HIGHLY AVAILABLE CLUSTER VIRTUAL DISK SYSTEM

Abstract: A cluster implements a virtual disk system that provides each node of the cluster access to each storage device of the cluster. The virtual disk system provides high availability such that a storage device may be accessed and data access requests are reliably completed even in the presence of a failure. To ensure consistent mapping and file permission data among the nodes, data are stored in a highly available cluster database. Because the cluster database provides consistent data to the nodes even in the presence of a failure, each node will have consistent mapping and file permission data. A cluster transport interface is provided that establishes links between the nodes and manages the links. Messages received by the cluster transports interface are conveyed to the destination node via one or more links. The configuration of a cluster may be modified during operation. Prior to modifying the configuration, a reconfiguration procedure suspends data access requests and waits for pending data access requests to complete. The reconfiguration is performed and the mapping is modified to reflect the new configuration. The node then updates the internal representation of the mapping and resumes issuing data access requests.

Description: TITLE: HIGHLY AVAILABLE CLUSTER VIRTUAL DISK SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention This invention relates to the field of distributed computing systems and, more particularly, to distributed virtual storage devices 2 Description of the Related Art Distributed computing systems, such as clusters, may include two or more nodes, which may be employed to perform a computing task Generally speaking, a node is a group of circuitry designed to perform one or more computing tasks A node may include one or more processors, a memory and mterface circuitry Generally speaking, a cluster is a group of two or more nodes that have the capability of exchanging data between nodes A particular computing task may be performed upon one node, while other nodes perform unrelated computing tasks Alternatively, components of a particular computing task may be distributed among the nodes to decrease the time required perform the computing task as a whole Generally speaking, a processor is a device configured to perform an operation upon one more operands to produce a result The operations may be performed m response to instructions executed by the processor Nodes withm a cluster may have one or more storage devices coupled to the nodes Generally speaking, a storage device is a persistent device capable of stoπng large amounts of data For example, a storage device may be a magnetic storage device such as a disk device, or optical storage device such as a compact disc device Although a disk device is only one example of a storage device, the term "disk" may be used interchangeably with "storage device" throughout this specification Nodes physically connected to a storage device may access the storage device directly A storage device may be physically connected to one or more nodes of a cluster, but the storage device may not be physically connected to all the nodes of a cluster The nodes which are not physically connected to a storage device may not access that storage device directly In some clusters, a node not physically connected to a storage device may indirectly access the storage device via a data communication link connecting the nodes It may be advantageous to allow a node to access any storage device withm a cluster as if the storage device is physically connected to the node For example, some applications, such as the Oracle Parallel Server, may require all storage devices in a cluster to be accessed via normal storage device semantics, e g , Unix device semantics The storage devices that are not physically connected to a node, but which appear to be physically connected to a node, are called virtual devices, or virtual disks Generally speakmg, a distributed virtual disk system is a software program operating on two or more nodes which provides an mterface between a client and one or more storage devices, and presents the appearance that the one or more storage devices are directly connected to the nodes Generally speakmg, a client is a program or subroutine that accesses a program to initiate an action A client may be an application program or an operating system subroutine Unfortunately, conventional virtual disk systems do not guarantee a consistent virtual disk mapping Generally speakmg, a storage device mapping identifies to which nodes a storage device is physically connected and which disk device on those nodes corresponds to the storage device The node and disk device that map a virtual device to a storage device may be referred to as a node/disk pair The virtual device mappmg may also contain permissions and other information. It is desirable that the mappmg is persistent in the event of failures, such as a node failure. A node is physically connected to a device if it can communicate with the device without the assistance of other nodes. A cluster may implement a volume manager. A volume manager is a tool for managmg the storage resources of the cluster. For example, a volume manager may mirror two storage devices to create one highly available volume In another embodiment, a volume manager may implement stnpmg, which is stoπng portions of files across multiple storage devices. Conventional virtual disk systems cannot support a volume manager layered either above or below the storage devices. Other desirable features mclude high availability of data access requests such that data access requests are reliably performed in the presence of failures, such as a node failure or a storage device path failure Generally speakmg, a storage device path is a direct connection from a node to a storage device Generally speakmg, a data access request is a request to a storage device to read or wπte data In a virtual disk system, multiple nodes may have representations of a storage device Unfortunately, conventional systems do not provide a reliable means of ensuring that the representations on each node have consistent permission data. Generally speakmg, permission data identify which users have permission to access devices, directones or files. Permissions may mclude read permission, write permission or execute permission. Still further, it is desirable to have the capability of addmg or removmg nodes from a cluster or to change the connection of existing nodes to storage devices while the cluster is operating This capability is particularly important m clusters used m cπtical applications m which the cluster cannot be brought down This capability allows physical resources (such as nodes and storage devices) to be added to the system, or repair and replacement to be accomplished without compromising data access requests withm the cluster. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The problems outlined above are m large part solved by a highly available virtual disk system m accordance with the present invention In one embodiment, the highly available virtual disk system provides an mterface between each storage device and each node m the cluster From the node's perspective, it appears that each storage device is physically connected to the node If a node is physically connected to a storage device, the virtual disk system directly accesses the storage device. Alternatively, if the node is not physically connected to a storage device, the virtual disk system accesses the storage device through another node in the cluster that is physically connected to the storage device. In one embodiment, the nodes communicate through a data communication link Whether a storage device is directly accessed or accessed via another node is transparent to the client accessmg the storage device. In one embodiment, the nodes store a mappmg of virtual disks to storage devices. For example, each active node may store a mappmg identifymg a primary node/disk pa r and a secondary node/disk pa r for each virtual device. Each node/disk parr identifies a node physically coupled to the storage device and a disk device on that node that corresponds to the storage device. The secondary