Decentralized sleep management

• US 9,582,062 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2010
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Lorch, Jacob R., Sen, Siddhartha, Padhye, Jitendra D., Hughes, Richard L., Garcia Jurado Suarez, Carlos
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hanh N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Perez, Jose L
• Application Number:
  US12/940,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20120117404A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,307 Days
• Field of Search: 709/208, 709/209, 709/220, 709/221, 709/223, 713/310, 713/320, 713/321, 713/323, 713/324, 713/330, 713/340
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3228 Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands

Abstract

Techniques for employing a decentralized sleep management service are described herein. In some instances, each computing device of a group of computing devices periodically shares information about itself with each other computing device of the group. With this information, each computing device within the group that is awake and capable of managing other devices selects a subset of devices to probe. The devices then probe this subset to determine whether the probed devices are asleep. In response to identifying a sleeping device, the probing device takes over management of the sleeping device. Managing the sleeping device involves informing other devices of the group that the sleeping device is being managed, in addition to monitoring requests for services on the sleeping device. In response to receiving a valid request for a service hosted by the sleeping device, the managing device awakens the sleeping device and ceases managing the now-woken device.

Claims

1. A first computing device residing within a subnet that includes multiple computing devices, the first computing device comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

receiving local states of the multiple computing devices that reside within the subnet;

maintaining a global state of the subnet with use of the received local states;

identifying, from the global state, a computing device of the subnet to probe;

probing the identified computing device to determine that the identified computing device is asleep and is managed by a second computing device;

sending a response to the second computing device in response to determining that the first computing device has a higher priority of managing the identified computing device than the second computing device, the response causing the second computing device to stop managing the identified computing device, wherein at least two computing devices manages other computing devices of the multiple computing devices within the subnet at one time; and

managing the identified computing device that is asleep.

2. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-readable media further store computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform an act comprising sending a local state of the first computing device to each of the multiple computing devices that reside within the subnet.

3. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the global state of the subnet indicates computing devices that are actively probing and computing devices that are eligible to be probed, and the identifying of the computing device to probe comprises:

selecting a subset of the computing devices that are eligible to be probed, the selected subset having a size that is based at least in part on a number of the computing devices that are actively probing; and

probing each computing device of the selected subset.

4. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the managing of the identified computing device includes sending a local state of the identified computing device to each of the multiple computing devices that reside within the subnet.

5. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the subnet includes one or more switches to route traffic to the multiple computing devices within the subnet, and the managing of the identified computing device comprises informing a switch that the first computing device is now responsible for traffic intended for the identified computing device.

6. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the global state indicates a set of one or more services hosted by the identified computing device, and the managing of the identified computing device comprises:

receiving a request to access a service hosted by the identified computing device;

determining whether the set of services indicated by the global state includes the service specified in the received request;

waking the identified computing device at least partly in response to determining that the set of services indicated by the global state includes the service specified in the received request; and

refraining from waking the identified computing device at least partly in response to determining that the set of services indicated by the global state does not include the service specified in the received request.

7. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the managing of the identified computing device comprises:

receiving probes intended for the identified computing device and sent by other ones of the multiple computing devices that reside within the subnet; and

at least partly in response to the receiving of the probes, informing the other ones of the multiple computing devices that the identified computing device is currently being managed.

8. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the managing of the identified computing device comprises:

monitoring outbound service requests sent by the first computing device that manages the identified computing device;

determining, for each of the outbound service requests, whether the respective outbound service request is for a service hosted by the identified computing device; and

waking the identified computing device at least partly in response to determining that the respective outbound service request is for a service hosted by the identified computing device.

9. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the managing of the identified computing device comprises:

listening for one or more predetermined communications from the identified computing device; and

ceasing the managing of the identified computing device at least partly in response to receiving one of the one or more predetermined communications.

10. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the managing of the identified computing device comprises attempting to wake the identified computing device at a predetermined time.

11. A first computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-readable media further store computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

computing a minimum number of management-capable computing devices within the subnet to keep awake at a given time, the management-capable computing devices comprising computing devices that are capable of managing one or more other computing devices that are asleep;

determining a number of management-capable computing devices within the subnet that are awake at the given time; and

waking one or more management-capable computing devices within the subnet when the determined number is less than the computed minimum number.

12. A method implemented at least in part by a first computing device, the method comprising:

receiving state information from a second computing device of a decentralized service;

detecting when the second computing device goes to sleep based on the received state information;

determining whether a third computing device that is managing the second computing device has a lower priority to manage the second computing device than the first computing device; and

in response to determining that the third computing device that is managing the second computing device has the lower priority to manage the second computing device than the first computing device, assuming responsibility, by the first computing device, for determining when to awaken the second computing device, wherein at least two computing devices manages multiple computing devices within a subnet associated with the decentralized service at one time.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the second computing device includes a watch timer that is set to cause the second computing device to periodically awaken.

14. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising awakening the second computing device at least partly in response to at least one of:

receiving a request for a service hosted by the second computing device;

receiving a request for data hosted by the second computing device;

or

determining that a load handled by the decentralized service increases and more computing devices for handling the load are called.

15. A method implemented at least in part by a first computing device, the method comprising:

receiving local states of multiple computing devices that reside within a subnet;

maintaining a global state of the subnet with use of the received local states;

identifying, from the global state, a computing device of the subnet to probe;

probing the identified computing device to determine that the identified computing device is asleep and is managed by a second computing device;

sending a response to the second computing device in response to determining that the first computing device has a higher priority of managing the identified computing device than the second computing device, the response causing the second computing device to stop managing the identified computing device, wherein at least two computing devices manages other computing devices of the multiple computing devices within the subnet at one time; and

managing the identified computing device that is asleep.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the global state indicates a set of one or more services hosted by the identified computing device, and the managing of the identified computing device comprises:

receiving a request to access a service hosted by the identified computing device;

determining whether the set of services indicated by the global state includes the service specified in the received request;

waking the identified computing device at least partly in response to determining that the set of services indicated by the global state includes the service specified in the received request; and

refraining from waking the identified computing device at least partly in response to determining that the set of services indicated by the global state does not include the service specified in the received request.

17. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the managing of the identified computing device comprises:

receiving probes intended for the identified computing device and sent by other ones of the multiple computing devices that reside within the subnet; and

at least partly in response to the receiving of the probes, informing the other ones of the multiple computing devices that the identified computing device is currently being managed.

18. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the managing of the identified computing device comprises:

monitoring outbound service requests sent by the first computing device that manages the identified computing device;

determining, for each of the outbound service requests, whether the respective outbound service request is for a service hosted by the identified computing device; and

waking the identified computing device at least partly in response to determining that the respective outbound service request is for a service hosted by the identified computing device.

19. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the managing of the identified computing device comprises:

listening for one or more predetermined communications from the identified computing device; and

ceasing the managing of the identified computing device at least partly in response to receiving one of the one or more predetermined communications.

20. A method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

computing a minimum number of management-capable computing devices within the subnet to keep awake at a given time, the management-capable computing devices comprising computing devices that are capable of managing one or more other computing devices that are asleep;

determining a number of management-capable computing devices within the subnet that are awake at the given time; and

waking one or more management-capable computing devices within the subnet when the determined number is less than the computed minimum number.