System and method for failover

• US 7,313,722 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2006
• Issued: 12/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Saika, Nobuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Maskulinski; Michael C
• Application Number:
  US11/407,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20060190760A1
• Time in Patent Office: 616 Days
• Field of Search: 714 4- 13
• US Class Current: 714/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2025 using centralised failover control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2046 where the redundant components share persistent storage G06F11/2043 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029

Abstract

A node 1 and a node 2 are in a mutual failover relationship and share information used in failover through a shared LU. Of filesystems FS1A, FS1B that are mounted at the node 1, the actions of level 1 are allocated to FS1A and the actions of level 2 are allocated to FS1B. The level 1 filesystem FS1A is taken over to the node 2 simultaneously with commencement of failover. The level 2 filesystem FS1B is taken over to the node 2 when an access request for FS1B is generated after commencement of failover. In this way, business services with high availability can be restarted at an early stage.

Claims

1. A failover cluster system comprising:

a plurality of computers coupled together, wherein the plurality of computers comprises a failover source computer and a failover target computer, the failover source computer comprising failover object resources; and

a controller coupled to the failover source computer and the failover target computer, wherein the controller identifies times when the failover target computer assumes control over the failover object resources of the failover source computer,

wherein the times when the failover target computer assumes control over at least two of the failover object resources are different,

wherein the controller classifies the failover object resources into a plurality of categories in accordance with a state of use of the respective failover object resources, each category being associated with a time at which the failover target computer assumes control over the failover object resources, and

wherein the times include a first time at which processing is immediately executed for the failover target computer to assume control over the failed target resources and a second time at which processing is executed for the failover target computer to assume control over the failed target resources when an access request for the failover object resources is generated.

2. The failover cluster system according to claim 1 wherein the times further include a third time at which processing is executed for the failover target computer to assume control over the failed target resources in the event that the failover target computer is in a prescribed low-load condition.

3. The failover cluster system according to claim 2 wherein the times further include a fourth time at which processing for the failover target computer to assume control over the failed target resources is not executed.

4. A failover system comprising:

a plurality of computers coupled together; and

a plurality of filesystems mounted on a first computer and on a second computer, the first computer comprising a first controller, the first controller setting times at which the filesystems are mounted on the first computer and the second computer,

wherein the time at which at least two filesystems are mounted are different,

wherein the first controller classifies the filesystems into a plurality of categories in accordance with a state of use of the filesystems, each category being associated with a time at which the filesystems are mounted on the first computer and the second computer, and

wherein each time includes a first time at which mount processing is immediately executed and a second time at which mount processing is executed when an access request for a filesystem is generated.

5. The system according to claim 4 wherein the times further include a third time at which mount processing of the filesystems is executed in the event that the second computer is in a prescribed low-load condition.

6. The system according to claim 5 wherein the times further include a fourth time at which mount processing is not executed.

7. The system according to claim 5 wherein the second computer comprises a second controller which mounts the filesystems based on the times after detecting a failure of the first computer.

8. The system according to claim 7 wherein the first controller mounts the filesystem mounted on the second computer after a failure recovery of the first computer.

9. The system according to claim 7 wherein the first controller sends an unmount request of the filesystem to the second computer, and mounts the unmounted filesystems based on the times.

10. A system comprising:

a memory which stores a plurality of filesystems and times at which to mount the plurality of filesystems on a computer; and

a controller configured to mount the plurality of filesystems on the computer at the corresponding times,

wherein the times for mounting at least two filesystems are different, and

wherein the times include a first time at which mount processing is immediately executed and a second time at which mount processing is executed when an access request for the filesystem is generated.

11. The system according to claim 10 wherein the times further include a third time at which mount processing of the filesystems is executed in the event that the computer is in a prescribed low-load condition.