US 6,889,253 B2Granted

Cluster resource action in clustered computer system incorporation prepare operation

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsKevin Curtis Griffin, Michael James McDermott, James Gregory Ranweiler

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Abstract

An apparatus, clustered computer system, program product and method utilize a unique prepare operation in connection with a resource action to effectively “lock out” missing or inactive cluster entities such as nodes and cluster objects from rejoining a clustered computer system subsequent to the resource action. The prepare operation includes the modification of one or more cluster configuration parameters associated with a plurality of entities in a clustered computer system, such that any such cluster entity that is active during the prepare operation accepts the modifications, while any such cluster entity that is inactive during the prepare operation does not accept the modifications. By modifying cluster configuration parameters for active cluster entities, attempts by previously-inactive cluster entities to activate or rejoin clustering subsequent to resource actions will generally fail due to an incorrect or stale cluster configuration parameters for such entities, and as a result, such entities will be effectively blocked from being accepted into the clustered computer system.

Claims27

Dependent claims

A method of performing a resource action on a resource among a plurality of resources in a clustered computer system of the type including a plurality of cluster entities, the plurality of cluster entities including a plurality of nodes and a plurality of cluster objects resident on at least a portion of the plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes and the plurality of cluster objects are each capable of owning a resource, and wherein each of the plurality of resources is configured to be owned by at most one of the plurality of cluster entities at a time, the method comprising:

(a) acquiring a lock on each active node among the plurality of nodes;
(b) modifying a node configuration parameter for each active node among the plurality of nodes, such that any inactive node among the plurality of nodes is thereafter blocked from being accepted into the clustered computer system;
(c) modifying an object configuration parameter on each active cluster object that could own the resource, such that any inactive cluster object that could own the resource is thereafter blocked from being accepted into the clustered computer system, and such that any inactive node is thereafter blocked from accepting an active cluster object;
(d) performing the resource action on the resource after the lock is acquired and the node and object configuration parameters are modified, wherein performing the resource action changes the ownership of the resource;
whereby any inactive node among the plurality nodes that is blocked from being accepted into the clustered computer system after modification of the node configuration parameter is blocked from causing a resource conflict resulting from the change in ownership of the resource;
and
(e) releasing the lock on each active node after performing the resource action.

4 more elements

An apparatus, comprising:

(a) a memory;
(b) a plurality of resources;
(c) a plurality of cluster entities resident in the memory and configured to own the plurality of resources, wherein each of the plurality of resources is configured to be owned by at most one of the plurality of cluster entities at a time;
and
(d) a program configured to perform a resource action on at least a subset of the plurality of resources in the clustered computer system that changes the ownership of at least one of the plurality of resources, and to prepare the clustered computer system prior to performing the resource action by modifying at least one cluster configuration parameter associated with the plurality of cluster entities in the clustered computer system such that any cluster entity that is active during preparation of the clustered computer system accepts the modification to the cluster configuration parameter, and such that any cluster entity that is inactive during preparation of the clustered computer system does not accept the modification to the cluster configuration parameter;
whereby any such inactive cluster entity is thereafter blocked from being accepted into the clustered computer system and causing a resource conflict resulting from the change in ownership of the at least one of the plurality of resources.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 09/845,592Filed 30 Apr 2001
Published: US 2002/0161869 A131 Oct 2002
Granted: 3 May 2005
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

G06F 9/5061
Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]: partitioning or combining of resources
G06F 9/3885
Concurrent instruction execution, e.g. pipeline or look ahead: using a plurality of independent parallel functional units
G06F 9/3891
Controlled by multiple instructions, e.g. MIMD, decoupled access or execute: organised in groups of units sharing resources, e.g. clusters
G06F 2209/505
Indexing scheme relating to G06F9/50: clust