Techniques for distributed locks

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for causing a processing circuitry to execute a method for executing distributed locks in a computing system having resources that are adapted to be accessible by a plurality of processes that are being executed in the computing system, the method being executed by a locking system that is logically independent of the processes being executed, the process comprising:

• receive, by the locking system, a lock request, from one of the executing processes, including at least a lock name of a resource to place a lock on;
• determine, by the locking system, a shard key at least based on the lock name and a prefix value, wherein the locking system includes a set of database instances, wherein the prefix value is a number of database instances currently employed in the locking system, and wherein the databases share no information and operate independently of each other;
• send the lock request to at least two database instances in the set of database instances to place the lock in an entry pointed by the shard key;
• transmit a message to the process requesting the lock that the lock can be acquired when all of the at least two database instances acknowledge the lock request;
• and
• dismiss the lock request when at least one database instance of the at least two database instances cannot acknowledge the lock request.

A controller for executing distributed locks in a computing system having resources that are adapted to be accessible by a plurality of processes that are being executed in the computing system, the locking being executed by a locking system that is logically independent of the processes being executed, the controller, comprising:

• a processing circuitry;
• and
• a memory, the memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing circuitry, configure the controller to:
• receive a lock request, from one of the executing processes, including at least a lock name of a resource to place a lock on;
• determine a shard key at least based on the lock name and a prefix value, wherein the locking system includes a set of database instances, wherein the prefix value is a number of database instances currently employed in the locking system, and wherein the databases share no information and operate independently of each other;
• send the lock request to at least two database instances in the set of database instances to place the lock in an entry pointed by the shard key;
• transmit a message to the process requesting the lock that the lock can be acquired when all of the at least two database instances acknowledge the lock request;
• and
• dismiss the lock request when at least one database instance of the at least two database instances cannot acknowledge the lock request.

A method for use in a computing system having resources that are adapted to be accessible by a plurality of processes that are being executed in the computing system, the method being executed by a locking system that is logically independent of the processes being executed, the method being for scaling the locking system, the locking system includes a set of database instances, the method comprising:

• determining a current prefix value for a current set of database instances, wherein a current set of database instances includes at least two of the database instances and wherein the current prefix value uniquely identifies a number of databases in the current set of database instances;
• determining a new prefix value for a new set of database instances resulted from a scale operation on the current set of database instances wherein the new prefix value uniquely identifies a number of databases in the new set of database instances;
• upon receiving a lock request including at least a lock name of a resource to place a lock on, computing a first shard key as a function of the current prefix value and the lock name and a second shard key based as a function of the new prefix value and the lock name;
• and
• processing the lock request using the first shard key on the current set of database instances and using the second shard key on the new set of database instances.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for causing a processing circuitry to execute a method for use in a computing system having resources that are adapted to be accessible by a plurality of processes that are being executed in the computing system, the method being executed by a locking system that is logically independent of the processes being executed, the method being for scaling the locking system, the locking system including a set of database instances, the method being for scaling the locking system, the locking system including a set of database instances, the method comprising:

• determining a current prefix value for a current set of database instances, wherein a current set of database instances includes at least two of the database instances and wherein the current prefix value uniquely identifies a number of databases in the current set of database instances;
• determining a new prefix value for a new set of database instances resulted from a scale operation on the current set of database instances wherein the new prefix value uniquely identifies a number of databases in the new set of database instances;
• upon receiving a lock request including at least a lock name of a resource to place a lock on, computing a first shard key as a function of the current prefix value and the lock name and a second shard key based as a function of the new prefix value and the lock name;
• and
• processing the lock request using the first shard key on the current set of database instances and using the second shard key on the new set of database instances.

A controller for executing locks in a computing system having resources that are adapted to be accessible by a plurality of processes that are being executed in the computing system, the locking being executed by a locking system that is logically independent of the processes being executed, the controller, comprising:

• a processing circuitry;
• and
• a memory, the memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing circuitry, configure the controller to:
• determine a current prefix value for a current set of database instances, wherein a current set of database instances includes at least two of the database instances and wherein the current prefix value uniquely identifies a number of databases in the current set of database instances;
• determine a new prefix value for a new set of database instances resulted from a scale operation on the current set of database instances wherein the new prefix value uniquely identifies a number of databases in the new set of database instances;
• upon receiving a lock request including at least a lock name of a resource to place a lock on, compute a first shard key as a function of the current prefix value and the lock name and a second shard key based as a function of the new prefix value and the lock name;
• and
• process the lock request using the first shard key on the current set of database instances and using the second shard key on the new set of database instances.