Method and apparatus for providing an integrated cluster alias address
First Claim
1. A method for selecting a processor node of a cluster of processor nodes such that a client application can establish a connection to the cluster, said method comprising the steps of:
- issuing a request, by the client application, for requesting an establishment of a connection to the cluster;
identifying port numbers with which the client application is associated; and
selecting a processor node from the cluster of processor nodes as a function of the identified port numbers with which the client is associated.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In accordance with the present invention, a method is disclosed for making a cluster of processor nodes appear as a single processor node to client applications that operate in conjunction with that cluster. More particularly, the cluster is provided with a skinny stack application for selecting a processor node, to which a connection will be established, after consideration has been given to the TCP port numbers that the processor node is listening for. Further, the cluster is provided with a method for tunneling data packets between processor nodes of the cluster such that the data packets do not have to be re-transmitted across a network. Further still, the cluster is provided with a virtual subnet to which the cluster alias address is associated. The route to that subnet is advertised to the network routers by the processor nodes that are associated with the virtual subnet. Lastly, the cluster is provided with a method for substituting a processor node of the cluster in place of a processor node that has failed, for the duration of the routing failover delay. Using such a method, data packets directed to the failed processor node are prevented from being dropped during that routing failover delay.
48 Citations
47 Claims
-
1. A method for selecting a processor node of a cluster of processor nodes such that a client application can establish a connection to the cluster, said method comprising the steps of:
-
issuing a request, by the client application, for requesting an establishment of a connection to the cluster;
identifying port numbers with which the client application is associated; and
selecting a processor node from the cluster of processor nodes as a function of the identified port numbers with which the client is associated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. In a computer network having a plurality of network routers and a plurality of processor nodes, including associated processor nodes, a method for arranging a plurality of associated processor nodes in a virtual subnet, comprising the steps of:
-
advertising on the computer network, by each of the plurality of associated processor nodes, that the plurality of associated processor nodes comprise a network path to the virtual subnet, the plurality of associated processor nodes being free of physical connections to the virtual subnet;
determining, by the plurality of network routers, a routing path to the virtual subnet, the routing path including the plurality of associated processor nodes; and
delivering data packets that include a destination address associated with the virtual subnet, to one of the associated processor nodes via one of the network routers that has a physical connection to the associated processor node. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method for preventing retransmission of data packets issued to a first processor node that has stopped functioning, comprising the steps of:
-
identifying that the first processor node has stopped functioning; and
assigning an address, associated with the first processor node, to a second processor node in response to said identification that the first processor node has stopped functioning, such that data packets addressed to the first processor node will be redirected to the second processor node. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method for delivering a received data packet from a receiving processor node to a destination processor node, including the steps of:
-
configuring, by the receiving processor node, the received data packet in a predetermined configuration to form a configured data packet, said configuration being used by an application executing on the receiving processor node;
passing the configured data packet to a remote procedure, said remote procedure for passing data across a high speed communications interface between processor nodes of a cluster; and
issuing said remote procedure such that the configured data packet is delivered to the destination processor node in a manner free of being reconfigured. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A computer system, comprising:
-
a client processor node executing a client application, the client application monitoring a certain port number;
a plurality of processor nodes coupled together to form a cluster, the cluster being responsive to the client processor node, each processor node of the cluster including a CPU for executing an application for selecting one node from the plurality of processor nodes, such that the selected node serves as a destination processor node; and
a receiver application executed on the destination processor node for monitoring the port number that the client application monitors. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
34. A computer system, comprising:
-
a plurality of processor nodes, associated with a virtual subnet, each of the processor nodes advertising themselves as a network route to the virtual subnet, each of the plurality of processor nodes having a virtual connection to the virtual subnet;
a plurality of network routers, comprising a network coupled to each of the plurality of processor nodes, each of the network routers developing a map database indicating a network route to the virtual subnet based upon the processor nodes advertising; and
a plurality of CPUs, a different one included in each node of the plurality of processor nodes, for executing an application that effectuates the advertising by the processor nodes as network routes to the virtual subnet. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. A computer system, comprising:
-
a plurality of processor nodes, each including a network interface module for connecting to a computer network, the processor nodes being coupled together to form a cluster;
a first one of the processor nodes executing a cluster management application for monitoring the processor nodes to determine ones of the processor nodes that are non-functioning and for identifying the non-functioning processor nodes to the other processor nodes; and
a second one of the processor nodes allocating an address, associated with at least one of the non-functioning processor nodes, to the associated network interface module. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42)
-
-
43. A computer system, comprising:
-
a plurality of processor nodes, forming a cluster, each of the processor nodes coupled to a computer network;
a first one of the processor nodes executing a first receiver application for receiving data packets issued across the computer network by a client application and for configuring a received data packet in a first configuration such that the data packet is serviceable by a first high level application running on the first one of the processor nodes;
a second one of the processor nodes servicing data packets, the second one of the processor nodes executing a second receiver application; and
a high speed communications interface for passing packets of information between the plurality of processor nodes forming the cluster, the high speed communications interface receiving the first configuration of the data packet from the first one of the processor nodes and delivering it to the second one of the plurality of processor nodes without changing the configuration, such that the data packet is serviced by a high level application running on the second one of the processor nodes. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47)
-
Specification