Method and apparatus for high availability distributed processing across independent networked computer fault groups
First Claim
1. A high availability processing system comprising:
- a plurality of independent processing systems coupled together via a network, each independent processing system including;
an operating system;
a process management component running under the operating system;
a plurality of high availability subsystems interacting with the process management system;
wherein the process management system maintains a number indicating a number of high availability subsystems that are available to run on the each independent processing system; and
wherein the process management system permits the independent processing system to operate if the plurality of high availability subsystems are operational.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A plurality of local network groups of computers (102) are coupled together by a network (104). Independent processing systems that execute a single operating system are coupled together by a network (220) to form the local network groups. The independent processing systems may have more than one CPU (202). One or more of the independent processing systems may share power, cooling and a housing, thereby forming a common fault processor group (200). An application is written to execute across multiple independent processing systems and common fault processor groups. That is, the application runs in many instances that each run on independent processing systems. The multiple instances of the application provide some measure of high availability by using N+K sparing or the like. The application is for example, call processing or radio control. A processor notification list (304) keeps track of the independent processing systems that cooperatively provide an application. The independent processing systems monitor state information for independent processing systems on its processor notification lists. Also, the independent processing systems exchange messages periodically with independent processing systems on its processor notification list. The failure to receive a message is noted as a failure that requires recovery.
Multiple high availability software systems are permitted to coexist under a single operating system by virtue of a new software layer that coordinates initialization and requires registration of all high availability software.
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Citations
9 Claims
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1. A high availability processing system comprising:
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a plurality of independent processing systems coupled together via a network, each independent processing system including; an operating system; a process management component running under the operating system; a plurality of high availability subsystems interacting with the process management system; wherein the process management system maintains a number indicating a number of high availability subsystems that are available to run on the each independent processing system; and wherein the process management system permits the independent processing system to operate if the plurality of high availability subsystems are operational. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for coordinating among multiple high availability systems running on a processor, the method comprising the steps of:
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initiating operation of an operating system on the processor; initiating operation of a process management system; determining whether the operating systems reaches an active operational state; determining a number of previously registered high availability systems; determining whether the number of previously registered high availability systems have indicated their availability for processing within a predetermined time; and if the number of previously registered high availability systems have indicated their availability for processing within the predetermined time, then allowing the process management system to obtain an active state. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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Specification