Patent · US Expired

Load balancing and failover of network services

US5938732A · kind A · utility

147Cited by
7References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 9, 1996
Grant dateAug 17, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 9, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2209/505
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method for many-to-many failover and load balancing establishes a plurality of service groups for providing desired computing services. Each service group comprises a plurality of hosts, and each host within the service group is available to perform the computing services for which that group as a whole is responsible. Each host may belong to a plurality of service groups. Each operational host within a service group transmits periodic messages to each other host within the service group advising of the status of the transmitting host. A leader host evaluates the periodic messages and, where appropriate, dynamicall reassigns responsibility for particular computing services to a host within the group. The reassignment can be due either to failover or load balancing.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.