Loosely-coupled computer system using global identifiers to identify mailboxes and volumes
First Claim
1. A digital computer system comprising:
- (1) a plurality of stand-alone computer systems;
(2) message transfer means for transferring messages among the stand-alone systems; and
(3) in each of the stand-alone systems,(a) a plurality of processes,(b) a plurality of global mailboxes, each mailbox belonging to one of the processes,(c) a global mailbox list containing indications of all of the global mailboxes in the digital computer system and the stand-alone system to which each global mailbox belongs,the processes includinga first process which establishes a session for exchanging messages with a second process having a global mailbox, the first process determining from the global mailbox list whether the global mailbox is on another one of the stand-alone systems and if that is the case, sending a connect message specifying the global mailbox via the message transfer means, anda remote session establishment process which receives the connect message from the message transfer means and responds thereto by establishing a remote session employing the message transfer means between the first process and the second process,whereby a process on one of the stand-alone systems establishes a session with any process on any of the stand-alone systems to which one of the global mailboxes belongs.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A loosely-coupled computer system certains global resources and is made up of stand-alone systems connected by a data link. Each stand-alone system includes a global identifier list which contains identifiers for global resources and the locations of those resources. The global identifier list in each system is identical to those on other systems. Each system further includes a global identifier list maintenance system, an outbound global resource system, an inbound global resource system, and a communications system. When a request for a global resource is made in a stand-alone system, the outbound global resource system determines whether the resource is local or remote. If the resource is remote, the outbound global resource system makes a resource access message and sends it via the communications system to the remote system where the resource is located. The inbound global resource system on the remote system responds to the resource access message by performing the access and providing a return message to the local system. The global identifier list maintenance system keeps the identifier list identical in all stand-alone systems. Global resources disclosed include global aliases for mailboxes, global file access, and global user and group name lists.
102 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A digital computer system comprising:
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(1) a plurality of stand-alone computer systems; (2) message transfer means for transferring messages among the stand-alone systems; and (3) in each of the stand-alone systems, (a) a plurality of processes, (b) a plurality of global mailboxes, each mailbox belonging to one of the processes, (c) a global mailbox list containing indications of all of the global mailboxes in the digital computer system and the stand-alone system to which each global mailbox belongs, the processes including a first process which establishes a session for exchanging messages with a second process having a global mailbox, the first process determining from the global mailbox list whether the global mailbox is on another one of the stand-alone systems and if that is the case, sending a connect message specifying the global mailbox via the message transfer means, and a remote session establishment process which receives the connect message from the message transfer means and responds thereto by establishing a remote session employing the message transfer means between the first process and the second process, whereby a process on one of the stand-alone systems establishes a session with any process on any of the stand-alone systems to which one of the global mailboxes belongs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A digital computer system comprising:
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(1) a plurality of stand-alone computer systems; (2) message transfer means for transferring messages among the stand-alone systems; and (3) in each of the stand-alone systems, (a) a global volume list containing at least one identifier identifying a global volume containing files, each global volume being located on a system of the plurality of stand-alone computer systems and accessible to other systems of the plurality of stand-alone computer system and the identifiers on the global volume list identifying each global volume and the system of the plurality of stand-alone computer systems upon which the global volume is located, (b) a plurality of processes for executing programs on the stand-alone system, (c) remote session establishment means for establishing sessions for sending messages via the data transfer means between processes on different ones of the stand-alone systems, (d) global volume accessing means executing in a first one of the processes, (e) global volume request receiving means executing in a second one of the processes, and (f) global volume list maintenance means executing in a third one of the processes which keeps the global volume list identical to the global volume lists in the other stand-alone systems; and wherein the global volume accessing means determines from the global volume list whether a requested global volume is on another one of the stand-alone systems and if it is, causes the first one of the processes to employ the remote session establishment means to establish a session with the second one of the processes on the other stand-alone system and thereupon provides a first message via the session to which the global volume request receiving means executing in the second one of the processes responds by accessing the requested global volume as specified in the first message and the third one of the processes has a session with the third one of the processes in each of the other stand-alone systems and the global volume list maintenance means maintains the global volume list by means of messages exchanged via the sessions with the other third ones of the processes. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. The digital computer system as set forth in claim 27 and further including in each stand-alone system:
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means connected to the data transfer means for detecting that an additional stand-alone system has been added to the digital computer system; and
whereinthe global volume list maintenance means further responds to the detection of the addition of a stand-alone system by establishing a session with the third one of the processes in the additional stand-alone system and sending a global volume list message via the session containing the identifiers for the global volumes on the global volume list; the global volume list maintenance means in the additional stand-alone system creates a new global volume list from the global volume list messages received from the other stand-alone systems and sends a global volume list message with the new global volume list to the other stand alone systems; and the global volume list maintenance means in each of the other stand alone systems compares its global volume list with the new global volume list and updates its global volume list by adding any identifiers for global volumes not on its global volume list to its global volume list. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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Specification