Distributed configuration profile for computing system
First Claim
1. A distributed computing system, comprising:
- a communications network having a number of clients and a number of service providers connected thereto, each service provider supplying one or more services, wherein each client is able to send data to and receive data from each of said service providers via said network using a unique network address;
one of said service providers providing a name service, said name service being a database service containing entries for each of said service providers and receiving inquiries from said clients for the identity of said service providers referenced by service name and returning information identifying said service providers by network address;
said name service including in said database configuration profiles for at least one client, each configuration profile comprising a plurality of hierarchically-arranged entries including;
one or more server entries each defining a network address of one of said service providers;
one or more service groups, each service group defining a plurality of said server entries; and
one or more other configuration profiles;
each of said entries of each of said configuration profile of said name service containing priority information to determine the order of use of said network addresses by said client after receipt of said inquiries by said name service;
and means for identifying for said client a selected one or more of said configuration profiles for reference upon making said inquiries.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A distributed computing system using a data communications network may have a number of service providers for a given service or remote procedure call. A client on the network makes reference to a name service to obtain the network address of one of these service providers. The name service maintains for each client or group of clients a configuration profile of the service providers in order to resolve the issue of selecting one of the several service providers when a request is made. A single configuration profile is a priority-ordered search list that maps from a service identifier (e.g., remote procedure call interface specification) into service provider (e.g., remote procedure call server) names. A configuration profile may include names for individual service providers, and/or named groups of service providers, and/or other configuration profiles. Configuration profiles are stored in a manner that makes them accessible throughout the distributed system, e.g., in the name service. Configuration profiles may be chained together by referencing other configuration profiles to provide a hierarchy of configuration profiles.
481 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A distributed computing system, comprising:
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a communications network having a number of clients and a number of service providers connected thereto, each service provider supplying one or more services, wherein each client is able to send data to and receive data from each of said service providers via said network using a unique network address; one of said service providers providing a name service, said name service being a database service containing entries for each of said service providers and receiving inquiries from said clients for the identity of said service providers referenced by service name and returning information identifying said service providers by network address; said name service including in said database configuration profiles for at least one client, each configuration profile comprising a plurality of hierarchically-arranged entries including; one or more server entries each defining a network address of one of said service providers; one or more service groups, each service group defining a plurality of said server entries; and one or more other configuration profiles; each of said entries of each of said configuration profile of said name service containing priority information to determine the order of use of said network addresses by said client after receipt of said inquiries by said name service; and means for identifying for said client a selected one or more of said configuration profiles for reference upon making said inquiries. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A communications network comprising:
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a) a communications link; b) a plurality of clients coupled to said communications link; c) a plurality of service providers coupled to said communications network; d) each one of said clients and each one of said service providers including processing means executing a separate instruction stream, and each one of said clients and each one of said service providers having a unique network address on said network; e) each one of said clients and each one of said service providers having means for making remote procedure calls to said service providers via said communications link, when executing said instruction stream; f) each one of said clients and each one of said service providers having means for sending and receiving messages to other clients and service providers via said communications link using said network addresses, said messages being employed in making said remote procedure calls; g) one of said service providers being a name service functioning to return a message containing the network address of a particular one of said service providers in reply to a message from one of said clients giving the name of said service; h) and means included in said name service to maintain a plurality of configuration profiles, each one of said configuration profiles being configured for at least one of said clients, each one of said configuration profiles comprising a priority-ordered hierarchical search list for mapping service names into said service providers for said at least one of said clients, each configuration profile including a priority-ordered list of; one or more server entries each defining a net work address of one of said service providers; one or more service groups, each service group defining a plurality of said server entries; and one or more other configuration profiles; i) means for associating each one of said configuration profiles with a given client; j) and means in said name service to return said network addresses to said given client upon receipt of inquiries by said name service from said given client, for user by said client in response to said priority-ordered list. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of selecting resources in a distributed computing system, comprising the steps of:
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receiving from a client a request to access a service; searching by a service name in response to said request a configuration profile customized for use by such client to select a service provider capable of providing said requested service from a group of service providers offering said requested service, said step of searching said configuration profile comprising; reading entries in said configuration profile corresponding to said service name; selecting a service provider based on a selected priority value when said read entries are server entries or service group entries; selecting other service providers having said selected priority value if the selected service provider cannot supply the requested service; continuing the searching using a next lower priority value when said service providers for said selected value have been exhausted without finding a capable service provider; repeating the above steps for one or more other configuration profiles when said configuration profile is hierarchically linked to such one or more other configuration profiles until said searching succeeds in finding a capable service provider or fails; and if said searching succeeds, accessing said requested service by said client from said selected capable service provider. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification