Method for improving recovery performance from hardware and software errors in a fault-tolerant computer system
US5812748A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 16, 1995 |
| Grant date | Sep 22, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 16, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11C29/74
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method for providing rapid recovery from a network file server failure through the use of a backup computer system. The backup computer system runs a special mass storage access program that communicates with a mass storage emulator program on the network file server, making the disks (or other mass storage devices) on the backup computer system appear like they were disks on the file server computer. By mirroring data by writing to both the mass storage of the file server and through the mass storage emulator and mass storage access program to the disks on the backup computer, a copy of the data on the file server computer is made. Optionally, selected portions of the data read through the mass storage emulator program can be altered before being returned as the result of the read operation on the file server. In the event of failure of the file server computer, the backup computer can replace the file server, using the copy of the file server's data stored on its disks. A single backup computer can support a plurality of file server computers. Unlike other redundant file server configurations, this method does not require the backup computer system to be running the file server…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.