Method for processing a request by selecting an appropriate computer node in a plurality of computer nodes in a storage cluster based on a calculated bid value in each computer node

Abstract

Each node and volume in a fixed-content storage cluster makes an independent decision whether to reduce power consumption based on lack of requests from client applications and nodes over a configurable time period. Node configuration parameters sleepAfter and wakeAfter respectively determine how long to wait until idling a node or volume, and how long to wait while idle before again performing integrity checks. A bid value is calculated by each node and reflects how much it will cost for that node to write a file, read a file, or keep a copy of the file. A node with the lowest bid wins, and nodes that are idle have a premium added to each bid to help ensure that idle nodes are kept idle. Normally, nodes with more capacity will submit a lower bid to write a file. In an archive mode, writes bids are reversed meaning that nodes with less capacity submit lower bids, meaning that fuller nodes fill up faster and are then idled, while empty or near empty nodes may remain idle for some time before winning a write bid.