Distributed Administration Of A Lock For An Operational Group Of Compute Nodes In A Hierarchical Tree Structured Network

An apparatus for distributed administration of a lock for an operational group of compute nodes in a hierarchical tree structured network, the apparatus comprising a computer processor and a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions for:

• assigning, by a root lock administration module, the root node of the operational group to send acknowledgments for lock requests, the root lock administration module comprising a module of automated computing machinery;
• receiving, by a root lock administration module, a lock request assigned to a particular node from a child node;
• determining, by the root lock administration module, whether another request from another child is directly ahead in an acknowledgement queue;
• if a request from another child is directly ahead in the acknowledgement queue, putting, by the root lock administration module, the lock request for the particular node in the acknowledgement queue until the lock request directly ahead in the acknowledgement queue is satisfied and when the lock request ahead in the queue is satisfied, sending the particular node for whom the lock request is assigned a message acknowledging the particular node has the lock;
• and
• if a request from another child is not directly ahead in a queue, sending, by the root lock administration module, to the particular node for whom the lock request is assigned a message acknowledging that the particular node has the lock.

A computer program product for distributed administration of a lock for an operational group of compute nodes in a hierarchical tree structured network, the computer program product disposed in a computer readable storage medium, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions for:

• assigning, by a root lock administration module, the root node of the operational group to send acknowledgments for lock requests, the root lock administration module comprising a module of automated computing machinery;
• receiving, by a root lock administration module, a lock request assigned to a particular node from a child node;
• determining, by the root lock administration module, whether another request from another child is directly ahead in an acknowledgement queue;
• if a request from another child is directly ahead in the acknowledgement queue, putting, by the root lock administration module, the lock request for the particular node in the acknowledgement queue until the lock request directly ahead in the acknowledgement queue is satisfied and when the lock request ahead in the queue is satisfied, sending the particular node for whom the lock request is assigned a message acknowledging the particular node has the lock;
• and
• if a request from another child is not directly ahead in a queue, sending, by the root lock administration module, to the particular node for whom the lock request is assigned a message acknowledging that the particular node has the lock.