Data processing lock signal transmission

A computer implemented method, comprising:

• under control of a first server node of a distributed computer storage system,
• transmitting over a first communication path to a shared hardware resource lock device, a first request to be granted a shared hardware resource lock of the hardware resource lock device;
• determining whether a communication failure has occurred over the first communication path in connection with the transmission of the first request;
• and
• upon determining that a communication failure has occurred over the first communication path in connection with the transmission of the first request, transmitting over a second communication path to the shared hardware resource lock device, a second request to be granted the shared hardware resource lock of the shared hardware resource lock device.

A computer program product for a distributed computing system having a plurality of processor nodes including a first data processing unit, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for execution by a processor of the first data processing unit to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• under control of the first data processing unit,
• transmitting by the first data processing unit over a first communication path to a data processing lock device, a first request to be granted a data processing lock,
• prior to determining that a communication failure has occurred over the first communication path in connection with the transmission of the first request;
• transmitting by said first data processing unit over a second communication path to the data processing lock device, a second request to be granted the data processing lock;
• and
• determining whether the data processing lock was obtained by the first data processing unit in response to either of said transmissions of the first and second requests to be granted the data processing lock;
• and
• determining whether communication failures occurred over both said first and second communication paths in connection with said transmissions of the first and second requests, respectively.

A distributed computing storage controller system for use with a plurality of hosts and a plurality of storage devices, comprising:

• a plurality of processor nodes including a first data processing unit having a processor, said processor nodes for transferring data between the plurality of hosts and the plurality of storage devices;
• a memory having a plurality of units of shared data;
• a plurality of shared resources;
• a data processing lock device providing a data processing lock for controlling access by said plurality of nodes to at least one of said units of shared data and said shared resources;
• first and second communication paths coupling said first data processing unit to said data processing lock device;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for execution by the processor of the first data processing unit to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• under control of the first data processing unit,
• transmitting by the first data processing unit over the first communication path to the data processing lock device, a first request to be granted the data processing lock,
• prior to determining that a communication failure has occurred over the first communication path in connection with the transmission of the first request;
• transmitting by said first data processing unit over the second communication path to the data processing lock device, a second request to be granted the data processing lock;
• and
• determining whether the data processing lock was obtained by the first data processing unit in response to either of said transmissions of the first and second requests to be granted the data processing lock;
• and
• determining whether communication failures occurred over both said first and second communication paths in connection with said transmissions of the first and second requests, respectively.