US 7,788,522 B1Granted

Autonomous cluster organization, collision detection, and resolutions

AssigneeOracle America, Inc.

InventorsMohamed M. Abdelaziz, Bernard Traversat, Shreedhar Ganapathy, Lawrence White, Abhijit Kumar

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and system are directed toward managing cluster membership through a discovery process that enables selection of a master for the cluster. If a node on a network is the first to initiate the discovery process, it assumes the master role. Where two or more nodes enter the discovery process at the same time, or where a cluster is disjointed, views of the potential members to the cluster are shared among the nodes. Each node coalesces and sorts the views. The master may then be determined from the sorted views. In one embodiment, the master is that node in the results having a highest unique identifier. The identified master sends an assertion of its role to the other nodes. If no assertion is received, or multiple assertions are received, updated views are again shared and sorted. In one embodiment, the nodes may be within a peer-to-peer network.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A network computing device for managing a cluster network, comprising:

a processor;
a memory for use in receiving and managing data and instructions that, when executed by the processor performs a method, the method comprising:
examining a first view of the cluster network to identify a candidate master node for the cluster network based on a sorted order of cluster member identifiers within the first view;
when the network computing device is identified as the candidate master node, sending an announcement to other cluster members of the cluster network indicating that the network computing device is a first asserted master node;
and
upon detecting a master collision, wherein the master collision indicates a second asserted master node:
obtaining a first updated cluster view of the cluster network from each of the cluster members of the cluster network,
coalescing the received updated cluster views to obtain a second view of the cluster network,
sorting the cluster member identifiers within the second view of the cluster network to obtain a sorted second view of the cluster network, and
identifying a master node based on the sorted second view of the cluster network.

7 more elements

A computer readable medium comprising computer readable code for managing a network cluster that, when executed by a processor is configured to employ a method, the method comprising:

examining a first view of the cluster network to identify a candidate master node for the cluster network based on a sorted order of cluster member identifiers within the first view;
when the network computing device is identified as the candidate master node, sending an announcement to other cluster members of the cluster network indicating that the network computing device is a first asserted master node;
and
upon detecting a master collision, wherein the master collision indicates a second asserted master node,
obtaining a first updated cluster view of the cluster network from each of the cluster members of the cluster network,
coalescing the received updated cluster views to obtain a second view of the cluster network,
sorting the cluster member identifiers within the second view of the cluster network to obtain a sorted second view of the cluster network, and
identifying a master node based on the sorted second view of the cluster network.

5 more elements

A system for use in managing a cluster, comprising:

a first node that is configured to perform actions, including:
examining a first view of the cluster network to identify a candidate master node for the cluster network based on a sorted order of cluster member identifiers within the first view;
when the first node is identified as the candidate master node, sending an announcement to other cluster members of the cluster network indicating that the first cluster member is a first asserted master node;
and
upon detecting a master collision, wherein the master collision indicates that another cluster member is a second asserted master node,
receiving an updated cluster view of the cluster network from each of the cluster members,
coalescing the received updated cluster views with the first node's cluster view into a second cluster view,
sorting the identifiers within the second cluster view to obtain a sorted second view of the cluster network, and
identifying a first master node based on the sorted second view of the cluster network;
and
a second node that is configured to perform actions, including:
examining a third view of the cluster network to identify the candidate master node for the cluster network based on a sorted order of cluster member identifiers within the third view;
and
when the second node is identified as the candidate master node, and the first node is the first asserted master node, then:
sending a master collision message to the first node;
sending the third view of the cluster network to the first node;
receiving the second view from the first node;
coalescing the second view and the third view to obtain a fourth view,
sorting the identifiers within the fourth view to obtain a sorted fourth view of the cluster network, and
identifying the master node based on the sorted fourth view of the cluster network.

17 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.