node/disk pa r may also be referred to as an alternate node/disk parr. If the node is unable to access a storage device via the primary node/disk parr, the node may retry the data access request via the secondary node/disk pair To maintain a consistent mappmg between the nodes m the presence of failures, the mappmg may be stored in a highly available database Because the highly available database maintains one consistent copy of data even m the presence of a failure, each node that queπes the highly available database will get the same mappmg The highly available database may also be used to store permission data to control access to virtual devices Because the highly available database maintains one consistent copy of permission data even m the presence of a failure, each node that queπes the database will get the same permission data One feature of a virtual disk system in accordance with the present invention is the high availability of the system In one embodiment, the virtual disk system stores all of the data access requests it receives and retπes those requests if an error occurs For example, the virtual disk system of a node that initiates a data access request, called a requesting node, may store all outstanding data requests If the destination node, i e the node to which the data access request is directed, is unable to complete the data access request, an error indication may be returned to the requesting node and the requesting node may resend the data access request to an alternate node that is connected to the storage device This error detection and retry is performed automatically and is transparent to the client In another example, if a node failure occurs, the virtual disk system may receive a modified list of active nodes and resend incomplete data access requests to active nodes coupled to the storage device This reconfiguration and retry also is transparent to the client Another feature of a virtual disk system m accordance with the present invention is the ability to reconfigure the cluster while the cluster is operating When a cluster is reconfigured, the mappmg of virtual disks to storage devices may be updated To prevent eπors, a synchronization command may be performed or operated to all the nodes of the cluster pπor to updating the mappmg The synchronization command causes the nodes to stop issuing data access requests After the mappmg is updated, another synchronization command causes the node to resume issuing data access requests The virtual disk system may be designed to serve as an mterface between a volume manager and storage devices or between a client and a volume manager In the former configuration, the client interfaces to the volume manager and the volume manager interfaces to the virtual disk system In the latter configuration, the client interfaces to the virtual disk system and the virtual disk system interfaces to the volume manager BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed descπption and upon reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a block diagram of a cluster configuration accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 2 is a block diagram of an alternative cluster configuration accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 3 is a block diagram of a virtual disk system operating on two nodes of a cluster accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvenhon Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating the initialization of a netdisk dπver accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating the initialization of a cluster transport mterface accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 6 is a flowchart diagram illustrating the operation of a virtual disk system accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 7 is a flowchart diagram illustrating the initiation of a netdisk dπver accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 8 is a flowchart diagram illustrating the initiation of a cluster transport mterface accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 9 is a block diagram of a cluster transport mterface accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating permission data accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 11 is a flowchart diagram illustrating the storage and access of consistent permission data accordmg to one embodiment of the present invention Figure 12 is a flowchart diagram illustrating the update of a configuration mappmg according to one embodiment of the present invention While the invention is susceptible to vanous modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example m the drawings and will herem be descnbed m detail It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed descπption thereto are not mtended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the mtention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling withm the sp πt and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Turning now Figure 1, a block diagram of a cluster configuration accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention is shown Cluster 100 mcludes a data commumcation link 102, three nodes 104A-104C, and three storage devices 108, 110 and 112 Data commumcation link 102 provides a data commumcation path for transferrmg data between the nodes Data commumcation link 102 contemplates a multi-drop link or pomt-to-pomt links For example, data commumcation link 102 may mclude three pomt-to-pomt links A first link may provide a commumcation path between nodes 104A and 104B, a second link may provide a communication path between nodes 104A and 104C, and a third link may provide a commumcation path between nodes 104B and 104C In one embodiment, data commumcation link 102 implements a scalable coherent mterface (SCI) In one particular embodiment, the cluster implements a TCP/IP protocol for transferrmg data over the SCI It is noted that three nodes are shown for illustrative purposes only Other embodiments may employee more or less nodes In the illustrating embodiment, storage device 108 is physically connected to node 104A, storage device 110 is physically connected to node 104B and storage device 112 is physically connected to node 104C Storage devices 108-112 typically have storage capacities that exceed the storage capacities of the memory of the nodes to which they are connected Data may be stored m storage devices 108-112 which is not currently be g used by a node, and data from the storage device may be stored, or cached, in the memory of the node when the data is needed In the illustrated embodiment, the storage devices are physically connected to only one node In alternative embodiments, a storage device may be physically connected to a plurality of nodes. Multiple physical connections allow a storage device to be accessed even if one node physically connected to the device fails or a storage device path fails Multiple instances of the same distπbuted program may operate on each node. For example, volume manager 105 A and volume manager 105B are different instances of the same distπbuted volume manager program These instances may communicate with each other via data commumcation link 102. Each instance is given the same reference number followed by a unique letter, e g , 105 A or 105B For simplicity, the distπbuted program may be referred to collectively using only the reference number, e g , volume manager 105. Node 104 A mcludes a volume manager 105 A and a virtual disk system 106A. In the illustrated embodiment, virtual disk system 106A provides an mterface between volume manager 105 and storage devices 108-112 From the perspective of volume manager 105 A, each storage device appears to be physically connected to node 104A Virtual disk system 106 is a distπbuted program operating on a plurality of nodes. In the illustrated embodiment, an instance of virtual disk system 106 is operating on each node. Virtual disk system 106A, which is the instance of virtual disk system 106 operating on node 104A, mcludes three virtual devices (VD1, VD2 and VD3) that represent storage devices 108-112, respectively Volume manager 105 communicates to the virtual devices m the same manner that it communicates to storage devices physically connected