System and method for providing java based high availability clustering framework

• US 20040153558A1
• Filed: 10/24/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Heller, Tena, Gunduc, Mesut
• Application Number:
  US10/693,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20040153558A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/505 Clust
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine

Abstract

A Java-based system or framework for high availability Java-based clustering that includes a cluster server having a variety of resources and interfaces, including a cluster application program interface, group services, failure management, resource management, membership services, communications, a heartbeat interface, cluster database and management, a JNDI interface, and a resource API interface. The resource API allows the cluster server to talk to a variety of plug-ins, which in turn interface with other resources and application servers and support high availability framework for those resources and servers.

Claims

1. A system for high availability clustering, comprising:

a computer that allows a user or application to access a set of resources of various resource types, said resources available at said computer or at another computer;

a cluster server that operates at said computer and that allows access to said set of resources;

a resource interface provided by said cluster server and that allows the cluster server to communicate with said set of resources via a plurality of plugins into said resource interface, wherein each resource type is associated with a particular plugin, and wherein each resource of a particular type at said computer communicates with the cluster server via the particular plugin associated with that resource type;

wherein additional plugins may be included in the resource interface for other resource types; and

,

wherein the system can be extended by adding additional computers with cluster servers and resource interfaces operating thereon.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said cluster servers includes a heartbeat interface that provides heartbeat information to other cluster servers at said other application servers.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the system is Java-based.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the system includes a JNDI interface that provides an interface between the cluster server and a JNDI-compliant database.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the system includes a cluster administration utility for accessing and administering the cluster server using remote method invocation calls.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein each resource has a resource type associated with it.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein resources are the object instances of their respective resource types..

8. The system of claim 1 wherein a resource is any of a computer, internet protocol address, disk, database, or file system or application.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the cluster server defines resource groups that includes clusters of resources.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the plugins include a WebLogic plugin.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the plugins include a Tuxedo plugin.

12. A method for providing a high availability clustering framework system, comprising the steps of:

allowing a user or application to access, via a computer and a cluster server operating thereon, a set of resources of various resource types, said resources being available at said computer or at another computer;

providing a resource interface at said cluster server that allows the cluster server to communicate with said set of resources via a plurality of plugins into said resource interface, wherein each type of resource within said set of resources is associated with a particular plugin, and wherein each resource of a particular type communicates with the cluster server via the particular plugin associated with that resource type;

wherein additional plugins may be included in the resource interface for other resource types; and

,

wherein the system can be extended by adding additional computers with cluster servers and resource interfaces operating thereon.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said cluster server includes a heartbeat interface provides heartbeat information to other cluster servers at said other application servers.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the system is Java-based.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the system includes a JNDI interface that provides an interface between the cluster server and a JNDI-compliant database.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the system includes a cluster administration utility for accessing and administering the cluster server using remote method invocation calls.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein each resources has a resource type associated with it.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein resources are the object instances of their respective resource types.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein a resource is any of a computer, ip address, disk, database, or file system or application.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein the cluster server allows for clustering resources within a resource group.

21. The method of claim 12 wherein the plugins include a WebLogic plugin.

22. The method of claim 12 wherein the plugins include a Tuxedo plugin.

23. A system for providing resource groups in a cluster comprising:

a cluster server that provides access to resources at an application server, wherein said application server includes a plurality of resources and wherein each of said resources has a resource type associated with it;

a plurality of resource groups accessible via said cluster server, each of which resources group includes a number of associated resources; and

,

a resource interface which allows the cluster server to talk to a plurality of plugins, wherein said plugins interface with a plurality of application servers to support a high availability framework between the cluster server and said application servers.

24. A method for providing resource groups in a cluster comprising:

accessing a cluster server which includes a plurality of resources accessible thereupon wherein each of said resources has a resource type associated with it;

defining a plurality of resource groups accessible via said cluster server, each of which resources group includes a number of associated resources; and

,

using a resource interface to communicate with a plurality of plugins, which plugins in turn interface with a plurality of other application servers to support a high availability framework between the cluster server and said other application servers.

25. A system for high availability clustering, comprising:

a plurality of computers that allow a user or application to access a set of application servers or application server instances, said application servers being of various types and operating on said plurality of computers;

a cluster server that operates on each of said computers and that allows access to the set of application servers on that computer;

a resource interface provided by said cluster server on each computer that allows the cluster server to communicate with the set of application servers on that computer via a plurality of plugins into said resource interface, wherein each type of application server is associated with a particular plugin, and wherein each application server of a particular type communicates with the cluster server via the particular plugin associated with that application server type; and

,

wherein additional plugins may be included in the resource interface for other application server types.

26. A method for high availability clustering, comprising:

a plurality of computers that allow a user or application to access a set of application servers or application server instances, said application servers being of various types and operating on said plurality of computers;

a cluster server that operates on each of said computers and that allows access to the set of application servers on that computer;

a resource interface provided by said cluster server on each computer that allows the cluster server to communicate with the set of application servers on that computer via a plurality of plugins into said resource interface, wherein each type of application server is associated with a particular plugin, and wherein each application server of a particular type communicates with the cluster server via the particular plugin associated with that application server type; and

,

wherein additional plugins may be included in the resource interface for other application server types.