Methods, devices and systems for dynamically managing memberships in replicated state machines within a distributed computing environment

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

• replicating states of a state machine in a plurality of state machines over a computer network to create a plurality of replicated state machines;
• associating the plurality of replicated state machines with a plurality of processes and with a first globally ordered set of agreements that is visible to and maintains a consistency of all replicated state machines;
• changing the plurality of processes associated with the plurality of replicated state machines at an arbitrary point in the first globally ordered set of agreements;
• and
• enabling at least some of the plurality of processes associated with the plurality of replicated state machines to change states while the change to the plurality of processes is being made.