Method and apparatus for discovering computer systems in a distributed multi-system cluster
First Claim
1. A method of automatically interconnecting a new node into a cluster of other nodes, each node including a plurality of processor units and an internal switching fabric, one of the processor units in each node hosting a monitor process, comprising:
- (a) broadcasting a discovery probe packet from the monitor process in the new node to each of the plurality of processor units of all the other nodes in the cluster, the discovery probe packet containing configuration information about the new node;
(b) receiving at least one discovery probe packet at the monitor process of a discovery initiator node, a discovery initiator node being any one of the other nodes of the cluster;
(c) setting up, at the discovery initiator node, in response to the discovery probe packet, connection information enabling the new node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the discovery initiator node;
(d) sending a discovery initiator packet to all of the plurality of processor units in the new node, the discovery initiator packet containing the connection information set up at the discovery initiator node for the new node;
(e) receiving at least one discovery initiator packet at the monitor process of the new node;
(f) setting up, at the new node, in response to the discovery initiator packet, connection information enabling the discovery initiator node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the new node;
(g) sending a discovery confirmation packet directly to the monitor process of the discovery initiator node, the discovery confirmation packet containing the connection information set up at the new node for the discovery initiator node;
(h) receiving the discovery confirmation packet at the monitor process of the discovery initiator node;
(j) sending, in response to the received discovery confirmation packet, a discovery acknowledgement packet directly to the monitor process of the new node; and
(k) receiving at the monitor process of the new node the discovery acknowledgment packet.
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Abstract
A method of interconnecting a new node into a cluster of other nodes. The new node broadcasts a configuration (DP) packet describing itself to the other nodes of the cluster. The other nodes then respond by setting up communications information enabling the new node to directly communicate with a monitor process in the responding nodes and sending that information (DI packet) to the new node. The new node then sets up information enabling the responding nodes to communicate with a monitor process on the new node and sends that information (DC packet) to the responding nodes. The responding nodes then acknowledge the information (DA packet) and the new node is then interconnected with the responding nodes. The DP and DI packets are sent via a permissive interrupt mechanism, received by each processor unit making up a node and forwarded to the monitor process of the node.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of automatically interconnecting a new node into a cluster of other nodes, each node including a plurality of processor units and an internal switching fabric, one of the processor units in each node hosting a monitor process, comprising:
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(a) broadcasting a discovery probe packet from the monitor process in the new node to each of the plurality of processor units of all the other nodes in the cluster, the discovery probe packet containing configuration information about the new node;
(b) receiving at least one discovery probe packet at the monitor process of a discovery initiator node, a discovery initiator node being any one of the other nodes of the cluster;
(c) setting up, at the discovery initiator node, in response to the discovery probe packet, connection information enabling the new node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the discovery initiator node;
(d) sending a discovery initiator packet to all of the plurality of processor units in the new node, the discovery initiator packet containing the connection information set up at the discovery initiator node for the new node;
(e) receiving at least one discovery initiator packet at the monitor process of the new node;
(f) setting up, at the new node, in response to the discovery initiator packet, connection information enabling the discovery initiator node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the new node;
(g) sending a discovery confirmation packet directly to the monitor process of the discovery initiator node, the discovery confirmation packet containing the connection information set up at the new node for the discovery initiator node;
(h) receiving the discovery confirmation packet at the monitor process of the discovery initiator node;
(j) sending, in response to the received discovery confirmation packet, a discovery acknowledgement packet directly to the monitor process of the new node; and
(k) receiving at the monitor process of the new node the discovery acknowledgment packet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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16. A method of automatically interconnecting a new node into a cluster of other nodes, each node including a plurality of processor units and an internal switching fabric, one of the processor units in each node hosting a monitor process, comprising:
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(a) broadcasting a discovery probe packet from the monitor process in the new node to each of the plurality of processor units of all the other nodes in the cluster, the discovery probe packet containing configuration information about the new node;
(b) receiving at least one discovery probe packet at the monitor process of a discovery initiator node, the discovery initiator node being one of the other nodes of the cluster;
(c) verifying the received discovery probe packet;
(i) if the discovery probe packet is valid, (d) setting up, at the discovery initiator node, connection information enabling the new node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the discovery initiator node; and
(e) sending a discovery initiator packet to all of the plurality of processor units in the new node, the discovery initiator packet containing the connection information set up at the discovery initiator node for the new node;
(f) receiving at least one discovery initiator packet at the monitor process of the new node;
(g) verifying the received discovery initiator packet;
(ii) if the discovery initiator packet is valid, (h) setting up, at the new node, connection information enabling the discovery initiator node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the new node;
(j) sending a discovery confirmation packet directly to the monitor process of the discovery initiator node, the discovery confirmation packet containing the connection information set up at the new node for the discovery initiator node;
(l) verifying the discovery confirmation packet at the monitor process of the discovery initiator node; and
(iii) if the discovery confirmation packet is valid, (1) sending a discovery acknowledgement packet directly to the monitor process of the new node.
