Fault-tolerant updates to a distributed fibre channel database
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A fault tolerant method to update a Fibre Channel database, comprising:
- receiving at a first device a first message from a commit master;
the first device detecting the loss of the commit master; and
the first device resending the first message to each of a specified one or more devices if the first message or a prior message from the commit master includes update data, else aborting the update operation.
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Abstract
Fault tolerant techniques to update a distributed database in a switched-fabric network. A commit master switch initiates an update operation using a four-phase process that provides for the automatic fail-over to a second (or more) switches if the commit master should not complete the update operation. In response to a lost commit master switch, one or more switches may assume the role of the commit master to either abort or complete the update operation.
18 Citations
61 Claims
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1. A fault tolerant method to update a Fibre Channel database, comprising:
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receiving at a first device a first message from a commit master; the first device detecting the loss of the commit master; and the first device resending the first message to each of a specified one or more devices if the first message or a prior message from the commit master includes update data, else aborting the update operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A Fibre Channel switch, comprising:
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a port for receiving and sending message signals; database storage for storing at least a portion of a database; a control unit for executing program instructions; and storage, readable by the control unit, having instructions for causing the control unit to; receive a first message from a commit master switch through the port, detect the loss of the commit master switch, and resend the first message through the port to each of a specified one or more Fibre Channel switches if the first message or a prior message from the commit master switch includes update data, else abort the update operation. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A digital network comprising:
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a first switch adapted to initiate a database update operation; a second switch communicatively coupled to the first switch, the second switch having database storage, a control circuit adapted to execute instructions, and a storage readable by the control circuit and having instructions encoded therein to cause the control circuit to; receive a first message from the first switch, detect the loss of the first switch, resend the first message if the first message includes update data, else abort the update operation. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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Specification