METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR COORDINATED TRANSACTIONS IN DISTRIBUTED AND PARALLEL ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20090037910A1
• Filed: 07/30/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Iyengar, Arun Kwangil, Dantzig, Paul M., Su, Gong, Parr, Francis Nicholas
• Granted Patent: US 8,959,516 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Automated techniques are disclosed for coordinating request or transaction processing in a data processing system. For example, a technique for handling compound requests, in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing requests in which an individual request is associated with a particular node, comprises the following steps. A compound request comprising at least two individual requests associated with a same node is received. It is determined if both of the at least two individual requests are executable. The compound request is executed if it is determined that all individual requests of the compound request can execute.

Claims

1. A method for handling compound requests in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing requests in which an individual request is associated with a particular node, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a compound request comprising at least two individual requests associated with a same node;

determining if both of said at least two individual requests are executable; and

executing said compound request, if it is determined that all individual requests of said compound request can execute.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining if both of said at least two individual requests are executable further comprises:

determining if one of said at least two individual requests is executable; and

if said one of said at least two individual requests is not executable, concluding that both of said at least two individual requests are not executable, without necessarily determining if the other of said at least two individual requests is executable.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rejecting said compound request, if it is determined that an individual request of said compound request can not execute.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

periodically re-determining if an individual request of said compound request can execute, if an individual request of said compound request can not execute.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

testing executability of individual requests corresponding to a same node before testing executability of individual requests corresponding to a different node.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of testing executability of individual requests corresponding to a same node is performed by examining nodes in decreasing order of a number of individual requests associated with a node.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ceasing to determine executability of any more individual requests corresponding to the compound request when it is determined that an individual request corresponding to the compound request is not executable.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein an individual request comprises an order to buy or sell a stock or commodity and the type of said request comprises the type of said stock or commodity.

9. An article of manufacture for handling compound requests in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing requests in which an individual request is associated with a particular node, the article comprising a computer readable storage medium containing one or more computer programs which, when executed by a computer, implement the steps of claim 1.

10. A method for minimizing communication between nodes in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing requests in which a request type is associated with a particular node, the method comprising the steps of:

maintaining information about frequencies of compound requests received and individual requests comprising said compound requests; and

for a plurality of request types which frequently occur in a compound request, associating said plurality of request types to a same node.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

modifying said association between request types and nodes based on new information about frequencies of compound requests and individual requests comprising said compound requests.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

in response to communication overhead exceeding a threshold, modifying said association between request types and nodes while the system continues to handle requests.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said maintaining step further comprises maintaining relative frequencies with which pairs of request types occur in compound requests.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said associating step further comprises, for a pair of request types t1 and t2 which frequently occurs in compound requests, associating both request types t1 and t2 to a same node.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein request types are associated to nodes by examining said relative frequencies in decreasing order.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a pair of request types i and j which occurs frequently in compound requests is handled as follows:

if neither request types i nor j has been assigned to a node, both are assigned to a same node if a node with sufficient capacity can be found;

if only one of request types i or j has been assigned to a node, then the other request type is assigned to the node if the node is estimated to have sufficient capacity to accommodate requests corresponding to said other request type.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein an individual request comprises an order to buy or sell a stock or commodity and the type of said request comprises the type of said stock or commodity.

18. An article of manufacture for minimizing communication between nodes in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing requests in which a request type is associated with a particular node, the article comprising a computer readable storage medium containing one or more computer programs which, when executed by a computer, implement the steps of claim 10.

19. A method for minimizing communication between nodes in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing a plurality of applications, the method comprising the steps of:

maintaining information about an amount of communication between said applications; and

using said information to place said applications on said nodes to minimize communication among said nodes.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

in response to communication overhead exceeding a threshold, moving at least one of said applications from one of said nodes to another of said nodes to reduce communication.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said maintaining step further comprises maintaining information indicating an amount with which pairs of applications communicate with each other.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said step of using said information to place said applications on said nodes further comprises, for a pair of applications a1 and a2 which frequently communicate with each other, placing both applications a1 and a2 on a same node.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein applications are placed on nodes by examining said information indicating an amount with which pairs of applications communicate with each other from a highest amount of communication to a lowest amount of communication.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein a pair of applications i and j which communicate with each other to a significant degree is handled as follows:

if neither application i nor j has been placed on a node, both are placed on a same node if a node with sufficient capacity can be found; and

if only one of application i or j has been placed on a node, then the other application is placed on the node if the node is estimated to have sufficient capacity to accommodate said other application.

25. An article of manufacture for minimizing communication between nodes in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing a plurality of applications, the article comprising a computer readable storage medium containing one or more computer programs which, when executed by a computer, implement the steps of claim 19.

26. Apparatus for handling compound requests in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing requests in which an individual request is associated with a particular node, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

(i) receive a compound request comprising at least two individual requests associated with a same node;

(ii) determine if both of said at least two individual requests are executable; and

(iii) execute said compound request, if it is determined that all individual requests of said compound request can execute.

27. Apparatus for minimizing communication between nodes in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing requests in which a request type is associated with a particular node, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

(i) maintain information about frequencies of compound requests received and individual requests comprising said compound requests; and

(ii) for a plurality of request types which frequently occur in a compound request, associate said plurality of request types to a same node.

28. Apparatus for minimizing communication between nodes in a system comprising multiple nodes for executing a plurality of applications, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

(i) maintain information about an amount of communication between said applications; and

(ii) use said information to place said applications on said nodes to minimize communication among said nodes.