to the node. In one embodiment, volume manager 105 uses Unix device dπver semantics Data access requests to storage device 108 (i.e VD1) are conveyed from virtual disk system 106A directly to storage device 108. Data access requests to storage devices 110 and 112 (i.e. VD2 and VD3) are conveyed over data commumcation link 102 to the respective nodes physically connected to those devices It is noted that the virtual disks on each node are distinct devices. For example, VD1 on nodes 104A, 104B and 104C are each a unique device managed by a unique device dπver. Although the devices are umque, each VD1 device maps to the same physical storage device In other words, writing data to VD1 on node 104 A stores data to storage device 108 the same as wπting data to VD1 on node 104B or 104C. It is further noted that each storage device may be physically connected to more than one node In this case, each node physically connected to the device has a different device dπver that interfaces to the storage device In the illustrated embodiment, volume 1 (VI) of volume manager 105 A is coupled to VD1 and VD2 In one embodiment, volume manager 105 A may mirror these devices In alternative embodiments, volume manager 105A may mclude other volumes coupled to other virtual devices For example, a second volume manager 105A may be coupled to VD2 and VD3. In nodes 104B and 104C, the volume managers (105B and 105C) and virtual disk systems (106B and 106C) operated m substantially the same manner as volume manager 105 A and virtual disk system 106 A In the illustrated embodiment, volume 2 (V2) of volume manager 105B is coupled to VD2 and VD3 of virtual disk system 106B. Virtual disk system 106B directly accesses storage device 110 and accesses storage device 112 via commumcation mterface 102 and node 104C. Volume 3 (V3) of volume manager 105C is coupled to VD2 and VD3 of virtual disk system 106C. Virtual disk system 106C directly accesses storage device 112 and accesses storage device 110 via communication mterface 102 and node 104B Turning now to Figure 2, a block diagram of an alternative cluster configuration accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention is shown. Cluster 200 mcludes a data commumcation link 102, three nodes 104A-104C, and three storage devices 108, 110 and 112. Components similar to those m Figure 1 are given the same reference numerals for simplicity In Figure 2, the chent interfaces to virtual disk system 106 rather than volume manager 105. The virtual disk system interfaces to the volume manager, which interfaces to one or more storage devices. In this configuration, volume manager 105 is layered below virtual disk system 106. For simplicity, only the operation of node 104A is discussed below. Nodes 104B and 104C operate m substantially the same manner. In node 104A, the client interfaces to virtual disk system 106A. From the client's perspective, virtual disk system 106A appears as three separate storage devices. In Figure 2, the three virtual devices are labeled as virtual volumes (Wl, W2 and W3) to reflect the layering of the volume manager below the virtual disk system. From the client's perspective, virtual volumes behave like a storage device For example, the virtual volume may use Unix device dπver semantics. The client may access any of the three volumes of the cluster from virtual disk system 106A. Volume manager 105 A interfaces to the storage devices. In the illustrated embodiment, volume 1 (VI) of volume manager 105 A is coupled to storage devices 108 and 110 In one embodiment, volume 1 may mirror data on storage devices 108 and 110 From the perspective of virtual disk system 106A, volume 1 of volume manager 105 A behaves like a storage device. For example, the volume may behave like a Unix device dπver Virtual volume 2 (W2) of virtual disk system 106B interfaces directly to volume 2 (V2) of volume manager 105B Virtual volumes 1 and 3 commumcate with volume 1 of node 104 A and volume 3 of node 105C via data commumcation link 102. In a similar manner, virtual volume 3 of virtual disk system 106C interfaces directly to volume 3 of volume manager 105C Virtual volumes 1 and 2 commumcate with volume 1 of node 104A and volume 2 of node 105B via data communication link 102. In the illustrated embodiment, volume 2 of volume manager 105B and volume 3 of volume manager 105C are both physically connected to storage devices 110 and 112 The volume manager may be layered either above or below the virtual disk system because both the volume manager and the virtual disk system behave like storage devices Accordmgly, it is transparent to the client whether it interfaces to the volume manager or the virtual disk system In both embodiments, the client appears to have direct access to three reliable storage devices Both the volume manager and the virtual disk system may mterface directly to a storage device Some volume managers may operate better when layered above the virtual disk device. For example, a cluster volume manager, such as the Veπtas CVM, operates best when layered above the virtual disk system, while non-distπbuted volume managers, such as Solstice Disk Suite (SDS), may be were required to operate below the virtual disk system. It is noted that a volume manager must be distπbuted to operate below the virtual disk system. It is further noted that a distπbuted volume manager, such as CVM, can manage the volumes (VI, V2 and V3) as though they are one volume, much like the virtual disk system manages the virtual disks on the nodes as though they are one device Turning now to Figure 3, a block diagram of a virtual disk system operating on two nodes of a cluster accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention is shown. In the illustrated embodiment, each node mcludes a user portion and a kernel. The user portion of node 104 A mcludes a cluster membership monitor (CMM) 10A, a cluster configuration database (CCD) 311 A, a chent 312A, a netdisk daemon (NDD) 314A, and a cluster transport mterface daemon (CTTD) 316A. The kernel of node 104 A mcludes a netdisk dπver (ND) 318A, a netdisk master (NM) 320A, a cluster transport mterface (CΗ) 322A, a cluster connectivity momtor (CCM) 324A, a disk dπver 326A and a network transport 328A The user portion of node 104B mcludes a cluster membership momtor (CMM) 310B, a cluster configuration database (CCD) 31 IB, a netdisk daemon (NDD) 314B, and a cluster transport mterface daemon (CTTD) 316B The kernel of node 104B mcludes a netdisk dπver (ND) 318B, a netdisk master (NM) 320B, a cluster transport mterface (CΗ) 322B, a cluster connectivity momtor (CCM) 324B, a netdisk dπver 326B and a network transport 328B In the illustrated embodiment, a volume manager is not mcluded As discussed above m reference to Figures 1 and 2, a volume manager may be implemented either above or below the virtual disk system If the volume manager is implemented above the virtual disk system, client 312A mterfaces to the volume manager, which m turn mterfaces to ND 318 A Alternatively, if the volume manager is implemented below the virtual disk system, NM 320A mterfaces to the volume manager, which m turn mterfaces to disk driver 326A A configuration module called CTID 316A is a daemon that initializes a connection module called CTI 322A When the configuration of the cluster changes or node 316A is initialized CTID 316A queπes CCD 311 A to obtain configuration information In one embodiment, configuration information mdicates the number of links between the nodes of the cluster and the protocol associated with the links In one embodiment, CTID 316A additionally queπes CMM 310A to obtain membership information, such as a list of active nodes m the cluster CTID 316A establishes connections over the links between the nodes and conveys the membership information and link information to CTI 322A CTID 316A may commumcate to CTI 322A via a pπvate interconnect and may use an I/O control request The links identified by CCD 311 A may be physical links or virtual links For example, CCM 324A may manage a parr of physical links as one virtual link accessible by CTI 322 A CCM 324 is discussed m more detail below in reference to Figure 9 CCD 311 A is one instance of a distπbuted highly available cluster database CCD 311 stores