Patent · US Expired

System and method for resolving cluster partitions in out-of-band storage virtualization environments

US7739541B1 · kind B1 · utility

85Cited by
18References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 25, 2003
Grant dateJun 15, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 17, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F11/1425
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Systems, methods, apparatus and software can configure, support, and make use of a coordinator virtual device to determine which node or nodes of a cluster should be ejected from the cluster as a result of a cluster partition or other error event. Fencing software operating on the cluster nodes monitors the cluster for a cluster partition (split-brain) event, and when such an event occurs, software on the nodes attempts to gain control of the coordinator virtual device. A node that succeeds in gaining control of the coordinator virtual device survives. Nodes failing to gain control of the coordinator virtual device remove themselves or are removed from the cluster. The coordinator virtual device can be established by a virtual device configuration server which provides coordinator virtual device access to cluster nodes acting as virtual device configuration clients.

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