Continuing operation of a quorum based system after failures

A computer program product for continuing operation of a quorum based system comprising:

• a plurality of agents embodied on a computer readable storage medium, the plurality of agents including program instructions executable by a processor, the program instructions comprising:
• program instructions to detect a loss of quorum;
• program instructions to create a plurality of speculative configurations, wherein each speculative configuration is isolated from other speculative configurations in the quorum based system, and wherein each speculative configuration continues to order requests while the plurality of speculative configurations is created;
• program instructions to select and start one of the plurality of speculative configurations as a new operational configuration, wherein the ordered requests continue to the new operational configuration;
• and
• program instructions to restart an original configuration of the quorum based system, in response to the plurality of speculative configurations not being isolated.

A computer system for continuing operation of a quorum based system comprising:

• one or more processors, one or more computer-readable storage devices, and a plurality of program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the plurality of program instructions comprising:
• program instructions to detect a loss of quorum;
• program instructions to create a plurality of speculative configurations, wherein each speculative configuration is isolated from other speculative configurations in the quorum based system, and wherein each speculative configuration continues to order requests while the plurality of speculative configurations is created;
• program instructions to select and start one of the plurality of speculative configurations as a new operational configuration, wherein the ordered requests continue to the new operational configuration;
• and
• program instructions to restart an original configuration of the quorum based system, in response to the plurality of speculative configurations not being isolated.