Method, system, and program for buffering work requests

• US 20050172054A1
• Filed: 01/30/2004
• Published: 08/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Zou, Chendong, Mathrubutham, Ramani, Sathye, Adwait
• Granted Patent: US 7,366,801 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

Disclosed is a technique for buffering work requests. It is determined that a work request is about to be placed into an in-memory structure. When the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request, a work request ordering identifier for the work request is stored into an overflow structure. When the in-memory structure is capable of storing the work request, a recovery stub is generated for the work request ordering identifier, and the recovery stub is stored into the in-memory structure.

Claims

1. A method for buffering work requests, comprising:

determining that a work request is about to be placed into an in-memory structure;

when the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request, storing a work request ordering identifier for the work request into an overflow structure; and

when the in-memory structure is capable of storing the work request, moving the work request from the overflow structure into the in-memory structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request when a maximum limit of work requests has been reached.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein there are multiple in-memory structures and further comprising:

determining that the maximum limit has been reached for a predetermined number of the multiple in-memory structures; and

sending one or more notifications that additional work requests are not to be sent.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request when one or more work requests reside in the overflow structure.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a blocking type is associated with the in-memory structure and further comprising:

when the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request,

if the blocking type is set to non-blocking, storing the work request into the overflow structure; and

if the blocking type is set to blocking, sending a notification that additional work requests are not to be sent.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the work request is a first work request, further comprising:

determining that a second work request has been removed from the in-memory structure;

generating a recovery stub for the work request ordering identifier; and

storing the recovery stub into the in-memory structure.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the work request is sent from a publisher to a subscriber.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the subscriber retrieves the work request from the in-memory structure.

9. An article of manufacture including a program for buffering work requests, wherein the program causes operations to be performed, the operations comprising:

determining that a work request is about to be placed into an in-memory structure;

when the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request, storing a work request ordering identifier for the work request into an overflow structure; and

when the in-memory structure is capable of storing the work request, moving the work request from the overflow structure into the in-memory structure.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request when a maximum limit of work requests has been reached.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein there are multiple in-memory structures and wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the maximum limit has been reached for a predetermined number of the multiple in-memory structures; and

sending one or more notifications that additional work requests are not to be sent.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request when one or more work requests reside in the overflow structure.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein a blocking type is associated with the in-memory structure and wherein the operations further comprise:

when the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request,

if the blocking type is set to non-blocking, storing the work request into the overflow structure; and

if the blocking type is set to blocking, sending a notification that additional work requests are not to be sent.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the work request is a first work request, and wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that a second work request has been removed from the in-memory structure;

generating a recovery stub for the work request ordering identifier; and

storing the recovery stub into the in-memory structure.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the work request is sent from a publisher to a subscriber.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the subscriber retrieves the work request from the in-memory structure.

17. A computer system having logic for buffering work requests, wherein the logic is executed by the computer system, the logic comprising:

determining that a work request is about to be placed into an in-memory structure;

when the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request, storing a work request ordering identifier for the work request into an overflow structure; and

when the in-memory structure is capable of storing the work request, moving the work request from the overflow structure into the in-memory structure.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request when a maximum limit of work requests has been reached.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein there are multiple in-memory structures and further comprising:

determining that the maximum limit has been reached for a predetermined number of the multiple in-memory structures; and

sending one or more notifications that additional work requests are not to be sent.

20. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request when one or more work requests reside in the overflow structure.

21. The computer system of claim 17, wherein a blocking type is associated with the in-memory structure and further comprising:

when the in-memory structure is not capable of storing the work request,

if the blocking type is set to non-blocking, storing the work request into the overflow structure; and

if the blocking type is set to blocking, sending a notification that additional work requests are not to be sent.

22. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the work request is a first work request, further comprising:

determining that a second work request has been removed from the in-memory structure;

generating a recovery stub for the work request ordering identifier; and

storing the recovery stub into the in-memory structure.

23. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the work request is sent from a publisher to a subscriber.

24. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the subscriber retrieves the work request from the in-memory structure.