RECOVERING FROM LOST RESOURCES IN A DISTRIBUTED SERVER ENVIRONMENT

• US 20110246815A1
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Published: 10/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Waltermann, Rod D., Peterson, Nathan J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,539,276 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0757 by exceeding a time limit, i.e. time-out, e.g. watchdogs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2023 Failover techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2041 with more than one idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route

Abstract

An apparatus, method, and computer readable storage medium are disclosed to recover from lost resources in a distributed server environment. A status monitor module receives, at a first computer, periodic status messages from a peer computer. Each periodic status message indicates that the peer computer is providing a service for which the first computer serves as a backup service provider. A failure detection module determines, based on the periodic status messages, that the peer computer has stopped providing the service. An advancement module provides the service, at the first computer, in response to determining that the peer computer has stopped providing the service.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first computer, periodic status messages from a peer computer, each periodic status message indicating that the peer computer is providing a service;

determining, based on the periodic status messages, that the peer computer has stopped providing the service; and

providing the service, at the first computer, in response to determining that the peer computer has stopped providing the service.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a balancing procedure, the balancing procedure comprising:

comparing a factor corresponding to the first computer and to one or more additional peer computers.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising stopping the first computer from providing the service in response to the balancing procedure, wherein one of the additional peer computers provides the service in response to the balancing procedure.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein performing the balancing procedure further comprises:

performing the balancing procedure in parallel at the first computer and the one or more additional peer computers such that the first computer and the one or more additional peer computers each determine a same result.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the factor is selected from the group consisting essentially of a history of a computer providing the service, a total number of services that a computer currently provides, and a total number of services for which a computer serves as a backup service provider.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the balancing procedure further comprises comparing a plurality of factors, the plurality of factor comprising a random seed factor for each computer, the random seed factor reducing a chance of a tie between computers in the comparison.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

initiating the balancing procedure in response to the first computer providing at least two more services than a computer from the additional peer computers provides.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

repeating the balancing procedure for one or more additional services and further repeating the balancing procedure for a plurality of backup services in response to a stable balance of the service and the one or more additional services.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

repeating the balancing procedure in response to a computer providing a service and concurrently serving as a backup service provider for the service.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending outgoing periodic status messages from the first computer to an additional peer computer, each outgoing periodic status message indicating that the first computer is providing the service.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising serving, at the first computer, as a backup service provider for a second service in response to a determination that an additional peer computer has stopped serving as the backup service provider for the second service.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the peer computer has stopped providing the service comprises determining that the peer computer fails to send a periodic status message.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the peer computer has stopped providing the service comprises determining that a received periodic status message from the peer computer indicates that the peer computer has stopped providing the service.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the periodic status messages further indicates that the peer computer serves as a backup service provider for one or more additional services.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a status monitor module configured to receive, at a first computer, periodic status messages from a peer computer, each periodic status message indicating that the peer computer is providing a service;

a failure detection module configured to determine, based on the periodic status messages, that the peer computer has stopped providing the service; and

an advancement module configured to provide the service, at the first computer, in response to determining that the peer computer has stopped providing the service.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a balancing procedure module configured to perform a balancing procedure, the balancing procedure comprising:

comparing a factor corresponding to the first computer and to one or more additional peer computers.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprises a status broadcast module configured to send outgoing periodic status messages from the first computer to an additional peer computer, each outgoing periodic status message indicating that the first computer is providing the service.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the additional peer computer begins serving as a backup service provider for the service in response to the first computer providing the service.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first computer and the peer computer comprise user workstations in communication over a data network, the user workstations forming a distributed server environment to provide one or more services over the data network, the services selected from the group consisting of a domain name system (“

DNS”

) service, a dynamic host configuration protocol (“

DHCP”

) service, and a lightweight directory access protocol (“

LDAP”

) service.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising performing a balancing procedure, the balancing procedure comprising:

comparing a factor corresponding to the first computer and to one or more additional peer computers.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising sending outgoing periodic status messages from the first computer to an additional peer computer, each outgoing periodic status message indicating that the first computer is providing the service.

20. A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable program code on a tangible storage device, the computer executable program code executable to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving, at a first computer, periodic status messages from a peer computer, each periodic status message indicating that the peer computer is providing a service;

determining, based on the periodic status messages, that the peer computer has stopped providing the service; and

providing the service, at the first computer, in response to determining that the peer computer has stopped providing the service.