Method and apparatus for checking communicative connectivity between processor units of a distributed system
US6665811B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 24, 2000 |
| Grant date | Dec 16, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 8, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/202
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus and protocol to determine the group of processors that will survive communications faults and/or timed-event failures in a distributed multiprocessor or clustered system. The processors are coupled to one another by an inter-processor communication network that is used, inter alia, by each processor to send path probe messages to each of the other processor units on all available network paths. A processor is suspected of being communicatively isolated, or having ceased operations, when one or more of the other processors detects the absence of an acknowledgment response from the processor. When this happens, all of the processors are subjected to a series of stages in which they repeatedly broadcast their status and connectivity to each other.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.