Reliable array of distributed computing nodes
First Claim
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1. A redundant distributed network system, comprising:
- a plurality of system nodes, each of said system nodes including at least two communication devices and a storage device, said storage device including redundant storage information for the network to permit reconstruction of stored data from the storage information in any one node when combined with data in any other node;
a plurality of switching devices, connected to said communication devices of said system nodes in a way such that each of said conmunuication devices in any one system node is connected to a different one of said switching devices, allowing each of said system nodes to communicate to each other of said system nodes over one of at least two different paths, thereby providing redundant communication;
a detection routine at each node which detects system functional stated which may prevent any operation of the network system; and
a logical network process which reconfigures the network using one of at least said communication device redundancy and said storage information redundancy as needed to compensate for the system functional state using the network redundancy.
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Abstract
A system which uses redundant storage and redundant communication to provide a robust distributed server system.
168 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A redundant distributed network system, comprising:
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a plurality of system nodes, each of said system nodes including at least two communication devices and a storage device, said storage device including redundant storage information for the network to permit reconstruction of stored data from the storage information in any one node when combined with data in any other node; a plurality of switching devices, connected to said communication devices of said system nodes in a way such that each of said conmunuication devices in any one system node is connected to a different one of said switching devices, allowing each of said system nodes to communicate to each other of said system nodes over one of at least two different paths, thereby providing redundant communication; a detection routine at each node which detects system functional stated which may prevent any operation of the network system; and a logical network process which reconfigures the network using one of at least said communication device redundancy and said storage information redundancy as needed to compensate for the system functional state using the network redundancy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A redundant distributed server, comprising:
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an array of distributed computing nodes, each of said computing nodes having different stored information man each other node, and said stored information being redundant among said computing nodes to permit reconstruction of stored data from the stored information in any one node when combined with data in any other node; a switching system, connected to said array of computing nodes, and providing redundant communication paths among said array of computing nodes, operating such that any specified number of network faults will not affect the operation of the remaining nodes of the system, each of said computing nodes running the same protocol to determine network status, such that each said computing node will see the same network history and each said computing node including a detection routine that detects a system functional state that may prevent operation of the network system. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A redundant video server system, comprising:
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a plurality of system video storage nodes, each of said system video storage nodes including at least two communication devices and a storage device, said storage device including redundant storage of video information; a plurality of switching devices, connected to said communication devices of said system video storage nodes in a way such that each of said communication devices in any one system node is connected to a different one of said switching devices, allowing each of said system nodes to communicate to each other of said system nodes over one of at least two different paths, thereby providing redundant communication, a connection on said switching devices and the redundant storage of video information being of a form that no specified number of failures can interrupt operation of the video server; a detection routine at each node which detects system functional state which may prevent any operation of the network system; and a logical network process which reconfigures the network using one of at least said communication redundancy or said storage redundancy to compensate for the system functional state using the network redundancy.
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26. A method of operating a network to provide redundancy, comprising:
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executing a controlling process that carries out a distributed read from a plurality of nodes, each of the nodes including at least two communication devices and a storage device, collectively storing system data, each node storing raw data, and redundant data indicative of raw data that is stored in nodes other than said each node, each node including a detection routine which detects system functional state which may prevent any operation of the network system; communicating data between the nodes with a plurality of switching devices, connected to the communication devices in a way such that each of the communication devices in any one node is connected to a different one of the switching devices, allowing each of the nodes to communicate to each other of the nodes over one of at least two different paths, thereby providing redundant communication; and performing a distributed read comprising the steps of determining a parameter related to availability of nodes, and reading said raw data from said plurality of nodes if said parameter indicates availability, and reading both said raw data and said redundant data from less than said plurality of nodes if said parameter indicates less than availability.
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Specification