Unisys Corporation

David A Novak

Michael J Heideman

Dennis R Konrad

Carl R Crandall

Thomas P Cooper

Craig B Johnson

Haeng D Park

Michael C Otto

Thomas N DeVries

An apparatus for and method of enhancing reliability and performance within a cluster lock processing system having a relatively large number of commodity instruction processors which are managed by a highly scalable, off the shelf platform. Because the commodity processors have virtually no system viability features such as memory protection, failure recovery, etc., the cluster/lock processors assume the responsibility for providing these functions. The low cost of the commodity instruction processors makes the system almost linearly scalable. The cluster/locking, caching, and mass storage accessing functions are fully integrated into a single hardware platform which performs the role of the cluster/lock master. The validity operation throughput of the clustered systems manager is increased by aging out validity entries for each of the process owners via a background operation. This minimizes the number of exclusive locks that must be utilized while performing a validity operation.

Method for obtaining higher throughput in a computer system utilizing a clustered systems manager

An apparatus for and method of implementing a cluster lock processing system using highly scalable, off-the-shelf commodity processors. The cluster lock processing system is the central component of a clustered computer system, providing locking and coordination between multiple host systems. The host systems are coupled to the cluster lock processing system using off-the-shelf, low latency interconnects. The cluster lock processing system is composed of multiple commodity platforms that are also coupled to each other using low latency interconnects. Failure of one of the commodity platforms that comprise the cluster lock processing system results in no loss of functionality or interruption of service. This is made possible through the use of specialized software that runs on the commodity platforms. Through the use of custom software and inexpensive hardware the overall system cost is dramatically reduced when compared to typical solutions that use custom built hardware. By allowing the individual commodity platforms to be physically separated, the cluster lock processing system also provides for resiliency against physical damage to an individual platform that may be caused by a catastrophic site failure.

Outboard clustered computer systems manager utilizing commodity components

An apparatus for and method of enhancing reliability within a cluster lock processing system having a relatively large number of commodity cluster instruction processors which are managed by a cluster lock manager. Because the commodity processors have virtually no system viability features such as memory protection, failure recovery, etc., the cluster/lock processors assume the responsibility for providing these functions. The low cost of the commodity cluster instruction processors makes the system almost linearly scalable. The cluster/locking, caching, and mass storage accessing functions are fully integrated into a single hardware platform which performs the role of the cluster/lock master. Upon failure of this hardware platform, a second redundant hardware platform converts from slave to master role. The logic for the failure detection and role swapping is placed within software, which can run as an application under a commonly available operating system. Furthermore, the recovery is completely accomplished without assistance of the Host computer(s) or ultimate user(s) coupled via the Host computer(s). Following repair of the failed server, it is restarted in an orderly fashion to resume a slave role. For the server to be completely restored, coherent memory must be copied from master to slave. Because cluster lock processing must be paused throughout the system to transfer the copy, it is important to minimize the transfer time to minimize the impact on system throughput.

Method for shortening the resynchronization time following failure in a computer system utilizing separate servers for redundancy

An apparatus for and method of enhancing throughput within a cluster lock processing system having a relatively large number of commodity cluster instruction processors which are arranged in redundant fashion to improve reliability. Because the commodity processors have virtually no system viability features such as memory protection, failure recovery, etc., the cluster/lock processors assume the responsibility for providing these functions. The low cost of the commodity cluster instruction processors makes the system almost linearly scalable. The cluster/locking, caching, and mass storage accessing functions are fully integrated into a single hardware platform which performs the role of the cluster/lock master. Upon failure of this hardware platform, a second redundant hardware platform converts from slave to master role. The logic for the failure detection and role swapping is placed within software, which can run as an application under a commonly available operating system. During periods between failures, both master and slave, along with their redundant interfaces, are employed to enhance throughput.

Method for distributing the processing among multiple synchronization paths in a computer system utilizing separate servers for redundancy

An apparatus for and method of providing failure recovery from redundancy, notwithstanding that the failed subsystem and its replacement have differing capacities. This is especially useful when implementing a cluster lock processing system having a relatively large number of commodity instruction processors which are managed by a highly scalable, cluster lock manager. Reliability is built into the managing communication processor by dividing the system into master and slave subsystems. The master has primary responsibility for system management and coordination, whereas the slave has primary responsibility to backup the master and be prepared to assume management responsibility. Upon the need to transfer responsibility from the master to the slave, whether it be manual (e.g., maintenance) or automatic (e.g., failure), the only concern is that the slave has sufficient capacity to accept the current level of processing, even though it does not have the same level of capacity as the master.

Method for allowing a clustered computer systems manager to use disparate hardware on each of the separate servers utilized for redundancy

An apparatus for and method of enhancing reliability within a cluster lock processing system having a relatively large number of commodity cluster instruction processors which are managed by a cluster lock manager. Because the commodity processors have virtually no system viability features such as memory protection, failure recovery, etc., the cluster/lock processors assume the responsibility for providing these functions. The low cost of the commodity cluster instruction processors makes the system almost linearly scalable. The cluster/locking, caching, and mass storage accessing functions are fully integrated into a single hardware platform which performs the role of the master. Upon failure of this hardware platform, a second redundant hardware platform converts from slave to master role. The logic for the failure detection and role swapping is placed within software, which can run as an application under a commonly available operating system. Furthermore, the recovery is completely accomplished without assistance of the Host computer(s) or ultimate user(s) coupled via the Host computer(s).

Clustered computer system utilizing separate servers for redundancy in which the host computers are unaware of the usage of separate servers

An apparatus for and method of enhancing reliability within a cluster lock processing system having a relatively large number of commodity cluster instruction processors which are managed by a cluster lock manager. Because the commodity processors have virtually no system viability features such as memory protection, failure recovery, etc., the communication processor assumes the responsibility for providing these functions. The low cost of the commodity cluster instruction processors makes the system almost linearly scalable. The cluster/locking, caching, and mass storage accessing functions are fully integrated into a single hardware platform which performs the role of the cluster/lock master. Upon failure of this hardware platform, a second redundant hardware platform converts from slave to master role. The logic for the failure detection and role swapping is placed within software, which can run as an application under a commonly available operating system.

Software control using the controller as a component to achieve resiliency in a computer system utilizing separate servers for redundancy

An apparatus for and method of implementing a cluster lock processing system having a relatively large number of commodity cluster instruction processors which are managed by a highly scalable, off the shelf communication processor. Because the commodity processors have virtually no system viability features such as memory protection, failure recovery, etc., the communication processor assumes the responsibility for providing these functions. The low cost of the commodity cluster instruction processors makes the system almost linearly scalable. Furthermore, having a fully scalable communication processor ensures a completely scalable system. The cluster/locking, caching, and mass storage accessing functions are fully integrated into a single hardware platform.

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Coon Rapids, MN, United States of America

David A Novak