COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT USING TWO DIFFERENT PROGRAMS TO DETERMINE STATE OF A NETWORK NODE TO ELIMINATE MESSAGE RESPONSE DELAYS IN SYSTEM PROCESSING

• US 20080288645A1
• Filed: 07/30/2008
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Schmuck, Frank B., Chang, Chun-Shi, Knop, Felipe, Lin, Tseng-Hui
• Granted Patent: US 7,747,756 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• 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

The determination of node and/or adapter liveness in a distributed network data processing system is carried out via one messaging protocol that can be assisted by a second messaging protocol which is significantly less susceptible to delay, especially memory blocking delays encountered by daemons running on other nodes. The switching of protocols is accompanied by controlled grace periods for needed responses. This messaging protocol flexibility is also adapted for use as a mechanism for controlling the deliberate activities of node addition (birth) and node deletion (death).

Claims

1. A computer product tangibly embodied in a computer storage readable medium containing program means for use in an interconnected network of data processing nodes said program means being operative

to periodically send, from one of said nodes, to at least one other node in said network, a first message, said first message being directed to a daemon program running on said at least one other node;

to determine, at said one of said nodes, that a specified number of first message transmissions have not been received; and

then

to send a second message to said at least one other node, said second message being directed to another program, running on said at least one other node that is less susceptible than said daemon program to being delayed.