Aggregating information from a cluster of peers

A system for aggregating configuration information of devices, comprising at each of the devices:

• a memory with computer-executable instructions that provide:
• a component that divides into shares the configuration information that the device is to contribute to the aggregation wherein the shares are numeric values and a summation of the divided shares equals the configuration information and sends each share to a different device such that each of the different devices receive a different share;
• a component that receives shares from other devices, totals the received shares such that the total is a summation of the received shares, and sends an indication of the total of the received shares to an aggregator device;
• and
• a component that when the device is designated as the aggregator device receives from other devices the indications of the total of the shares received by the other devices and aggregates the totals to generate an aggregation of the configuration information of the devices;
• and
• a processor for executing the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory.

A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for controlling a device to participate in the collection of configuration information, by a method comprising:

• receiving at the device an indication of devices of a cluster;
• dividing by the device into a plurality of shares the configuration information that is to be collected from the device wherein each share is a numeric value and a summation of the plurality of shares represents the configuration information;
• sending each share of the plurality of shares to another device of the cluster, such that each device receives a different share;
• upon receiving shares from other devices of the cluster,
• totaling by the device the received shares such that the total is a summation of the received shares;
• and
• sending an indication of the total of the shares to an aggregator device of the cluster for aggregation by the aggregator device of the shares into the aggregate information of the devices of the cluster by summing the shares received by the aggregator device;
• and
• when the device is the aggregator device of the cluster,
• receiving the indications of the totals from each of the other devices of the cluster that totaled the shares;
• and
• adding the totals to generate an aggregation of the configuration parameter collected from the devices of the cluster.