Selecting a processor to run an executable of a distributed software application upon startup of the distributed software application

• US 7,614,055 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2004
• Issued: 11/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nokia of America Corporation (Nokia Corporation), Sound View Innovations, LLC (Sound View Innovation Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Buskens, Richard W., Lin, Yow-Jian, Mishra, Sunil K., Siddiqui, Muhammad A., Suchaczewski, Timothy A., Liim, Tim T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brophy; Matthew J
• Application Number:
  US10/868,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20050278712A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,968 Days
• Field of Search: 717/168, 717/170, 717/172, 718/102, 718/105, 718/108, 718/110, 718/100
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load

Abstract

An apparatus in one example comprises a manager component for a distributed software application that based on one or more of a characteristic of an executable of the distributed software application and/or a characteristic of one or more of a plurality of processors, selects a processor from the plurality of processors to run the executable upon startup of the distributed software application.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a manager component for a distributed software application, that runs on a multi-processor system, that based on one or more of;

a characteristic of an executable of the distributed software application; and

a characteristic of one or more of a plurality of processors;

selects, after receipt of a list of valid processors for the executable, a processor from the plurality of processors to run the executable upon startup of the distributed software application based on an instruction to run the executable only on the processor;

wherein the distributed software application comprises a call processing software application, and wherein the call processing software application sets up or tears down telecommunication sessions in a telecommunication network; and

wherein the manager component employs up to date information of the multi-processor system to select the processor;

wherein the manager component comprises a high availability manager component operating in a high availability infrastructure; and

wherein the high availability manager component dynamically selects, at runtime of the distributed software application, the processor from the plurality of processors to run the executable.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a first processor, and wherein the startup comprises a first startup;

and wherein upon the first startup of the distributed software application, the manager component dynamically selects the first processor to run the executable; and

wherein upon a second startup of the distributed software application, the manager component dynamically selects a second processor from the plurality of processors to run the executable.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein between the first startup and the second startup, one or more of the characteristic of the executable and/or the characteristic of one or more of the plurality of processors have changed resulting in the manager component selecting the second processor to run the executable at the second startup instead of the first processor.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a first processor, and wherein the executable comprises a first executable, and wherein the distributed software application comprises the first executable and a second executable;

and wherein the manager component, based on one or more of;

a characteristic of the second executable; and

a characteristic of one or more of the plurality of processors;

dynamically selects a second processor from the plurality of processors to run the second executable upon startup of the distributed software application.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distributed software application comprises a plurality of executables, and Wherein the plurality of executables comprises the executable;

and wherein the manager component load balances the plurality of executables across the plurality of processors.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a first processor, and wherein the plurality of processors comprises the first processor and a second processor;

and wherein the manager component queries the first processor for a load value of the first processor, and wherein the manager component queries the second processor for a load value of the second processor; and

wherein upon determination that the load value of the first processor is lower than the load value of the second processor, the manager component selects the first processor to run the executable.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distributed software application comprises a plurality of executables, and wherein the plurality of executables comprises the executable;

and wherein the processor comprises a first processor, and wherein the plurality of processors comprises the first processor and a second processor; and

wherein upon determination that the first processor is running fewer of the plurality of executables than the second processor, the manager component selects the first processor to run the executable.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distributed software application comprises a plurality of software components within a plurality of executables, and wherein the plurality of executables comprises the executable;

and

wherein the processor comprises a first processor, and wherein the plurality of processors comprises the first processor and a second processor; and

wherein the plurality of software components comprise one or more software components of the executable; and

wherein upon determination that the first processor is running fewer of the plurality of software components than the second processor, the manager component selects the first processor to run the one or more software components of the executable.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the executable comprises a first executable, and wherein the distributed software application comprises the first executable and a second executable;

and wherein the manager component receives an instruction to run the first executable on a same processor as the second executable, and wherein the second executable is assigned to run on the processor of the plurality of processors; and

wherein the manager component selects the processor from the plurality of processors to run the first executable since the second executable is running on the processor.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the executable 2 comprises a first executable, and wherein the distributed software application compromises the first executable and a second executable;

and wherein the processor comprises a first processor, and wherein the plurality of processors comprises the first processor and a second processor; and

wherein the manager component receives an instruction to run the first executable on a different processor than the second executable, and wherein the second executable is assigned to run on the second processor of the plurality of processors; and

wherein the manager component selects the first processor from the plurality of processors to run the first executable since the second executable is running on the second processor.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the manager component sends a message to an executable manager running on the processor to instruct the executable manager to start running the executable on the processor, and wherein the executable manager starts up the executable on the processor.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a first processor, and wherein the plurality of processors comprises the first processor and a second processor, and wherein the executable comprises an active executable, and wherein the distributed software application comprises the active executable and a standby executable, and wherein the standby executable comprises a backup copy of the active executable;