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17. A method of automatically interconnecting a new node into a cluster of other nodes, each node including a plurality of processor units and an internal switching fabric, one of the processor units in each node hosting a monitor process, comprising:
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(a) broadcasting a discovery probe packet from the monitor process in the new node to each of the plurality of processor units of all the other nodes in the cluster, the discovery probe packet containing configuration information about the new node;
(b) receiving at least one discovery initiator packet at the monitor process of the new node, the discovery initiator packet containing connection information enabling the new node to directly communicate with the monitor process of at least one other node as the discovery initiator node;
(c) setting up, at the new node, in response to the discovery initiator packet, connection information enabling the discovery initiator node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the new node;
(d) sending a discovery confirmation packet directly to the monitor process of the discovery initiator node, the discovery confirmation packet containing the connection information set up at the new node for the discovery initiator node; and
(e) receiving a discovery acknowledgement packet in response to the discovery confirmation packet.
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23. A method of automatically interconnecting a new node into a cluster of other nodes, each node including a plurality of processor units, each having a processor number, and an internal switching fabric, one of the processor units in each node hosting a monitor process, comprising:
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(a) broadcasting a discovery probe packet from the monitor process in the new node to processor units of nodes in the cluster, wherein the processor numbers of the processor units are equal and the discovery probe packet contain configuration information about the new node;
(b) receiving at least one discovery initiator packet at the monitor process of the new node, the discovery initiator packet containing connection information enabling the new node to directly communicate with the monitor process of at least one other node as the discovery initiator node;
(c) setting up, at the new node, in response to the discovery initiator packet, connection information enabling the discovery initiator node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the new node;
(d) sending a discovery confirmation packet directly to the monitor process of the discovery initiator node, the discovery confirmation packet containing the connection information set up at the new node for the discovery initiator node; and
(e) receiving a discovery acknowledgement packet in response to the discovery confirmation packet.
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29. A method of automatically interconnecting a new node into a cluster of other nodes, each node including a plurality of processor units and an internal switching fabric, one of the processor units in each node hosting a monitor process, comprising:
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(a) receiving at least one discovery probe packet at the monitor process of a discovery initiator node, the discovery initiator node being one of the other nodes of the cluster, the discovery probe packet containing configuration information about the new node;
(b) setting up, at the discovery initiator node, in response to the discovery probe packet, connection information enabling the new node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the discovery initiator node;
(c) sending a discovery initiator packet to all of the plurality of processor units in the new node, the discovery initiator packet containing the connection information set up at the discovery initiator node for the new node; and
(d) receiving a discovery confirmation packet at the monitor process of the discovery initiator node, the discovery confirmation packet containing connection information enabling the discovery initiator node to directly communicate with the monitor process of the new node;
(e) sending, in response to the discovery confirmation packet, a discovery acknowledgement packet directly to the monitor process of the new node.
