International Business Machines Corporation

Michael J Meadows

Wayne Charles Carlson

Merrill Burns Greco

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for reducing the overhead required in conventional fault tolerant processing by redundant processors. Commands are received and queued by both the active and standby units but are processed only by the active unit. Short messages, each including a command identifier, are transmitted from the active unit to the standby unit. In addition, periodic handshaking signals are exchanged between the two units. In the event the active unit fails, the standby unit is automatically brought on-line to process the unprocessed commands and transmit responses to the command source. When the failed unit is restored, it can become the standby unit.

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Tucson, AZ, United States of America

Michael J Meadows