Fault tolerant multi-node computing system for parallel-running a program under different environments

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application program;
• control means for respectively setting said processing nodes in uniquely different configurations and operating said processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to said processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by said application programs to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other to produce a difference in processing result between said response messages when a failure occurs in one of said processing nodes.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application;
• control means for selecting said processing nodes which are respectively set in uniquely different configurations and operating the selected processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in diversified environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to the selected processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by the application programs of the selected processing nodes to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said selected processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other to produce a difference in processing result between said response messages when a failure occurs in one of said selected processing nodes.

A method of operating a computing system, wherein the computing system comprises a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application program, the method comprising the steps of:

• respectively setting said processing nodes in uniquely different configurations which are sufficiently different from each other to produce is a difference in processing results respectively produced by said processing nodes when a failure occurs in one of said processing nodes;
• operating said processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• respectively distributing request messages to said processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by said application programs to produce a plurality of response messages.

A method of operating a computing system, wherein the computing system comprises a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application program, the method comprising the steps of:

• selecting said processing nodes which are respectively set in uniquely different configurations which are sufficiently different from each other to produce a difference in processing results respectively produced by said processing nodes when a failure occurs in one of said processing nodes;
• operating the selected processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to the selected processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by the application programs of the selected processing nodes to produce a plurality of response messages.