Distributed multi-system management

• US 8,789,072 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2011
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines SA (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Klein, Arnon Henn
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Andy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mudrick, Timothy A
• Application Number:
  US13/015,003
• Publication Number:
  US 20120198482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• Field of Search: 719/330
• US Class Current: 719/330
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4806 Task transfer initiation or dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

An apparatus comprises multiple digital information devices arranged on a network and having respective memories, a subset of the respective memories each having a respective memory region assigned to manage a respective subgroup of the multiple digital information devices, the subset and the subgroup each having a cardinality of at least two, and a separate processor coupled to each of the respective memories and configured to manage the multiple digital information devices by exchanging information stored in the respective memory regions among the digital information devices over the network.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

multiple digital information devices arranged on a network and having respective memories;

a first subset of the multiple digital information devices being non-monitoring devices and having respective memories not being assigned to manage any other device of the multiple digital information devices;

a second subset of the multiple digital information devices being monitoring devices each including respective memories each having a respective memory region assigned to manage a respective subgroup of the multiple digital information devices including respective digital information devices in the first subset by updating a distributed database including management metadata and state data, the second subset and the subgroup each having a cardinality of at least two; and

a separate processor coupled to each of the respective memories and configured to manage the multiple digital information devices by exchanging information stored in the respective memory regions among the digital information devices over the network,

wherein;

the respective memories of the non-monitoring devices in the first subset do not store replicated data from other ones of the multiple digital information devices,

one or more of the respective memories of the monitoring devices in the second subset store replicated data from at least one of the non-monitoring devices in the first subset and other ones of the monitoring devices of the second subset of the multiple digital information devices, and

the monitoring devices retrieve tasks from a task list for the updating of the distributed database and manage the monitoring devices and the non-monitoring devices.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the digital information devices comprise storage controllers.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second subset comprises memories of monitoring devices configured to manage the multiple digital information devices.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring devices are configured to update the distributed database by determining a state of one of the networked digital information devices, and storing the determined state to the distributed database.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the monitoring devices are configured to repeat the steps of determining the state and storing the determined state for each of the networked digital information devices.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring devices are configured to execute remote procedure call (RPC) server applications configured to process queries for the distributed database, and wherein a management computer coupled to the network is configured to execute a RPC client application configured to convey the queries.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the RPC server applications are configured to process the queries by receiving, from the RPC client application, a request for information stored in the distributed database, retrieving the requested information from the distributed database, and conveying the requested information to the RPC client application.

8. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to operate a first subset of multiple digital information devices communicating on a network and being non-monitoring devices having respective memories not being assigned to manage any other device of the multiple digital information devices, the respective memories not storing replicated data from other ones of the multiple digital information devices;

computer readable program code configured to assign within respective memories of a second subset of multiple digital information devices arranged to communicate on the network, a respective memory region dedicated only to management of a respective subgroup of the multiple digital information devices including respective digital information devices in the first subset, the management occurring by updating a distributed database including management metadata and state data, the second subset and the subgroup each having a cardinality of at least two, and the second subset of the multiple digital information devices being monitoring devices;

computer readable program code configured to manage at least one of the multiple digital information devices of the first subset of multiple digital information devices and the respective subgroup of the second subset of digital information devices;

computer readable program code configured to store in one or more of the respective memories of the monitoring devices in the second subset replicated data from at least one of the non-monitoring devices in the first subset and other ones of the monitoring devices of the second subset of the multiple digital information devices; and

computer readable program code configured to manage the multiple digital information devices by exchanging information stored in the respective memory regions among the digital information devices over the network; and

computer readable program code configured to operate the monitoring devices to retrieve tasks from a task list for the updating of the distributed database and manage the monitoring devices and the non-monitoring devices.

9. The computer program product according to claim 8, wherein the digital information devices comprise storage controllers.

10. The computer program product according to claim 8, wherein the second subset comprises memories of monitoring devices configured to manage the multiple digital information devices.

11. The computer program product according to claim 8, wherein the computer readable program code is configured to update the distributed database by determining a state of one of the networked digital information devices, and storing the determined state to the distributed database.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the computer readable program code is configured to repeat, for each of the networked digital information devices, the steps of determining the state and storing the determined state.

13. The computer program product according to claim 8, and comprising:

computer readable program code configured to execute remote procedure call (RPC) server applications configured to process queries for the distributed database; and

computer readable program code configured to execute a RPC client application configured to convey the queries.

14. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein processing the queries comprises computer readable program code configured to receive, from the RPC client application, a request for information stored in the distributed database, to retrieve the requested information from the distributed database, and to convey the requested information to the RPC client application.