Method and apparatus for partitioning a computer cluster through coordination point devices
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving an arbitration request from a client computer upon an occurrence of a cluster partition, wherein the cluster partition partitions a computer cluster into a plurality of sub-clusters, wherein a first sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters comprises the client computer wherein the arbitration request indicates which of a plurality of coordination point devices the client computer is connected to and which of a plurality of client computers are included in the first sub-cluster;
comparing a coordination point cluster membership of the first sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters and a second coordination point cluster membership of a second sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters;
selecting, based on the arbitration request, to vote for the client computer to continue to be a member of the computer cluster;
identifying a failed coordination point device of the plurality of coordination point devices; and
communicating, to the client computer, the vote and a proxy vote for the failed coordination point device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for partitioning a computer cluster through coordination point devices that provide enhanced split brain arbitration during I/O fencing. In one embodiment, a method for using coordination point devices to support Input/Output fencing in a computer cluster comprises processing at least one arbitration request from at least one client computer upon an occurrence of a split brain within a computer cluster, wherein each arbitration request indicates at least one established connection between at least one coordination point device and each client computer of the at least one client computer and each client sub-cluster membership, wherein the at least one coordination point device form a coordination point cluster membership and selecting a client computer of the at least one client computer to continue to be a portion of the computer cluster based on the arbitration request.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving an arbitration request from a client computer upon an occurrence of a cluster partition, wherein the cluster partition partitions a computer cluster into a plurality of sub-clusters, wherein a first sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters comprises the client computer wherein the arbitration request indicates which of a plurality of coordination point devices the client computer is connected to and which of a plurality of client computers are included in the first sub-cluster; comparing a coordination point cluster membership of the first sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters and a second coordination point cluster membership of a second sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters; selecting, based on the arbitration request, to vote for the client computer to continue to be a member of the computer cluster; identifying a failed coordination point device of the plurality of coordination point devices; and communicating, to the client computer, the vote and a proxy vote for the failed coordination point device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus comprising:
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an arbitration module for receiving an arbitration request from a client computer upon an occurrence of a cluster partition, wherein the cluster partition partitions a computer cluster into a plurality of sub-clusters, wherein a first sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters comprises the client computer, wherein the arbitration request comprises status information indicating which of a plurality of coordination point devices the client computer is connected to and which of a plurality of client computers are included in the first sub-cluster, comparing a coordination point cluster membership of the first sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters and a second coordination point cluster membership of a second sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters, selecting, based on the arbitration request, to vote for the client computer to continue to be a member of the computer cluster, and identifying a failed coordination point device of the plurality of failed coordination point devices; a memory comprising the status information; and a communicating module for communicating to the client computer a vote and a proxy vote for the failed coordination point device. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A system comprising:
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a client computer; a memory comprising status information which indicates which of a plurality of coordination point devices the client computer is connected to and which of a plurality of client computers are included in a first sub-cluster of a plurality of sub-clusters, wherein the first sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters comprises the client computer; a fencing driver for communicating an arbitration request and processing a response for the arbitration request to determine an Input/Output fencing decision; an odd number of coordination point devices; an arbitration module for receiving the arbitration request from the client computer upon an occurrence of a cluster partition, wherein the cluster partition partitions a computer cluster into the plurality of sub-clusters, comparing a coordination point cluster membership of the first sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters and a second coordination point cluster membership of a second sub-cluster of the plurality of sub-clusters, selecting, based on the arbitration request, to vote for the client computer to continue to be a member of the computer cluster, and identifying a failed coordination point device of the plurality of failed coordination point devices; and a communicating module for communicating to the client computer a vote and a proxy vote for a failed coordination point device. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification