Message batching with checkpoints systems and methods

• US 20070171919A1
• Filed: 10/28/2005
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Godman, Peter, Fachan, Neal, Passey, Aaron, Poier, Skye
• Granted Patent: US 8,238,350 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/396
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for passing control of message dependencies and ordering to one or more network nodes participating in a transaction. Thus, messages can be sent to the participating nodes and the participating nodes can handle the messages according to their respective dependencies without first sending a response or waiting for the next message to arrive. In one embodiment, at least one message is flagged with a checkpoint to indicate that messages sent before the checkpoint are to be handled by the participating nodes before messages after the checkpoint. Messages may also be flagged with error-handling information. For example, a message may be marked to indicate that if the message fails, no further messages are to be sent to the node had the failure. Responses to a group of messages can be collected in a single operation.

Claims

1. A distributed system comprising:

a first storage unit;

a second storage unit in communication with the first storage unit;

wherein the first storage unit is configured to send a first message and a second message to the second storage unit;

wherein the second message includes a checkpoint flag; and

wherein the second storage unit is configured to selectively execute the first message and the second message in parallel based at least in part on whether the checkpoint flag is set, wherein, if the checkpoint flag is set, the second storage unit executes the first message to completion before executing the second message.

2. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein the first storage unit is further configured to send a third message to the second storage unit requesting a result of executing the first message and the second message.

3. The distributed system of claim 2, wherein the second storage unit waits for the first message and the second message to execute completely before sending the result to the first storage unit.

4. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first message and the second message includes an error flag, and wherein if one or more messages with error flags fail, the first storage unit cancels transmission of subsequent messages to the second storage unit.

5. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein, if one or more messages with error flags fail, the second storage unit discards unexecuted messages.

6. A method for coordinating transactions performed by participating nodes in a network, the method comprising:

sending a plurality of messages from a first node to a second node, wherein at least one message comprises message dependency data;

executing at least a portion of the plurality of messages on the second node, wherein the second node determines when to execute the plurality of messages based at least in part on the message dependency data; and

synchronizing the first node with the second node.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising generating the dependency data by setting a checkpoint flag in the at least one message.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining when to execute the messages on the second node comprises waiting to execute messages received after the checkpoint flag until messages received before receiving the checkpoint flag have been executed to completion.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising marking at least one of the messages with error handling information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein if one or more of the at least one marked messages fail, canceling transmission of subsequent messages from the first node to the second node based on the error handling information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein if one or more of the at least one marked messages fail, discarding unexecuted messages received by the second node based on the error handling information.

12. A method of sending messages between nodes in a communication medium, the method comprising:

transmitting a plurality of messages to one or more nodes, wherein at least one of the messages comprises message ordering information; and

handling the messages in an order based at least in part on the message ordering information.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

flagging one or more of the messages; and

handling flagged messages such that if a flagged message fails, no further messages are sent to a node where the flagged message failed, and wherein unexecuted messages already sent to the node where the flagged message failed are discarded.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising collecting message responses from the one or more nodes after the messages have been processed or discarded.

15. A message initiation system configured to:

transmit a first message to a remote system; and

transmit a second message to the remote system, wherein the second message includes a first flag that indicates that the first message should execute before the second message.

16. The message initiation system of claim 15 wherein at least one of the first message and the second message includes an error flag.

17. The message initiation system of claim 16, wherein the error flag indicates that if the corresponding message fails, messages that have not yet been processed should be discarded.

18. A message participant system configured to:

receive a first message from a message initiation system;

receive a second message from the message initiation system, wherein the second message includes a first flag that indicates that the first message should execute before the second message;

execute the first message; and

after the first message has completed execution, execute the second message.

19. The message participant system of claim 18, wherein at least one of the first message and second message includes an error flag.

20. The message participant system of claim 19, wherein the error flag indicates that if the corresponding message fails, messages that have not yet been processed should be discarded.