Hardware and software failover services for a file server
US5987621A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 5, 1997 |
| Grant date | Nov 16, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 5, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/1471
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A file server includes stream server computers linking a cached disk array storage subsystem to a data network, and at least two controller servers for receiving requests for file access from network clients. At any given time one of the controller servers is active and another is inactive in servicing client requests. The active controller server selects one of the stream servers to service each request. A controller server failover mechanism is provided for recovering from a failure of the active controller server, and a stream server failover mechanism is provided for recovering from a failure of a stream server. The inactive controller server becomes active when it fails to receive a signal periodically transmitted by the active controller server. The active controller server begins stream server failover when it fails to receive a signal periodically transmitted by each stream server. To resume automatically an interrupted task, the tasks are organized as a series of transactions, and each transaction includes operations which can be duplicated without substantial disruption. The active controller server commits results of each transaction to memory of the cached disk array. B…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.