US 5,617,570 AGranted

Server for executing client operation calls, having a dispatcher, worker tasks, dispatcher shared memory area and worker control block with a task memory for each worker task and dispatcher/worker task semaphore communication

AssigneeWang Laboratories, Inc.

InventorsEdward A. Russell, Raymond T. Tang

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Abstract

A server for executing operation calls by a client, including a dispatcher, a plurality of worker tasks, and a dispatcher shared memory area and worker control block for each worker task. Each operation call provided from a client is a sequence or one or more remote procedure call requests and each includes a packed buffer containing parameters. The dispatcher receives a buffer directly into the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task selected to execute the remote procedure call request, sets the semaphore and sends a request acceptance response. The selected worker task unpacks the buffer into its memory space, executes the request, places the results into a packed buffer in its dispatcher shared memory area and sends a remote procedure call to the dispatcher. The dispatcher executes a remote procedure call to the client and sends the result buffer directly from the shared memory area. The server further includes a dispatcher state save mechanism and the remote procedure call from the worker task includes an identifier of the corresponding saved dispatcher state for the request. The packed buffer associated with a request includes client information and each worker task stores the client information in a worker shared memory space common to the worker tasks and each request of an operation call may be assigned to a different worker task.

Claims12

Dependent claims

In a data processing system including at least one client mechanism for generating operation requests to servers, each server including a server resource and each operation request specifying an operation to be performed with respect to the server resource, a server mechanism for executing the operation requests, comprising:

a dispatcher,
a plurality of worker tasks, and
a plurality of dispatcher shared memory areas,
each dispatcher shared memory area corresponding to a worker task, the dispatcher being responsive to an operation request from a client mechanism for
selecting a worker task to execute the operation request,
receiving the operation request directly into the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task, and
indicating to the worker task that an operation request has been assigned to the worker task,
the worker task being responsive to the indication of an operation request for receiving the operation request from the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task,
executing the operation request,
placing the results of the operation request into the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task, and
indicating to the dispatcher that the operation request is completed, the dispatcher being responsive to the indication that the operation request is completed for providing the results of the operation request directly from the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task to the client mechanism, wherein
each operation request provided from a client mechanism is provided as a sequence or one or more remote procedure call requests, each remote procedure call request including an associated buffer containing the parameters of the remote procedure call request, and
the server mechanism includes
a plurality of worker control blocks,
each worker control block corresponding to a worker task and including a semaphore which is set by the dispatcher to indicate that an operation request has been assigned to the worker task, and wherein
the dispatcher is responsive to a remote procedure call request for
receiving the buffer directly into the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task selected to execute the remote procedure call request, and
setting the semaphore in the worker control block corresponding to the selected worker task, and
providing a request acceptance response to the client mechanism, the selected worker task is responsive to the semaphore in the corresponding worker control block for
reading the associated parameters from the buffer,
performing the assigned remote procedure call request, and
placing the results of the remote procedure call request into the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task, and
generating a remote procedure call to the dispatcher to indicate that the assigned remote procedure all request has been completed.

20 more elements

In a data processing system including at least one client mechanism for generating operation requests to servers, each server including a server resource and each operation request specifying an operation to be performed with respect to the server resource, a method to be executed in a server mechanism for executing the operation requests, comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of dispatcher shared memory areas,
each dispatcher shared memory area corresponding to a worker task for executing operation requests,
dispatching an operation request to a worker task by
selecting a worker task to execute the operation request,
receiving the operation request directly into the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task, and
indicating to the worker task that an operation request has been assigned to the worker task,
receiving the operation request from the dispatcher shared memory space and into the selected worker task,
executing the operation request in the selected worker task,
placing the results of the execution of the operation dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task, and
returning the results of the operation request directly from the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task to the client mechanism, wherein
each operation request provided from a client mechanism is provided as a sequence or one or more remote procedure call requests, each remote procedure call request including an associated buffer containing the parameters of the remote procedure call request, and
including the steps of
providing a plurality of worker control blocks,
each worker control block corresponding to a worker task and including a semaphore, wherein
the steps of dispatching a remote procedure call request to a worker task further include the steps of
receiving the buffer directly into the dispatcher shared memory space of the worker task selected to execute the remote procedure call request, and
setting the semaphore in the worker control block corresponding to the selected worker task, and
reading the associated parameters from the buffer and into the worker task, and
the step of returning the results of the remote procedure call request to the client mechanism further includes
generating a remote procedure call to indicate that the assigned remote procedure call request has been completed.

17 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.