consistent data even m the presence of a failure By stoπng mappmg data m CCD 311, each node obtains the same mappmg information even m the presence of a failure CCD 311 is discussed m more detail m a co-pending, commonly assigned patent application entitled "Highly available Distπbuted Cluster Configuration Database" to Slaughter, et al , filed on October 21, 1997, Senal No 08/954,796 CMM 310 is a distπbuted program that monitors the cluster membership When the membership changes, CMM 310 detects that change and conveys new membership information to other resources m the cluster such as CTTD 316A and NDD 314A Examples of membership changes mclude a node joining or leavmg the cluster In one embodiment, CMM 310 outputs a configuration number unique to each configuration NDD 314A is a daemon that initializes ND 318A when a new device is opened or duπng reconfiguration Reconfiguration may occur when a node joins or leaves the cluster, or when a node fails In one embodiment, each virtual disk device is initialized separately In one particular embodiment, a virtual disk device is initialized by a cluster when the device is opened by that cluster, or after a reconfiguration if the virtual disk device was open pπor to the reconfiguration In this manner, not all virtual disk devices are initialized after each reconfiguration In one embodiment, ND 318 A stores a list of devices to be opened and a list of opened devices When a client requests a device to be opened, ND 318 A adds the device to the list of devices to be opened NDD 314A queπes the list of devices to be opened If the list mcludes a device to open, NDD 314A quenes CCD 311 A to obtain the mappmg information for the identified device. NDD 314A may also query CMM 310A to obtain membership information, such as a list active nodes. NDD 314A conveys the mappmg information and membership information to ND 318 A. NDD 314A may commumcate to ND 318 A via a pπvate interconnect and may use an I/O control request. In one embodiment, the mappmg information for a device identifies a primary and secondary node physically connected to a storage device and a disk device on those nodes corresponding to the storage device. Each parr of nodes and disks may be referred to as node/disk pairs. Based on the primary and secondary node/disk parr and the membership information, ND 318A may select a node to route a data access request for a device. Once ND 314A and CTI 322 A have been initialize, the virtual disk system is ready to accept data access requests from client 312A. Chent 312 A accesses the virtual devices of the virtual disk system m the same manner as it accesses storage devices. From the client's perspective, it appears that each storage device, or volume, is physically connected to the node. In the illustrated embodiment, when client 312A accesses data from a storage device, it sends a data access request to ND 318 A In one embodiment, client 312A specifies the destination storage device, the type of operation and the location to retπeve or store the data to ND 312A The rest of the operation is transparent to client 312 A ND 318 A, based on the mappmg and current membership information, determines to which node to convey the data access request. In one embodiment, the mappmg information obtained from CCD 311 A mcludes a primary and secondary node physically connected to the storage device. ND 318A may route the data access request to the primary node if the primary node is active Alternatively, if the primary node is not active, then ND 318A may route the data access request to the secondary node Which node is used to access the storage device is transparent to client 312 A ND 318A conveys the data access request to CTI 322A and specifies to which node to convey the data access request. How CTI 322A transfers the data access request to the destination node is transparent to ND 318A and client 312A. In one embodiment, if the storage device is directly coupled to node 104A, ND 318A conveys the data access request to NM 320A rather than CΗ 322A. NM 320A conveys the data access request to disk dπver 326A, which m turns accesses the storage device. In one embodiment, NM 320A is a portion of ND 318A that mterfaces to disk dπver 326A. Disk dπver 326A mterfaces to one or more storage devices physically connected to a node 104 A CTI 322A manages a plurality of links. CTI 322A is one instance of the distπbuted program CTI 322. CTI 322A may manage one or more links to the destination node of a data access request For example, if the destination node for the data access request is node 104B, CTI 322A may manage three links to that node. CΗ 322 A may transport all the data to node 104B via one link or may disrπbute the data over the three links. CΗ 322A may append a field to the data access request to identify the destination client at destination node. CΗ 322B of node 104B may service multiple clients. The field appended to the message by CTI 322A identifies to which client CTI 322B should route that data For example, CTI 322A may append data to a data request received by ND 318A that specifies the destination client as ND 318B In one embodiment, CCM 324A manages two or more redundant physical links. From the perspective of CTI 322A, the redundant physical links appear as one logical link. CCM 324A exchanges messages over the physical links with CCM 324B The two instances of CCM 324 reach agreement regarding which of the redundant links are operational CMM 324 may pick one operational physical link to transfer data If that link fails, CCM 324 may detect the failure and transfer data on the alternate link From the perspective of CTI 322, each logical link appears as one highly available link In one embodiment, CCM 324A manages links to each node m the cluster For example, CMM 324A may manage links to nodes 104B and 104C Network transport 328A performs the protocol functions over the links of data commumcate link 112 In one embodiment, a TCP/IP protocol is used over data commumcation link 112 In other embodiments, other protocols may be implemented For example, a faster protocol such as Low Latency Connectivity Layer (LLCL), Message Passmg Interface (MPI), or Low Overhead Commumcation (LOCO) may be used In node 104B, network transport 328B receives the data access request and transports the data usmg the appropnate protocol to CTI 322B CΗ 322B may partially decode the data access request to determine its destination client In the illustrated embodiment, the data is routed to ND 318B ND 318B may partially decode the data access request to determine the destination storage device If the storage device is physically coupled to node 104B, ND 318B conveys the request to NM320B, which conveys the request to disk dπver 326B Disk dπver 326B accesses the storage device If the data access request is a read transaction, the requested data is routed back to client 312A via the ND 318, CΗ 322 and data commumcation link 112 One feature of the virtual disk system accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention is high availability The virtual disk system is designed such that data access requests are reliably performed m the presence of a failure, such as a node failure Towards this end, ND 318A stores a list of pendmg data access requests If a data access request is not successfully completed, the virtual disk system retπes the data access request possibly to another node The requestmg node may detect an mcomplete data access request by receivmg a negative acknowledge signal or it may receive reconfiguration data indicating that a destination node is not active When the data access request is successfully complete, it is removed from the list of pendmg data access requests For example, node 104B may be a primary node for a storage device and node 104C may be a secondary node for that storage device When ND 318A conveys a data access request to the storage device, it may convey the data access request to the primary node, which is node 104B If node 104B is unable to successfully complete the data access request, for example if the storage device path between disk dπver 326B and the storage device is non- functional, node 104 A may receive a negative acknowledgement signal indicating that the data access request was not successfully