Apparatus and method for data replication at an intermediate node

A method for tolerating network outages, the method comprising:

• detecting an occurrence of a network outage;
• if the network outage is due to a failure between the intermediate node and the secondary node, or due to a failure of the secondary node, then storing data that is received from the primary node to the intermediate node;
• and
• if the network outage is due to a failure between the primary node and intermediate node, or due to a failure of the intermediate node, then directly transmitting the data from the primary node to the secondary node.

A method for data replication, the method comprising:

• receiving data from a first primary node;
• storing the data in a first buffer space in an intermediate node;
• forwarding the data to a first secondary node;
• receiving other data from a second primary node;
• storing the other data in a second buffer space in the intermediate node;
• and
• forwarding the other data to a second secondary node.

An apparatus for data replication, the apparatus comprising:

• means for receiving data from a primary node;
• means for storing the data in an intermediate node;
• means for forwarding the data to a secondary node;
• and
• means for storing the data in the secondary node, wherein the data is a subset of a data set stored in the primary node.

An apparatus for data replication, the apparatus comprising:

• a primary node;
• a secondary node;
• and
• an intermediate node configured to receive data from the primary node, to store the data, and to forward the data to the secondary node, wherein the secondary node stores the data, and wherein the data is a subset of a data set stored in the primary node.

An apparatus for tolerating network outages, the apparatus comprising:

• a primary node;
• a secondary node;
• and
• an intermediate node configured to detect an occurrence of a network outage;
• wherein the intermediate node is configured to store data that is received from the primary node, if the network outage is due to a failure between the intermediate node and the secondary node, or due to a failure of the secondary node;
• wherein the primary node is configured to directly transmit the data to the secondary node, if the network outage is due to a failure between the primary node and the intermediate node, or due to a failure of the intermediate node.

An apparatus for data replication, the apparatus comprising:

• a first primary node;
• a second primary node;
• a first secondary node;
• a second secondary node;
• and
• an intermediate node configured to receive data from the first primary node, to store the data in a first buffer space in the intermediate node, to forward the data to the first secondary node, to receive other data from the second primary node, to store the other data in a second buffer space in the intermediate node, and to forward the other data to the second secondary node.