Persistent images of distributed shared memory segments and in-memory checkpoints
US8099627B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 28, 2005 |
| Grant date | Jan 17, 2012 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 31, 2029 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/2043
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method, system, computer system, and computer-readable medium that enable quick recovery from failure of one or more nodes, applications, and/or communication links in a distributed computing environment, such as a cluster. Recovery is facilitated by regularly saving persistent images of the in-memory checkpoint data and/or of distributed shared memory segments. The persistent checkpoint images are written asynchronously so that applications can continue to write data even during creation and/or updating the persistent image and with minimal effect on application performance. Furthermore, multiple updater nodes can simultaneously update the persistent checkpoint image using normal synchronization operations. When one or more nodes fail, the persistent checkpoint image can be read and used to restart the application in the most recently-saved state prior to the failure. The persistent checkpoint image can also be used to initialize the state of the application in a new node joining the distributed computing environment.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.