Environmental aware witness for active-active storage cluster nodes

A system for managing an active-active distributed data processing network, comprising:

• a. A first intelligent storage node and a second intelligent storage node in an active-active network configuration connected via a communication link, wherein the first intelligent storage node and the second intelligent storage node are configured to monitor a quality measurement of the communication link;
• b. a witness node communicatively coupled to the first intelligent storage node and the second intelligent storage node;
• and
• c. a processor having logic stored thereon configured to:
• i. periodically exchange operational parameters between two nodes in an active-active data storage network;
• ii. negotiate between the two nodes which would be the winner in the event a quality measurement of a communication link between the two nodes falls below a threshold value, wherein the negotiation includes evaluating at least two operational parameters of each individual node;
• iii. choose a winner based on the at least two operational parameters of each individual node;
• iv. record at least the two operational parameters for each individual node and a winner in a lock file;
• and
• v. transmit the lock file to a witness.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing software for dynamically assigning a winning node in an active-active data storage network comprising performing the steps of:

• a. periodically exchanging operational parameters between two nodes in an active-active data storage network;
• b. negotiating between the two nodes which would be the winner in the event a quality measurement of a communication link between the two nodes falls below a threshold value, wherein the negotiation includes evaluating at least two operational parameters of each individual node;
• c. choosing a winner based on the at least two operational parameters of each individual node;
• d. recording at least the two operational parameters for each individual node and a winner in a lock file;
• and
• e. transmitting the lock file to a witness.