Publish and subscribe data processing with subscriber option to request subscription propagation prior to acknowledgement

In a publish/subscribe data processing broker network having a plurality of broker computer systems communicating with each other via the network each of which has an input for receiving published messages directly from a publisher application and/or receiving subscription data from a subscriber application, a first data processing broker method taking place in a first broker computer system comprising steps of:

• receiving via said input subscription data from a subscriber application;
• providing an acknowledgement to said subscriber application to acknowledge that the subscription data has been received in response to having received the subscription data from the subscriber application;
• propagating said subscription data to a group of other broker computer systems;
• determining whether said propagating step has propagated said subscription data to the group of other broker computer systems;
• and
• receiving via said input an indication from said subscriber application that said acknowledgement should not be sent to the subscriber application until the determining step has determined that said propagating step has propagated said subscription data to the group of other broker computer systems.

A computer program product stored on a computer readable storage medium and having executable steps when run on a computer system for;

• receiving input subscription data from a subscriber application;
• providing an acknowledgement to said subscriber application to acknowledge that the subscription data has been received, said acknowledgement being provided in response to having received said subscription data from said subscriber application;
• propagating said subscription data to a group of other broker computer systems;
• determining whether said propagating step has propagated said subscription data to the said group of other broker computer systems;
• and
• receiving an indication from said subscriber application that said acknowledgement should not be sent to the subscriber application until the determining step has determined that the propagating step has propagated said subscription data to the group of other broker computer systems.