DYNAMICALLY CONFIGURABLE FAULT TOLERANCE IN AUTONOMIC COMPUTING WITH MULTIPLE SERVICE POINTS

• US 20060248141A1
• Filed: 07/12/2006
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mukherjee, Maharaj
• Granted Patent: US 7,328,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/505 Clust
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A method is described for configuring a system having a plurality of processors to provide the system with at least one cluster of processors, where each cluster has one service point. A distance is computed from each processor to other processors in the system. A plurality of total distances is then computed, where each total distance is associated with one processor. A minimum total distance is determined from the plurality of total distances. One processor is assigned to be the service point; this processor is the processor having the minimum total distance associated therewith.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a system having a plurality of processors to provide the system with at least one cluster of processors, each cluster having one service point, the method comprising the steps of:

computing a distance from each processor to other processors in the system;

computing a plurality of total distances, where each total distance is associated with one processor;

determining a minimum total distance from the plurality of total distances; and

assigning as the service point the processor having the minimum total distance associated therewith.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of partitioning the system into a plurality of clusters.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said partitioning further comprises:

sorting the processors in accordance with the total distance associated with each processor;

assigning each processor to one of two clusters;

determining a minimum total distance for the processors in each cluster in accordance with the plurality of total distances associated with the processors in said cluster; and

assigning as the service point for each cluster the processor having the minimum total distance associated therewith in said cluster.

4. A method according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

subdividing one of said two clusters into two subdivided clusters, thereby partitioning the system into three clusters;

determining a minimum total distance for the processors in each of said three clusters in accordance with the plurality of total distances associated with the processors in said three clusters;

assigning the processors to said three clusters in accordance with the minimum total distance; and

assigning as the service point for each of said three clusters the processor having the minimum total distance associated therewith in said cluster.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the processors are of different types, and the processors are assigned to clusters in accordance therewith.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said configuring is performed dynamically when a processor is added to the system.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein said configuring is performed dynamically when a processor is removed from the system.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the partitioning of the system is dynamically changed when a processor is removed from the system.

9. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of assigning another processor as a backup service point.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions for performing a method for configuring a system having a plurality of processors to provide the system with at least one cluster of processors, each cluster having one service point, the method comprising the steps of:

computing a distance from each processor to other processors in the system;

computing a plurality of total distances, where each total distance is associated with one processor;

determining a minimum total distance from the plurality of total distances; and

assigning as the service point the processor having the minimum total distance associated therewith.