Method and apparatus for a fast process monitor suitable for a high availability system

An apparatus for monitoring an application comprising:

• a first process that executes the application on a processor;
• a second process that is created by the first process, wherein the second process executes the application on the processor;
• wherein the first process ends execution of the application when the second process is created and the first process receives a signal indicating death of the second process if the second process stops executing;
• wherein the second process monitors the first process to ensure that the first process is still executing;
• wherein if the second process determines that the first process is no longer executing, the second process creates a third process to run on the processor, wherein the third process executes the application and the second process receives a signal indicating death of the third process if the third process stops executing;
• and
• wherein the second process stops executing the application when the third process is created.

A machine-readable medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a machine to perform method steps for monitoring a software process on a processor, the method comprising the steps of:

• running a first process that executes an application on the processor;
• the first process creating a second process to run on the processor, wherein the second process executes the application;
• the first process ending execution of the application when the second process is created, wherein the first process receives a signal indicating death of the second process if the second process stops executing;
• the second process monitoring the first process to ensure that the first process is still executing;
• the second process determining that the first process is no longer executing;
• the second process creating a third process to run on the processor, wherein the third process executes the application, wherein the second process receives a signal indicating death of the third process if the third process stops executing;
• and
• the second process ending execution of the application when the third process is created.