Method and system for creating and managing aggregation service hierarchies

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed by one or more processors, performs operations comprising:

• receiving a registration message from a host computer;
• determining whether the host computer can be assigned as a child of an existing leaf node in a hierarchy of nodes for an aggregation service, based on at least one of a predefined heuristic which must be satisfied for the assignment and a maximum branching factor which specifies a maximum number of children each node in the hierarchy can have;
• if the host computer can be assigned as a child of an existing leaf node, configuring the host computer as the child of the existing leaf node;
• and
• if the host cannot be assigned as a child of an existing leaf node, configuring the host computer to take the role of a new leaf node in the hierarchy.

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory, wherein the memory includes a program executable in the processor to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a registration message from a host computer,
• determining whether the host computer can be assigned as a child of an existing leaf node in a hierarchy of nodes for an aggregation service, based on at least one of a predefined heuristic which must be satisfied for the assignment and a maximum branching factor which specifies a maximum number of children each node in the hierarchy can have,
• if the host computer can be assigned as a child of an existing leaf node, configuring the host computer as the child of the existing leaf node, and
• if the host cannot be assigned as a child of an existing leaf node, configuring the host computer to take the role of a new leaf node in the hierarchy.