Method and system for selecting a cluster owner based on one or more risk factors of the candidates

#Redundancy of data and host computers is the standard method employed to ensure the continued availability of a companies data and data processing ability.

#A method of protecting data from catastrophic hard disk failure, which is known as disc mirroring, involves making a “mirror” copy on a second hard disk or a different part of the same disk as each file is stored on the first hard disk.

#An approach to safeguarding the loss or damage to data processing ability is the use of high availability computer clusters. High availability computer clusters typically include a plurality of host computer nodes that are spread out across a geographic distance. This configuration allows for the survivability of the cluster in the event of a disaster that has a limited destruction radius. The cluster has a cluster owner computer node, which retains exclusive rights to performs certain operations for the cluster. These operations can include adding nodes to the cluster, dropping nodes from the cluster, and assigning disk ownership to specific nodes, as well as, defending any challenges from other nodes to usurp the title of cluster owner. The cluster owner remains so until the cluster owner fails or ownership designation is explicitly moved to another computer.

#The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements.

#FIG. 1 illustrates a system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 illustrates in greater detail the third party arbiter (TPA) of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

#In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

#FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The system 10 can be a geographically dispersed highly available computer cluster that includes a plurality of cluster nodes 14. In this example, the system 10 includes a New York City cluster node, a London cluster node, a San Francisco cluster node, and a Kansas City cluster node. The cluster nodes 14 communicate through a network 18, which can be a private WAN or the World Wide Web (WWW).

#Each cluster node 14 is a computer that contains data or applications accessible by other users of the networked cluster 18. The cluster includes a set of cooperating application programs. Each node has access to, and operates on, a part of the shared cluster application data. The cluster owner is aware of the data portion owned by each node in the cluster, as well as the data processing mission or task of each node in the cluster. If any node fails, the current cluster owner re-appropriates the tasks and data of the failed node to each surviving node in order to cover the work of the failing node and to continue the non-stop nature of the cluster.