Closed-loop node membership monitor for network clusters
First Claim
1. A method for monitoring membership of a computer network cluster, the method comprising:
- for each of at least three operating computing nodes, assigning a previous node and a subsequent node to form a closed messaging loop;
from each node, sending a respective heartbeat message toward the assigned subsequent node and scheduling receipt of a respective heartbeat message from the assigned previous node; and
in response to a failure of a node to receive the respective heartbeat message from the assigned previous node, reconfiguring membership of nodes in the cluster.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A quorumless network cluster provides a highly available system by addressing the partition-in-space and partition-in-time problems in network clusters.
In a particular solution, a cluster manager (CM) can use disk based messaging to manage the operation of the cluster. Each node within the cluster must have access to a shared disk to operate within the cluster.
A particular methodology can operate the cluster in a closed loop between nodes 1 to N. If a node fails to receive a heartbeat message from its predecessor in the loop, it initiates a cluster reconfiguration by sending a reconfiguration message to each other node in the cluster.
The quorumless cluster can also include a common storage for a cluster definition. Each node may provide a proposed change to the cluster definition, however only a single coordinator node may update the cluster definition and apply the suggested changes.
114 Citations
52 Claims
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1. A method for monitoring membership of a computer network cluster, the method comprising:
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for each of at least three operating computing nodes, assigning a previous node and a subsequent node to form a closed messaging loop;
from each node, sending a respective heartbeat message toward the assigned subsequent node and scheduling receipt of a respective heartbeat message from the assigned previous node; and
in response to a failure of a node to receive the respective heartbeat message from the assigned previous node, reconfiguring membership of nodes in the cluster. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
sending a resolve heartbeat message from each node toward each other node;
at each operating node, receiving the resolve messages; and
at each operating node, configuring membership of the cluster in response to the received resolve heartbeat messages.
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6. An Apparatus for monitoring membership in a network cluster, including a plurality of at least three operating computing nodes, comprising:
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assignment logic for assigning each node with a previous node and a subsequent node;
for each node, membership monitor logic comprising;
a transmitter for sending an outgoing heartbeat message to the subsequent node;
a receiver for receiving an incoming heartbeat message from the previous node; and
a signal source for providing a configuration signal to each node if the receiving fails to receive the incoming heartbeat message; and
configuration logic responsive to the configuration signal for reconfiguring the membership of nodes on the cluster. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
sending a resolve heartbeat message from each node toward each other node;
at each operating node, receiving the resolve messages; and
at each operating node, configuring membership of the cluster in response to the received resolve heartbeat messages.
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11. A computer program product for monitoring membership of a computer network cluster, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code thereon, including program code which:
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for each of at least three operating computing nodes, assigns a previous node and a subsequent node to form a closed messaging loop;
from each node, sends a respective heartbeat message toward the assigned subsequent node and schedules receipt of a respective heartbeat message from the assigned previous node; and
in response to a failure of a node to receive the respective heartbeat message from the assigned previous node, reconfigures membership of nodes in the cluster. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
sending a resolve heartbeat message from each node toward each other node;
at each operating node, receiving the resolve messages; and
at each operating node, configuring membership of the cluster in response to the received resolve heartbeat messages.
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16. A method of managing node membership on a computer network cluster, comprising:
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defining a logical order of at least three computing nodes in the cluster, each node having a single logically previous node and a single logically subsequent node; and
defining a heartbeat message protocol where each node in the cluster forwards a membership heartbeat message to its single logically subsequent node and schedules receipt of a membership heartbeat message from its single logically previous node. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A system for managing node membership on a computer network cluster comprising:
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assignment logic for defining a logical order of at least three computing nodes in the cluster, each node having a single logically previous node and a single logically subsequent node; and
a heartbeat message protocol where each node in the cluster forwards a membership heartbeat message to its single logically subsequent node and schedules receipt of a membership heartbeat message from its single logically previous node. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A computer program product, comprising:
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a computer-usable medium; and
computer program instructions carried on the medium to manage node membership on a computer network cluster, including instructions for;
defining a logical order of at least three computing nodes in the cluster, each node having a single logically previous node and a single logically subsequent node;
defining a heartbeat message protocol where each node in the cluster forwards a membership heartbeat message to its single logically subsequent node and schedules receipt of a membership heartbeat message from its single logically previous node; and
reconfiguring membership of nodes in the cluster in response to a failure of a node to receive the membership heartbeat message. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A system for monitoring membership of a computer network cluster, the system comprising:
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for each of at least three operating computing nodes, a means for assigning a previous node and a subsequent node to form a closed messaging loop;
from each node, a means for sending a respective heartbeat message toward the assigned subsequent node and a means for scheduling receipt of a respective heartbeat message from the assigned previous node; and
in response to a failure of a node to receive the respective heartbeat message from the assigned previous node, a means for reconfiguring membership of nodes in the cluster. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44)
a means for sending a resolve heartbeat message from each node toward each other node;
at each operating node, a means for receiving the resolve messages; and
at each operating node, a means for configuring membership of the cluster in response to the received resolve heartbeat messages.
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45. A system for managing node membership on a computer network cluster, the system comprising:
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a means for defining a logical order of at least three computing nodes in the cluster, each node having a single logically previous node and a single logically subsequent node; and
a means for defining a heartbeat message protocol where each node in the cluster forwards a membership heartbeat message to its single logically subsequent node and a means for scheduling receipt of a membership heartbeat message from its single logically previous node. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification