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Hardware and software failover services for a file server

  • US 5,987,621 A
  • Filed: 05/05/1997
  • Issued: 11/16/1999
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/25/1997
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A file server for serving clients in a data network, said file server comprising:

  • a cached disk array storage subsystem; and

    a plurality of server computers linked to the cached disk array storage subsystem for responding to requests for file access from the clients in the data network by transferring data between the cached disk array storage subsystem and the data network,wherein the plurality of server computers are programmed for;

    (a) executing tasks for responding to requests for file access from the clients in the data network; and

    (b) detecting a failure of one of the server computers causing interruption of execution of one of the tasks, and upon detecting the failure, for causing another one of the server computers to resume automatically the interrupted one of the tasks;

    wherein the interrupted one of the tasks includes a series of transactions, and said plurality of server computers are programmed to record state information for the interrupted one of the tasks during execution of the interrupted one of the tasks, and for resuming automatically the interrupted one of the tasks by recovering the recorded state information for the interrupted one of the tasks including state information from at least one transaction completed prior to the interruption of the interrupted one of the tasks, and resuming execution of a next one of the transactions in the interrupted one of the tasks using the recovered state information from said at least one of the transactions completed prior to the interruption of the interrupted one of the tasks.

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