distributed network of resource managers.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the plurality of subsystems are all part of a sysplex.

14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein at least one application program is connected to a subsystem, and wherein the subsystem manages the message data for the at least one application program.

15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the coupling means is a coupling facility with data structures for the at least one shared queue and a database.

16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the database stores the queue definitions for the at least one shared queue.

17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the at least one shared queue includes a shared transmission queue.

18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein each subsystem has a long running process to check the at least one shared queue for message data for that subsystem.

19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the subsystems also have local non-shared queues.

20. A computer program comprising computer readable program code for performing the steps of:

providing at least one shared queue in a shared memory;

providing access to the shared queue from each of a plurality of subsystems coupled to the shared memory wherein said subsystems are distributed across a data communications network; and

communicating data between the distributed subsystems by means of the shared queue.

21. An apparatus for communicating message data within a distributed data communications network, the apparatus including a resource manager for receiving messages from input message queues and forwarding the messages to destination message queues, the resource manager including:

a coupling facility manager component providing connection services for the resource manager to connect to a coupling facility list structure to perform operations on list structure entries including connect;

a message retrieval agent for accessing at least one shared queue in shared memory associated with the coupling facility;

wherein the message retrieval agent enables the resource manager to access messages directly from the shared queue of a connected coupling facility.