REMOTE PROCEDURE CALL FOR A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM

• US 20140052771A1
• Filed: 08/14/2012
• Published: 02/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Anantharam, Sushma, Ghosh, Nirapada, Kamath, Dayavanti Gopal, Kamble, Keshav Govind, Leu, Dar-Ren, Mendon, Chandarani J., Pandey, Vijoy A., Peethambaram, Nandakumar
• Granted Patent: US 9,378,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]

Abstract

A distributed system includes first-tier entities, and a master entity in communication with each first-tier entity. The master entity provides a single access point through which an administrator can submit commands to manage all entities. The master entity maintains a table of virtual slots. Each virtual slot points to one of the first-tier entities, and each first-tier entity is pointed to by at least one virtual slot. The processor runs an RPC (remote procedure call) client to submit RPC requests to the first-tier entities, and determines a destination first-tier entity for a given RPC request in response to which virtual slot the administrator submits a command. The distributed system can include second-tier entities, each indirectly communicating with the master entity through a first-tier entity. The table has a virtual slot for each second-tier entity, which points to the first-tier entity acting as proxy for the second-tier entity.

Claims

1. A distributed system, comprising:

a plurality of first-tier entities; and

a master entity in communication with each of the first-tier entities over a communication network, the master entity providing a single access point through which an administrator can submit commands to manage all of the entities, the master entity comprising;

a processor; and

memory storing an RPC (remote procedure call) client and a virtual slot table, the virtual slot table having a plurality of virtual slots, each virtual slot pointing to one of the first-tier entities, each first-tier entity being pointed to by at least one virtual slot,

wherein the processor runs the RPC client to submit RPC requests to the first-tier entities in response to commands submitted by the administrator, and determines a destination first-tier entity for a given RPC request in response to which of the virtual slots the administrator submits a given command.

2. The distributed system of claim 1, further comprising one or more second-tier entities, each second-tier entity being in indirect communication with the master entity through one of the first-tier entities, the virtual slot table having a virtual slot for each second-tier entity, the virtual slot of each second-tier entity identifying the first-tier entity through which that second-tier entity is in indirect communication with the master entity.

3. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the first-tier entities manages a control plane of one or more of the second-tier entities.

4. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein the master entity is directly connected to each of the first-tier entities by Ethernet links.

5. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein each of the master entity and first-tier entities are switches.

6. A networked entity, comprising

a processor;

memory storing an RPC server; and

an interface in communication with a master entity;

wherein the processor runs the RPC server to process RPC requests received through the interface from the master entity, the processor determining a virtual slot number from a given received RPC request and, in response to the virtual slot number, determines whether to perform a function call requested by the RPC request or to forward a request to perform the function call to a second-tier entity for which the networked entity acts as an RPC proxy.

7. The networked entity of claim 6, wherein the memory stores a proxy agent for each second-tier entity for which the network entity acts as an RPC proxy, program code for managing a control plane of each second-tier entity, and a table associating a virtual slot number with each second-tier entity.

8. The distributed system of claim 6, wherein the interface is directly connected to the master entity by an Ethernet link.

9. The distributed system of claim 6, wherein the networked entity is a switch.

10-20. -20. (canceled)