Single point, scalable data synchronization for management of a virtual input/output server cluster

A computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium;
• and
• program code on the machine-readable storage device that when executed by a processor of a first virtual input/output server within a VIOS cluster, wherein the VIOS cluster comprises a plurality of VIOSes and a shared VIOS database (DB), causes the first VIOS to perform the functions of:
• committing the first VIOS as a primary node of the VIOS cluster by performing a primary node commit process comprising:
• locking a primary node identifier (ID) field in the shared VIOS DB;
• sending a commit signal to the shared VIOS DB;
• updating the primary node ID field in the shared VIOS DB with a unique ID that is associated with the first VIOS;
• and
• unlocking the primary node ID field in the VIOS DB;
• registering one or more callers to receive notification from the first VIOS of specific events occurring within the cluster, wherein registering the one or more callers further comprises registering a transmission control protocol (TCP) socket of each of the one or more callers with an application programming interface (API) of the first VIOS;
• receiving notification of an occurrence of one of the specific events;
• and
• in response to receiving notification of the occurrence of one of the specific events, automatically forwarding information of the specific event to the registered TCP socket of each of the one or more registered callers.

A data processing system comprising:

• one or more processors providing processing resources;
• one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors;
• a cluster-aware (CA) operating system (OS) which generates a first virtual input/output server (VIOS) that is communicatively couple to other VIOSes and to a VIOS database (DB) to create a VISO cluster, wherein the CA_OS comprises a utility having program code executing on a processing resource of the first VIOS, which utility causes the first VIOS to:
• commit the first VIOS as a primary node of the VIOS cluster by performing a primary node commit process comprising:
• lock a primary node identifier (ID) field in the shared VIOS DB;
• send a commit signal to the shared VIOS DB;
• update the primary node ID field in the shared VIOS DB with a unique ID that is associated with the first VIOS;
• and
• unlock the primary node ID field in the VIOS DB;
• register one or more callers to receive notification from the first VIOS of specific events occurring within the cluster, wherein registering the one or more callers further comprises the first VIOS registering a transmission control protocol (TCP) socket of each of the one or more callers with an application programming interface (API) of the first VIOS;
• receive notification of an occurrence of one of the specific events;
• and
• in response to receiving notification of the occurrence of one of the specific events, automatically forward information of the specific event to the registered TCP socket of each of the one or more registered callers.

In a data processing system having one or more computing electronic complexes (CECs) that comprise a plurality of virtual input/output (I/O) servers (VIOSes) configured within a VIOS cluster having a shared VIOS database (DB), wherein each VIOS provides I/O resources to one or more logical partitions (LPARs) executing within the one or more CECs, a first VIOS of the VIOS cluster executing code on a processing resource to perform a method comprising:

• detecting an occurrence of a life cycle event (LCE) within the cluster, wherein the LCE is an event occurring within or affecting one of a node, a connection, one or more partitions serviced by the first VIOS, or a resource of the cluster that changes the configuration of the cluster and which can affect one or more operations of the node, the specific resource, the one or more partitions, or the cluster as a whole;
• generating a message file containing information about the LCE;
• forwarding the message file to the shared VIOS DB and storing the message file within a message file directory within the shared VIOS DB;
• and
• forwarding a notification of the LCE to a primary node of the VIOS cluster, wherein in response to receiving the notification of the LCE, the primary node posts the notification of the LCE to a transmission control protocol (TCP) socket of each of one or more registered callers, wherein the TCP socket of each of the one or more callers is registered with an application programming interface (API) of the first VIOS, and wherein the one or more registered callers are registered to receive notifications on the LCE;
• wherein the primary node is committed to be the primary node of the VIOS cluster via a primary node commit process in which the primary node:
• locks a primary node identifier (ID) field in the shared VIOS DB;
• sends a commit signal to the shared VIOS DB;
• updates the primary node ID field in the shared VIOS DB with a unique ID that is associated with the first VIOS;
• and unlocks the primary node ID field in the VIOS DB.

A computer implemented method for enabling scalable data synchronization of a virtual input/output server (VIOS) cluster, the method comprising:

• connecting a management tool to a first VIOS of the VIOS cluster;
• initiating, via the first VIOS, a discovery operation to discovery initial cluster configuration and management (CCM) data;
• receiving the initial CCM data from the discovery operation;
• storing the received CCM data within a storage associated with and accessible to the management tool;
• registering with a single primary node of the VIOS cluster to receive information about life cycle events (LCEs) occurring anywhere within the entire VIOS cluster, wherein the LCEs comprise one or more events occurring within or affecting one of a node, a connection, and a resource of the cluster that changes a configuration of the cluster and which can affect one or more operations of the node, a specific resource, one or more partitions supported by the node, and the cluster as a whole, wherein registering with the single primary node of the VIOS cluster to receive information about LCEs further comprises registering a transmission control protocol (TCP) socket of the management tool with an application programming interface (API) of the single primary node;
• and
• in response to receiving a message with information about a LCE associated with the VIOS cluster, updating the stored CCM data based on the LCE;
• wherein a primary node is committed to be the single primary node of the VIOS cluster via a primary node commit process in which the primary node:
• locks a primary node identifier (ID) field in a shared VIOS database (DB) of the VIOS cluster;
• sends a commit signal to the shared VIOS DB;
• updates the primary node ID field in the shared VIOS DB with a unique ID that is associated with the first VIOS;
• and unlocks the primary node ID field in the VIOS DB.