completed Node 104A may then resend the data access request to the secondary node, which is node 104C Node 104A may store information indicating that node 104B is not able to commumcate with the storage device and subsequently send new data access requests to other nodes In an alternative example, node 104B may be non-operational In one embodiment, the cluster membership data acquired by node 104 A from CMM 310A may indicate that the node is not operational Accordmgly, ND 318A may route data access requests to the secondary node In the above manner, data access requests are successfully completed even m the presence of a failure Turning now to Figure 4, a block diagram illustrating the initialization of a netdisk dnver is shown accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention Figure 4 illustrates the initialization of ND 318A m node 104 A The initialization of other netdisk dnvers m the cluster may be performed m a substantially similar manner In one embodiment, pπor to accessmg a storage device, the storage device is opened For example, an open command may be executed that causes the storage device to be initialized Similarly each virtual device on each node may be opened pπor to accessmg it. Client 312A outputs a command to ND 318 A to open a virtual device. ND 318A stores the device to be opened m a hst. In one embodiment, NDD 314A penodically queπes the list to determine which devices to initialize. In an alternative embodiment, ND 318A may output a signal to NDD 314A indicating that a device needs to be mitialized. NDD 314A queπes CCD 311 A to obtain mappmg information for the device to be opened, and quenes CMM 310A for current membership information NDD 314A conveys the mappmg and membership information to ND 318A. ND 318 A stores the mappmg and membership information to a configuration file. ND 318A uses the mappmg and membership data stored m the configuration file to determine the routing of data access requests to nodes ND 318 A then notifies client 312A that the device has been opened. In one embodiment, the mappmg information for each virtual device mcludes: the name of the virtual device, a primary node, the name of the storage device at the primary node (I e., the name of the device that coπesponds to the storage device), a secondary node and the name of the storage device at the secondary node The mappmg information may additionally mclude an identification number for the virtual device and a cluster- unique name for the storage device. ND 318 A additionally stores a reconfiguration number associated with the mappmg and membership data The reconfiguration number is obtained from CCM 310A ND 318 A uses the reconfiguration number to determine whether its current membership data is up to date with respect to the most recent configuration. In one embodiment, when the configuration of the cluster changes, CMM 310A notifies NDD 314 A of the new membership information. For example, if a node failure is detected, CMM 310A will notify NDD 314 A that a reconfiguration has occurred and convey the new membership data to NDD 314A. NDD 314A conveys the new membership information to ND 318A, which uses the new membership information m conjunction with the mappmg information to route future data access requests In one embodiment, a filesystem manages the virtual disks on a node This filesystem may be called a netdisk filesystem (NDFS). NDFS is configured to create a special device file for virtual disks when a node opens the virtual disk The special device file represents the virtual disk in the operating system In operating systems, such as the UNIX operating system, devices may be treated as files The file associated with a device (called a device file or a special device filed) is normally created by an initialization program that runs duπng the boot-up phase of the operating system The initialization program determines the physical devices attached to the computer system and creates device files corresponding to those physical devices In one embodiment, virtual devices are mitialized the first time they are accessed rather than duπng boot-up This situation and the fact that the virtual disk may not be physically connected to the node means that the device files for the virtual disks may not be created duπng initialization Because the virtual disks preferably are accessible like other devices, NDFS is configured to create device files for the virtual devices when they are first opened In one embodiment, a device file is only created the first time a node opens a virtual device. Subsequent opens of the virtual device do not cause device files to be created. In one embodiment, NDFS detects a command to open a virtual device. If this is the first time the virtual device has been opened, NDFS sends a creation request to ND 318A. In one embodiment, NDFS has a pπvate mterface to ND 318 A. ND 318 A stores the virtual device to create m a list. The list may be the same list used to store devices to open or may be a separate list for devices to create. NDD 314A may penodically query the list to determine which devices to create or ND 318 A may output a signal to NDD 314A indicating a device needs to be created NDD 314A quenes CCD 311 A to obtain permission data for the device to be opened NDD 314A conveys the permission data to ND 318A which m turn conveys the permission data to NDFS NDFS will create the device file for the device with the permission data received from CCD 311 A In one embodiment, the device is opened after the device file is created usmg a normal device open procedure as discussed above Subsequent opens of the same device by the same node may result m a normal open operation without the need for NDFS to be mvolved Accordmgly, a performance penalty is only incurred the first time a device is opened Subsequent commands to open the device are performed m the same manner as the opening of any other device Turning now to Figure 5, a block diagram illustrating the imtialization of a cluster transport mterface accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention is shown Figure 5 illustrates the imtialization of CTI 316A m node 104A The initialization of other cluster transport mterfaces m the cluster may be performed m a substantially similar manner In one embodiment, pnor to transferring data over data commumcation link 102, CTID 316A establishes connections over the available links Duπng initialization, CTID 316A quenes CMM 310A for data identifymg the current cluster membership and quenes CCD 311 A for data identifymg which links are connected to which nodes In one embodiment, CCD 311 A stores additional information about the links such as the transfer protocol of the links CTTD 316A establishes connections over the available links and passes the link information and membership data to CTI 322A In one embodiment, CTID 316A establishes TCP/IP connections over the available links CTI 322A mterfaces to network transport 328A to exchange data to other instances of CΗ 322 In one embodiment, network transport 328A mterfaces to CCM 324A, which manages one or more redundant links When CTI 322A receives a data access request destined for a particular node, it determines which connections connect the requesting node to the destination node CΗ 322A determines on which connection(s), to transport the data to the destination node For example, if CΗ 322A manages connections over three links to node 104B and it receives a data access request destined for that node, it may transfer all the data via one connection or it may transfer a portion of the data over each of the three connections When the cluster is reconfigured, CMM 310A notifies CTTD 316A of the event CTID 316 A obtains the new membership data from CCD 311 A and conveys the new membership data and a new configuration number to CTI 322A Additionally, CTID 316A may obtain link data from CCD 311 A and conveys that data to CΗ 322A CTTD 322A may modify the connections when a reconfiguration occurs For example, CTID 322A may establish connections over links to new nodes m the cluster, or may abandon connections to nodes that leave the cluster Turning now to Figure 6, a flowchart diagram illustrating the operation of a virtual disk system accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention