US 6,477,586 B1Granted

Remote procedure calls in distributed systems

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsDoug W. F. Achenson, Victor Robert Bocking, Mark W. Brooks, Gregory Burdzinski, Hennedy Dee Eng, Melvin Seiji Hama, Connis Zhang

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Abstract

A multi-threaded, multi process distributed system including remote call procedure (RPC) messages. The threads in the distributed system are each associated with a queue. The RPC messages each include an identifier to identify the queue which is associated with the thread which has originated the RPC message, as well as an identifier indicating the connection over which the RPC message is communicated from one process to another. The connection over which RPC requests are forwarded in the distributed system is made between one process and another process. The RPC messages sent between processes utilise the same connection, independent of which thread in each process is sending or receiving the messages. RPC messages are forwarded through the distributed system and the connection and queue identifiers in the RPC messages are updated as the message is forwarded from process to process in the distributed system.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A distributed processing system comprising:

a plurality of processes, each of the processes comprising a plurality of threads and means for receiving, composing, and forwarding remote procedure call messages through a series of processes in the distributed processing system;
a queue associated with each of the threads, each queue in each of the processes being associated with a predetermined queue identifier selected to uniquely identify each queue within each of the processes;
and
a set of connections selectively established between the processes, each one of the set of connections being associated with a predetermined connection identifier selected to uniquely identify the connection with the distributed processing system,
wherein a remote procedure call message, when composed by an originating one of the processes, comprises:
a first data element corresponding to the queue identifier of an originating queue in the originating one of the processes, and
a second data element being set to predefined null value, and
wherein the remote procedure call message having been forwarded over a connection by a first one of the processes, to a second one of the processes, for forwarding to a third one of the processes, comprises:
its first data element corresponding to the queue identifier of a queue in the second one of the processes, and
its second data element corresponding to the connection identifier of the connection from the first one of the process to the second one of the processes.

7 more elements

A method for creating and forwarding remote procedure call messages in a distributed processing system having

a plurality of processes, each of the processes comprising a plurality of threads and means for receiving, composing, and forwarding remote procedure call messages,
a queue associated with each of the threads, each of the queues in each of the processes being associated with a predetermined queue identifier selected to uniquely identify each queue within each process,
a set of connections selectively established between the processes, each one of the set of connections being associated with a predetermined connection identifier selected to uniquely identify the connection with the distributed processing system,
the method comprising the steps of
a) selectively establishing a set of connections between the processes in the distributed processing system, whereby any pair of selected processes is connected between the processes in the pair by no more than one connection,
b) responding to an originating remote procedure call in a first thread in a first process by creating a remote procedure call message in the first process comprising
i) a first data element corresponding to the queue identifier of the first thread, and
ii) a second data element being set to a predefined null value
c) selecting a second process for receipt of the remote procedure call message,
d) forwarding the remote procedure call message to the second process,
e) in the second process, modifying the second data element to correspond to the connection identifier of the connection between the first process and the second process,
f) in the second process, determining whether the remote procedure call message is processable within the second process,
g) when the remote procedure call message is determined to be processable within the process:
i) processing the remote procedure call message within the process,
ii) creating a response in the remote procedure call message, and
iii) returning the remote procedure call message by the connection indicated by the second data element, and
h) when it is determined that the received one of the remote procedure call messages is not processable within the process:
i) selecting, from the set of the processes of the distributed processing system, a third process for processing the remote procedure call message,
ii) storing in a data location local to the second process, the first and second data elements of the remote procedure call message,
iii) updating the first data element to identify a one of the queues in the second process, and
iv) forwarding the remote procedure call messages to the third process.

18 more elements

A method for creating and forwarding remote procedure call messages in a distributed processing system having

a plurality of processes, each of the said processes comprising a plurality of threads and a means for receiving, composing, and forwarding remote procedure call messages,
each of the threads in each of the processes being associated with a predetermined thread identifier selected to uniquely identify each thread within each process,
a set of connections selectively established between the processes, each one of the set of connections being associated with a predetermined connection identifier selected to uniquely identify the connection with the distributed processing system,
the method comprising the steps of:
a) selectively establishing a set of connections between the processes in the distributed processing system, whereby any pair of selected process is connected between the processes in the pair by no more than one connection,
b) responding to an originating remote procedure call in a first thread in a first process by creating a remote procedure call message in the first process comprising
i) a first data element corresponding to the thread identifier of the first thread, and
ii) a second data element being set to a predefined null value,
c) selecting a second process for receipt of the remote procedure call message,
d) forwarding the remote procedure call message to the second process,
e) in the second process, modifying the second data element to correspond to the connection identifier of the connection between the first process and the second process,
f) in the second process, determining whether the remote procedure call message is processable within the second process,
g) when the remote procedure call message is determined to be processable within the process:
i) processing the remote procedure call message within the process,
ii) creating a response in the remote procedure call message, and
iii) returning the remote procedure call message by the connection indicated by the second data element, and
h) when it is determined that the received one of the remote procedure call messages is not processable within the process:
i) selecting, from the set of the processes of the distributed processing system, a third process for processing the remote procedure call message,
ii) storing in a data location local to the second process, the first and second data elements of the remote procedure call message,
iii) updating the first data element to identify a one of the threads in the second process, and
iv) forwarding the remote procedure call messages to the third process.

18 more elements

A distributed processing system comprising:

a plurality of processes, each of the said processes comprising a plurality of threads and a means for receiving, composing, and forwarding remote procedure call messages, each of the threads in each of the processes being associated with a predetermined thread identifier selected to uniquely identify each thread within each process, and
a set of connections selectively established between the processes, each one of the set of connections being associated with a predetermined connection identifier selected to uniquely identify the connection with the distributed processing system,
wherein a remote procedure call message, when composed by an originating one of the processes, comprises,
a first data element corresponding to the thread identifier of an originating one of the threads in the originating one of the processes, and
a second data element being set to a predefined null value, and
wherein the a remote procedure call message, having been forwarded over a connection by a first one of the processes, to a second one of the processes, for forwarding to a third one of the processes, comprises,
its first data element corresponding to the thread identifier of a one of the threads in the second one of the processes, and
its second data element corresponding to the connection identifier of the connection from the first one of the process to the second one of the processes.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.