Fault tolerant multi-node computing system for parallel-running a program under different environments

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application program;
• control means for respectively setting said processing nodes in uniquely different configurations and operating said processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to said processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by said application programs to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said processing nodes,
• wherein each of said configurations comprises hardware configuration, software configuration, external device configuration and program startup configuration, and
• wherein said software configuration data includes parameters indicating operating system, basic software, various device drivers, and various library versions, and wherein each of said processing nodes differs from every other processing nodes in one of said parameters of software configuration data.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application program;
• control means for respectively setting said processing nodes in uniquely different configurations and operating said processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to said processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by said application programs to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said processing nodes,
• wherein each of said configurations comprises hardware configuration, software configuration, external device configuration and program startup configuration, and
• wherein said program startup configuration data includes parameters indicating (a) interruption and reboot of an application program by suspending the CPU while holding contents of main memory, (b) interruption and reboot of an application program by saving contents of the main and virtual memories on a hard disk, suspending operating system and restoring the saved memory contents when operating system is restarted, (c) interruption and reboot of an application program by suspending and restarting operating system, (d) interruption and reboot of an application program by forcibly interrupting and restarting the program and operating system, (e) restarting of an application program and operating system after reinstalling the program and operating system, and (f) restarting an application program and operating system after performing a clear install of the program and operating system, and wherein each of said processing nodes differs from every other processing nodes in one of said parameters of program startup configuration data.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application program;
• control means for respectively setting said processing nodes in uniquely different configurations and operating said processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to said processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by said application programs to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said processing nodes, and
• wherein said control means includes a memory for storing a plurality of uniquely different configuration data corresponding to said processing nodes, and wherein said processing nodes are respectively set in said configurations according to the stored uniquely different configuration data.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application program;
• control means for respectively setting said processing nodes in uniquely different configurations and operating said processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to said processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by said application programs to produce a plurality of response messages;
• and
• decision means for receiving said response messages from said processing nodes and selecting one of the response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said processing nodes.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application;
• control means for selecting said processing nodes which are respectively set in uniquely different configurations and operating the selected processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in diversified environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to the selected processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by the application programs of the selected processing nodes to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said selected processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said selected processing nodes,
• wherein each of said node configuration data comprises hardware configuration data, software configuration data, external device configuration data and program startup configuration data, and
• wherein said hardware configuration data includes parameters indicating main memory size, virtual memory size, memory access timing, processor operating speed, bus transmission speed, bus width, number of processors, read cache memory size, write cache memory size, cache's valid/invalid status, and types of processors and memories, and wherein each of said processing nodes differs from every other processing nodes in one of said parameters of hardware configuration data.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application;
• control means for selecting said processing nodes which are respectively set in uniquely different configurations and operating the selected processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in diversified environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to the selected processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by the application programs of the selected processing nodes to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said selected processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said selected processing nodes,
• wherein each of said node configuration data comprises hardware configuration data, software configuration data, external device configuration data and program startup configuration data, and
• wherein said software configuration data includes parameters indicating operating system, basic software, various device drivers, and various library versions, and wherein each of said processing nodes differs from every other processing nodes in one of said parameters of software configuration data.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application;
• control means for selecting said processing nodes which are respectively set in uniquely different configurations and operating the selected processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in diversified environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to the selected processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by the application programs of the selected processing nodes to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said selected processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said selected processing nodes,
• wherein each of said node configuration data comprises hardware configuration data, software configuration data, external device configuration data and program startup configuration data, and
• wherein said program startup configuration data includes parameters indicating (a) interruption and reboot of an application program by suspending the CPU while holding contents of main memory, (b) interruption and reboot of an application program by saving contents of the main and virtual memories on a hard disk, suspending operating system and restoring the saved memory contents when operating system is restarted, (c) interruption and reboot of an application program by suspending and restarting operating system, (d) interruption and reboot of an application program by forcibly interrupting and restarting the program and operating system, (e) restarting of an application program and operating system after reinstalling the program and operating system, and (f) restarting an application program and operating system after performing a clear install of the program and operating system, and wherein each of said processing nodes differs from every other processing nodes in one of said parameters of program startup configuration data.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application;
• control means for selecting said processing nodes which are respectively set in uniquely different configurations and operating the selected processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in diversified environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to the selected processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by the application programs of the selected processing nodes to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said selected processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said selected processing nodes,
• wherein said distributing means includes a memory for storing distribution data, wherein the distributing means distributes said request messages to the selected processing nodes according to the stored distribution data, further comprising fault recovery means for monitoring the selected processing nodes and updating the stored distribution data if a failure is detected in the selected processing nodes, and
• wherein said fault recovery means is arranged to alter the configuration of one of the selected processing nodes when a failure is detected in said one processing node and restart the selected processing nodes.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application;
• control means for selecting said processing nodes which are respectively set in uniquely different configurations and operating the selected processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in diversified environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to the selected processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by the application programs of the selected processing nodes to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said selected processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said selected processing nodes,
• wherein said distributing means includes a memory for storing distribution data, wherein the distributing means distributes said request messages to the selected processing nodes according to the stored distribution data, further comprising fault recovery means for monitoring the selected processing nodes and updating the stored distribution data if a failure is detected in the selected processing nodes, and
• wherein said fault recovery means is arranged to alter the program startup configuration of one of the selected processing nodes when a failure is detected in said one processing node and restart the selected processing nodes.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application;
• control means for selecting said processing nodes which are respectively set in uniquely different configurations and operating the selected processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in diversified environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to the selected processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by the application programs of the selected processing nodes to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said selected processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said selected processing nodes,
• wherein said distributing means includes a memory for storing distribution data, wherein the distributing means distributes said request messages to the selected processing nodes according to the stored distribution data, further comprising fault recovery means for monitoring the selected processing nodes and updating the stored distribution data if a failure is detected in the selected processing nodes, and
• wherein said fault recovery means is arranged to alter checkpointing data of each of the selected processing nodes when a failure is detected so that the checkpointing data of each of the selected processing nodes differs from the checkpointing data of every other selected processing nodes.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application;
• control means for selecting said processing nodes which are respectively set in uniquely different configurations and operating the selected processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in diversified environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• distributing means for distributing request messages respectively to the selected processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by the application programs of the selected processing nodes to produce a plurality of response messages;
• and
• decision means for receiving said response messages from said processing nodes and selecting one of the response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said selected processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said selected processing nodes.

A fault tolerant computing system comprising:

• a plurality of processing nodes interconnected by a communication channel, each of said processing nodes having an identical application program;
• a control unit configured to respectively set said processing nodes in uniquely different configurations and operating said processing nodes in parallel to execute the application programs in environments corresponding to said uniquely different configurations;
• and
• a distributing unit configured to distribute request messages respectively to said processing nodes, so that said request messages are individually processed by said application programs to produce a plurality of response messages,
• wherein the configurations of said processing nodes are sufficiently different from each other that software faults are not simultaneously activated by said processing nodes,
• wherein said distributing unit includes a memory for storing distribution data, wherein the distributing unit distributes said request messages to said processing nodes according to the stored distribution data, further comprising a fault recovery unit configured to monitor said processing nodes and update the stored distribution data if a failure is detected in said processing nodes, and
• wherein said fault recovery unit is arranged to either:
• a) alter the program startup configuration of one of said processing nodes when a failure is detected in said one processing node and restart said processing nodes, b) alter the program startup configuration of one of said processing nodes when a failure is detected in said one processing node and restart said processing nodes, or c) alter checkpointing data of each of said processing nodes when a failure is detected so that the checkpointing data of each processing node differs from the checkpointing data of every other processing nodes.