is shown In step 612, a netdisk dπver is mitialized The imtialization of the netdisk dnver is discussed m more detail m reference to Figure 7 In step 614, a cluster transport mterface is mitialized The imtialization of the cluster transport mterface is discussed m more detailed m reference to Figure 8 In step 616, the netdisk dπver receives a data access request from a client In step 617, the netdisk dπver stores the data access request and any other data necessary to re-issue the data access request if it is not successfully completed In step 618, the netdisk dnver that receives the data access request determines whether the destination device is physically connected to the requesting node If the destination device is physically connected to the requesting node, then m step 620 the netdisk dπver performs the data access request on the storage device Alternatively, if the storage device is not physically connected to the requesting node, then m step 620 the netdisk dπver detects a node to which to convey the data access request. In one embodiment, the netdisk dπver stores mappmg information identifymg a primary and secondary node for each storage device. In one particular embodiment, the netdisk dπver selects the primary or secondary node based upon membership data and/or previous unsuccessful data access requests. In step 624, the netdisk dπver conveys the data access request to the selected destination node via the cluster transport mterface. In step 626, the cluster transport mterface selects one or more connections to transfer data to the destination node by the netdisk dπver. In step 628, the cluster transport mterface conveys the data access request to the destination node via the selected connection(s). In step 630, the cluster transport mterface at the destination node receives the data access request and determines the destination client, which m the instant example is the netdisk dπver, or more particularly the netdisk master In step 632, the netdisk master receives the data access request and accesses the destination storage device. In step 634, the cluster transport mterface of the destination node returns an acknowledge or not acknowledge signal to the requesting node. If the data access request is a read request, the requested data may also be returned to the requesting node. In parallel with the transfer of the data access request, m step 638, the requesting node waits for a status signal from the destination node. The status signal may take the form of an acknowledge or a not acknowledge signal In step 640, it is determined whether or not an acknowledge was received. If an acknowledge signal is received, then operation continues at step 616. Alternatively, if a not acknowledge signal is received, then m step 642 an alternate node to convey the data access request is selected and operation continues at step 624. Turning now to Figure 7, a flowchart diagram illustrating the imtialization of a netdisk dnver accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention is shown In step 712, the netdisk daemon quenes that netdisk dπver for devices to open. In decisional step 714, it is determined whether any devices need to be opened If no devices need to be opened, execution continues at step 712. Alternatively, if the netdisk daemon detects a device to open, then in step 716 the netdisk daemon quenes the cluster configuration database for mappmg data The mappmg data may identify node/disk pairs mapped to a virtual device In step 718, the netdisk daemon quenes the cluster membership momtor for membership data In step 720, the netdisk daemon conveys the mappmg and membership data to the netdisk dnver In step 722, the netdisk dnver updates the mappmg information for the device, updates that membership information and records the reconfiguration number. In step 724, the netdisk dπver notifies the client that the requested device is open Turning now to Figure 8, a flowchart diagram illustrating the imtialization of a cluster transport mterface accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention is shown. In step 812, a cluster transport mterface daemon receives an indication of a configuration change. Alternatively, the cluster transport daemon may receive an indication of a system initialization In step 814, the cluster transport mterface daemon quenes the cluster configuration database for link information. In one embodiment, link information may mclude the number of links between nodes withm a cluster, which links are coupled to which nodes, and information such as the protocol used by the links. In step 816, the cluster transport mterface daemon quenes the cluster membership monitor for membership information In step 818, the cluster transport mterface establishes connections over the links. In step 820, the cluster transport mterface daemon conveys the link and membership information to the cluster transport mterface. The cluster transport mterface is then ready to accept data access requests or other messages. Turning now to Figure 9, a block diagram of the cluster transport mterface accordmg one embodiment of present mvention is shown. A cluster transport mterface is one example of a data transport system. Figure 9 mcludes three instances of a cluster transport mterface (322A-322C), three TCP/IP mterfaces (912A-912C), and eight cluster connection momtors (914A-914H). CΗ 322 is a distributed software program that provides a facility for passing messages between nodes. The messages may mclude control messages and data blocks The instances of cluster transport mterface 322 pass data between client programs. For example, CTI 322A may receive a message from a netdisk dπver that is a client to CTI 322A In one embodiment, the message specifies its destination node and a disk device on that node. CTI 322A determmes which links are connected to the destination node and conveys the message over one of those links The cluster transport mterface at the destination node receives the data access request, determmes the destination client and conveys the data to the destination client. For example, CTI 322A may route a data access request from the netdisk dnver m node 104A to the netdisk dπver m node 104B CTI 322B receives the data access request, determmes the destination client and conveys the data access request to the netdisk dπver m node 104B. From the perspective of a client, CΗ 322A appears as one virtual link to the destination node. In the illustrated embodiment, CTI 322 uses TCP IP for transferrmg data to other nodes. CTID 316A automatically establishes a TCP/IP connection over each link duπng initialization. CΗ 322 conveys a message to TCP/IP 912A which transfers the message to the appropnate instance of CCM 914. CΗ 322A, however, is not dependent upon any particular data transfer protocol. By modifying TCP/IP 912 and/or CCM 914, CTI 322 may mterface to any data transport mterface or transfer protocol. In one embodiment, CTI 322A allocates memory for storing messages and data received from other nodes and deallocates the memory when the data are no longer required by a client In one embodiment, CΗ 322 uses a call-back function to mdicate to a client that data have been received For example, CTI 322 A may convey a read request to node 104B. When CTI 322A receives the requested data it uses a call-back function to the requesting client to mdicate the data are available. Cluster connection momtor (CCM) 914 manages two or more physical links as one logical link In the illustrated embodiment, a parr of instances of CCM 914 manages two lmks In alternative embodiments, a parr of instances of CCM 914 may manage more links Parrs of physical lmks connect one node m the cluster to another node. For example, links 916A couple node 104A to node 104B, and lmks 916B couple node 104A to node 104C In one embodiment, the links are handled as redundant links by CMM 914. Data is transfeπed on one link until a failure of that link is detected and then data is transfeπed on the other link. CCM 914 determmes which lmks are operational and detects failures by exchanging messages, sometimes called heartbeat messages, over both physical links. For example, CCM 914A and CCM 914E exchange heartbeat messages to determine whether