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30. A method of automatically interconnecting a first new node and a second new node into a cluster of other nodes, the first new node having a lower node number than the second new node, each node including a plurality of processor units and an internal switching fabric, one of the processor units in each node hosting a monitor process, comprising:
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(a) broadcasting a discovery probe packet from the monitor process in the first new node to each of the plurality of processor units of the second new node and all the other nodes in the cluster, the discovery probe packet containing configuration information about the first new node;
(b) broadcasting, concurrently with step (a), a discovery probe packet from the monitor process in the second new node to each of the plurality of processor units of the first new node and all the other nodes in the cluster, the discovery probe packet containing configuration information about the second new node;
(c) receiving at least one discovery initiator packet at the monitor process of the first new node from each one of the other nodes acting as a first set of discovery initiator nodes, with each discovery initiator packet containing connection information enabling the first new node to directly communicate with the monitor processes of the first set of discovery initiator nodes;
(d) receiving at least one discovery initiator packet at the monitor process of the second new node from each one of the first new node and the other nodes acting as a second set of discovery initiator nodes, with each discovery initiator packet containing connection information enabling the second new node to directly communicate with the monitor processes of the second set of discovery initiator nodes;
(e) setting up, at each of the new nodes, in response to the discovery initiator packets, connection information enabling the discovery initiator nodes to directly communicate with the monitor process of each of the new nodes;
(f) sending a discovery confirmation packet by the first new node directly to the monitor processes of each one of the first set of discovery initiator nodes, with each discovery confirmation packet containing the connection information, set up at the first new node, and specific to each node of the first set of discovery initiator nodes to which the packet is sent;
(g) sending a discovery confirmation packet by the second new node directly to the monitor processes of each one of the second set of discovery initiator nodes, with each discovery confirmation packet containing the connection information, set up at the second new node, and specific to each node of the second set of discovery initiator nodes to which the packet is sent; and
(h) receiving, at each of the new nodes, a discovery acknowledgement packet in response to the discovery confirmation packet.
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31. A method of automatically interconnecting a first new node and a second new node into a cluster of other nodes, each node having a node number and including a plurality of processor units and an internal switching fabric, one of the processor units in each node hosting a monitor process, comprising:
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(a) receiving at least two discovery probe packets at the monitor processes of first new node, second new node and the other nodes in the cluster, one of the two discovery probe packets containing configuration information about the first new node, the other of the two discovery probe packets containing configuration information about the second new node, the first new node having a lower node number than the second new node;
(b) setting up, at each of the other nodes, in response to the discovery probe packets sent by the first new node, connection information enabling the first new node to directly communicate with the monitor processes of the other nodes;
(c) setting up, at the first new node and each of the other nodes, in response to the discovery probe packets sent by the second node, connection information enabling the second new node to directly communicate with the monitor processes of the first new node and the other nodes;
(d) sending discovery initiator packets from the other nodes to all of the plurality of processor units in the first new node, the discovery initiator packets containing the connection information set up at the other nodes for the first new node;
(e) sending discovery initiator packets from the first new node and the other nodes to all of the plurality of processor units in the second new node, the discovery initiator packets containing the connection information set up at first new node and the other nodes for the second new node; and
(f) receiving a discovery confirmation packet at the monitor process of each one of the other nodes, the discovery confirmation packet containing connection information enabling each one of the other nodes to directly communicate with the monitor process of the first new node;
(g) receiving a discovery confirmation packet at the monitor processes of each one of the first new node and the other nodes, the discovery confirmation packet containing connection information enabling each one of the first new node and the other nodes to directly communicate with the monitor process of the second new node;
(h) sending, in response to each discovery confirmation packet received in step (f), a discovery acknowledgement packet from the other nodes directly to the monitor process of the first new node; and
(j) sending, in response to each discovery confirmation packet received in step (g), a discovery acknowledgement packet from the first new node and the other nodes directly to the monitor process of the second new node.
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Specification