and wherein the manager component selects the first processor from the plurality of processors to run the active executable, and wherein the manager component selects the second processor from the plurality of processors to run the standby executable to keep the standby executable on a different processor than the active executable.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the manager component imports a configuration file that comprises an indication that the executable is able to run on one or more of the plurality of processors;

and wherein the manager component employs load information of the one or more of the plurality of processors to select the processor from the one or more of the plurality of processors to run the executable.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a first management infrastructure comprises the manager component, and wherein the executable comprises a first executable;

and wherein a second management infrastructure assigns a second executable to one of the plurality of processors, and wherein the second management infrastructure sends assignment information associated with the second executable to the manager component; and

wherein the manager component of the first management infrastructure dynamically selects one of the plurality of processors to run the first executable based on the assignment information of the second executable received from the second management infrastructure.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the manager component selects the processor from the plurality of processors for the executable based on an active-standby relationship between two executables.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the manager component employs load information of the plurality of processors to choose the processor for the executable.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the executable is free from a fixed pre-assignment to any one of the processors of the plurality of processors.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the management component keeps related executables on a same processor.

15. A method, comprising the steps of:

determining one or more characteristics of one or more of a plurality of processors that run a distributed software application; and

selecting, at runtime of the distributed software application and based on one or more of the one or more characteristics, a processor from the plurality of processors to run an executable of the distributed software application after receipt of a list of valid processors for the executable and an instruction to run the executable only on the processor;

wherein the distributed software application comprises a call processing software application, and wherein the call processing software application sets up and/or tears down telecommunication sessions In a telecommunication network; and

wherein a manager component for the distributed software application, that runs on a multi-processor system, employs up to date information of the multi-processor system to select the processor;

wherein the manager component comprises a high availability manager component operating in a high availability infrastructure; and

wherein the high availability manager component dynamically selects, at runtime of the distributed software application, the processor from the plurality of processors to run the executable.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the processor comprises a first processor, and wherein the plurality of processors comprises the first processor and a second processor;

and wherein the step of determining the one or more characteristics of the one or more of the plurality of processors that run the distributed software application comprises the steps of;

querying the first processor for a load value of the first processor; and

querying the second processor for a load value of the second processor;

wherein the step of selecting, at runtime of the distributed software application and based on the one or more of the one or more characteristics, the processor from the plurality of processors to run the executable of the distributed software application comprises the steps of;

selecting the first processor to run the executable upon determination that the load value of the first processor is lower than the load value of the second processor; and

sending a message to an executable manager on the first processor to instruct the executable manager to start up the executable.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the distributed software application comprises a plurality of executables, and wherein the plurality of executables comprises the executable, and wherein the processor comprises a first processor, and wherein the plurality of processors comprises the first processor and a second processor;

and wherein the step of selecting, at runtime of the distributed software application and based on the one or more of the one or more characteristics, the processor from the plurality of processors to run the executable of the distributed software application comprises the steps of;

selecting the first processor to run the executable upon determination that the first processor is running fewer of the plurality of executables than the second processor; and

sending a message to an executable manager on the first processor to instruct the executable manager to start up the executable.

18. A method, comprising the steps of:

determining one or more characteristics of an executable of a distributed software application; and

selecting, at runtime of the distributed software application and based on one or more of the one or more characteristics, a processor from a plurality of processors to run the executable after receipt of a list of valid processors for the executable and an instruction to run the executable only on the processor;

wherein the distributed software application comprises a call processing software application, and wherein the call processing software application sets up and/or tears clown telecommunication sessions in a telecommunication network; and

wherein a manager component for the distributed software application, that runs on a multi-processor system, employs up to date information of the multi-processor system to select the processor;

wherein the manager component comprises a high availability manager component operating in a high availability infrastructure; and

wherein the high availability manager component dynamically selects, at runtime of the distributed software application, the processor from the plurality of processors to run the executable.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the executable comprises a first executable, and wherein the distributed software application comprises the first executable and a second executable;

and wherein the step of determining the one or more characteristics of the executable of the distributed software application comprises the steps of;

importing a configuration file that indicates that the first executable is to be run with the second executables on a same processor; and

determining that the second executable is assigned to run on the processor of the plurality of processors;

wherein the step of selecting, at runtime of the distributed software application and based on the one or more of the one or more characteristics, the processor from the plurality of processors to run the executable comprises the steps of;

choosing the processor from the plurality of processors to run the first executable on the processor with the second executable; and

sending a message to an executable manager on the processor to instruct the executable manager to start up the executable.