physical links 916A are operational. The two instances of CCM 914 select one of the physical links as the primary link. If the primary link fails, CCM 916 detects the failure and begins transferrmg data on the other physical link. In one particular embodiment, CCM 916 exchanges Unreliable Data Protocol (UDP) messages across a physical link to determine whether the link is operational. From the perspective of CΗ 322, each parr of physical links managed by CCM 914 appears as one logical link Accordmgly, the data transferred by CTI 322A may be transfeπed on one of the two physical links transparent to CTI 322A In the illustrated embodiment, three logical links (916B-916D) connect node 104 A to node 104C CTI 322A determmes on which of the three links to transfer the data In one embodiment, CTI 322A may transfer all the data on one logical link In alternative embodiment, CTI 322A may transfer a portion of the data on each logical link As noted above, it is transparent to the chent on which or how many logical lmks the data are transferred Turning now to Figure 10, a diagram illustrating device permissions accordmg to one embodiment of the present mvention is shown The permission data are shown m the context of a listing of a directory A similar listing may be obtained by performing an "Is -1" command on a directory that lists raw virtual disk devices It is noted that the device permissions are related to the devices themselves, not to the files or drrectoπes on those devices The raw devices (l e , devices with no filesystem or files on them) are treated as files for permission purposes Field 1012 mcludes ten characters The first character is either a "d", which identifies a directory, or a "-", which identifies a device The next nine characters are three groups of three characters Each group represents the permission modes for a owner, a group and others, respectively The permission modes mclude read (r), wπte (w) and execute (x) One character m each group represents each permission mode If a letter representing the permission mode is present, then the associated user has that permission Alternatively, if a "-" is present, the associated user does not have that permission For example, if a user has the following permissions "rwx" then the user has read, wnte and execute permission Alternatively, if the user has the following permissions "r— " then the user has read permission, but not wnte or execute permission The first group of three characters represents the perrmssions for the owner of the device The second group of three characters represents the perrmssions for a group associated with the device The last group of three characters represents the perrmssions for other users Owners and groups are discussed m more detail below For example, if the permissions m field 1012 are "drwx— - -x", the field represents a directory, the owner has read, wnte and execute permission, and the group and others have execute permission only Field 1016 identifies the owner of the entry The owner is the user that created the device Field 1018 identifies a group of related users Groups are defined withm the operating system Field 1018 associates one of the defined groups with the device Other users that are neither the owner nor withm the selected group As discussed above, different permissions may be defined for the owner, group and other users Field 1022 identifies the date and time of the last modification of the device If the last modification is withm the current calendar year, the month, day and time are specified Alternatively, if the last modification is not withm the current calendar year, the month, day and year are specified Field 1024 identifies the name of the device To ensure consistent permission data among the nodes of the cluster, the permission data may be stored in a highly available database In one embodiment, multiple nodes withm a cluster have representations of a device To maintain consistent permission data among the nodes even m the presence of a failure, the permission data is stored m a cluster configuration database (CCD) In one embodiment, when a node first opens a virtual device, the permission data for that device are read from the CCD and a device file is created with the permission data. In one embodiment, the device file is only created the first time a virtual device is opened by a node. In one embodiment, a filesystem operating on each node mcludes a daemon that quenes the CCD for permission data of the device. The daemon returns the permission data to the filesystem, which creates a special device file with those permissions. Because the CCD may be quened by any node of the cluster and returns consistent information even m the presence of a failure, all nodes will have consistent permission data Turning now to Figure 11, a flowchart diagram illustrating the storage and access of consistent permission data accordmg to one embodiment of present mvention is shown In step 1112, permission data are stored to a highly available database In one embodiment, the permission data mclude device perrmssions, the owner of the device, and the group associated with the device. In step 1114, a first node opens a device on a first node and accesses the permission data from the highly available database In step 1115, the node opens a special device file for the device mcludmg the permission data In step 1116, a second node opens a device coπespondrng to the same physical device on a second node and accesses the permission data In step 1117, the node opens a special device file for the device mcludmg the permission data on the second node Because the highly available database returns consistent data, the nodes receive consistent permission data. Turning now to Figure 12, a flowchart diagram illustrating the update of a configuration mappmg according to one embodiment of the present mvention is shown In step 1212, an mdication that an update is pendmg is provided to the nodes. In step 1214, the nodes suspend data access requests to the storage devices In step 1216, the nodes wait for outstanding data access requests to complete. In step 1218, the nodes invalidate an mtemal representation of a mappmg of virtual disks to storage devices. In step 1220, the nodes output acknowledge signals indicating that the internal mappmg representations have been invalidated, data access requests have been suspended, and outstanding data access requests have completed. In step 1222, the system waits for acknowledge signals from all active nodes. In step 1224, the system updates its mappmg. In step 1226, the system outputs an mdication that the update is complete In step 1228, the nodes request an updated version of the mappmg In step 1230, the nodes resume sendmg data access requests to storage devices In one embodiment, the update procedure is coordinated by a cluster configuration database (CCD) To prevent eπors, the mappmg should be updated consistently among all the nodes The CCD notifies the nodes of a pending update and notifies the nodes that the update is complete via a synchronization command In one embodiment, the synchronization command is run whenever a row m the CCD is modified. The command to run duπng modification of a row m the CCD may be specified m a format row associated with the data stored m the CCD. The synchronization command may be run m parallel on all the nodes of the cluster. In one embodiment, a netdisk synchronization command is run when the netdisk mappmg is modified. A different invocation of the netdisk synchronization command may be run depending upon the type of the modification. The CCD outputs a first synchronization command pπor to modifymg the mappmg A second synchronization command may be run after the database is updated In one embodiment, if an acknowledge signal is not received from all nodes, the cluster will suspend the update and output a cancel signal. In one embodiment, the cancel signal causes the node to revalidate the internal mappmg representations and continue operating. In the above described manner, the configuration of a cluster can be modified while the cluster is operating without losing data. The data access requests in the system may be delayed, but they will proceed without eπor. The above described reconfiguration procedure also allows connections to be reconfigured without losing data. For example, a storage device can be disconnected from one node and reconnected to another node. The physical reconfiguration may occur between steps 1222 and 1224. Further, the reconfiguration is transparent to the client except for a delay. Another application of the above described reconfiguration is to change the mapping (or acrrriinistration) of the volume manager during operation. Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modification .

