Automated queue recovery using element- based journaling

Abstract

An apparatus, program product and method manage a queue through the use of element-based journaling to record changes made to logical elements in a queue. In contrast to convention memory-based journaling, where any changes to the memory representing an element in a queue are journaled, only those operations that affect the logical ordering and/or placement of an element on a queue, or the logical contents of such an element, are journaled. Memory management operations such as pointer manipulation operations that modify pointers or other memory management data, but do not otherwise modify the actual elements in a queue or their relative ordering, need not be journaled. As a consequence, the storage and processing overhead associated with journaling may be substantially reduced, thereby substantially reducing the overhead associated with maintenance and recovery of a queue.