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1 A distπbuted computing system compnsrng a first node, a second node, and a commumcation link coupled between said first node and said second node, and a storage device coupled to said first node wherem said second node is configured to access said storage device usmg a virtual disk system that is configured to make said storage device appear to be coupled to said second node, wherem said virtual disk system mcludes a dπver operating on said second node and a master operating on said first node, wherem when said second node accesses a virtual disk of said virtual disk system, said dπver is configured to send a data request to said master, said master is configured to access data from said storage device and said master is configured to convey a response to sa d dπver via said commumcation lmk, wherem said dnver is configured to store a copy of said data request until said dπver receives said response and said dnver is configured to resend said data request if said dπver fails to receive said response 2 The distributed computing system of Claim 1 further compπsmg a third node coupled to said data communication mterface and said storage device wherem said dnver is configured to resend said data request to a second master on said third node if said dnver fails to receive said response, wherem said second master is configured to access data for said storage device 3 The distributed computing system of Claim 1 wherem if said dnver fails to receive said data due to a failure of said first node or of a communication lmk, said dnver is configured to resend said data request after said distπbuted computing system reconfigures 4 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 3 wherem said resent data request is sent to a third node which is coupled to said storage device 5 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 4 wherem said virtual disk system maintains a primary node and an alternate node to commumcate with said storage device, wherem said second node is configured to send said data request to said primary node and to resend said data request to said alternate node if said second node fails to receive a response 6 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 5 wherem said first node is said primary node and said third node is said alternate node 7 A distnbuted computing system compnsrng a first node, a second node, and a communication lmk coupled between said first node and said second node, and a storage device coupled to said first node wherem said second node is configured to access said storage device usmg a virtual disk system that is configured to make said storage device appear to be coupled to said second node, wherem said virtual disk system is configured to mclude a mappmg of a virtual disk to said storage device, wherem said first node and said second node are configured to receive consistent mappmg data 8 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 7 wherem said mappmg identifies a node coupled to said storage device and a disk device on said node conespondmg to said storage device, and said mappmg is stored m a highly available database accessed by said first node and said second node 9 The distnbuted computing system of Claun 8 wherem said highly available database is a cluster configuration database 10 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 7 wherem said mappmg mcludes data indicative of a primary node coupled to said storage device and an alternate node coupled to said storage device 11 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 7 wherem data access requests are configured to be suspended when said mappmg is updated 12 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 11 wherem said mappmg is configured to be updated when a node oms or leaves a cluster 13 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 12 wherem nodes query a database for a new mappmg when data access requests are resumed 14 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 13 whereby the configuration of the distπbuted computing system may be updated duπng operation 15 A distπbuted computing system compπsmg a first node, a second node, and a commumcation link coupled between said first node and said second node, and a storage device coupled to said first node wherem said second node is configured to access said storage device usmg a virtual disk system that is configured to make said storage device appear to be coupled to said second node, wherem permission data of said storage device are consistent between said first node and said second node 16 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 15 wherem said permission data are configured to be stored m a highly available database accessed by said first node and said second node 17 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 16 wherem said highly available database is a cluster configuration database 18 A distπbuted computing system compπsmg a first node, a second node, and a commumcation lmk coupled between said first node and said second node, a first storage device coupled to said first node wherem said second node is configured to access said first storage device usmg a virtual disk system that is configured to make said first storage device appear to be coupled to said second node, a second storage device coupled to said second node wherem said first node is configured to access said second storage device usmg a virtual disk system that is configured to make said second storage device appear to be coupled to said first node, and a volume manager layered above said virtual disk system or below said virtual disk system 19 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 18 wherem said volume manager is layered below said virtual disk system, wherem said virtual disk system is configured to access a volume, and said volume is configured to access said first storage device or said second storage device 20 The distnbuted computing system of Claun 19 wherem said volume appears as a storage device to said virtual disk system 21 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 20 wherem said volume is a highly available storage device 22 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 18 wherem said volume manager is layered above said virtual disk system, wherem a client may access a volume which is configured to access a virtual disk of said virtual disk system 23 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 22 wherem said volume is configured to access two or more vutual disks 24 A distnbuted computing system compπsmg a first node, a second node, and a commumcation lmk coupled between said first node and said second node, and a storage device coupled to said first node wherem said second node is configured to access said storage device usmg a virtual disk system that is configured to make said storage device appear to be coupled to said second node, wherem said virtual disk system mcludes a dnver operating on said second node and a master operating on said first node, wherem when said second node accesses a virtual disk conespondmg to said storage device, said dπver is configured to send a data request to said master, said master is configured to access data from said storage device and said master is configured to convey said data to said dπver via said communication mterface, wherem said dnver is configured to store a copy of said data request until said dπver receives said data and said dnver is configured to resend said data request if said dπver fails to receive said data, said virtual disk system is configured to mclude a mappmg of a virtual disk to said storage device, wherem said first node and said second node are configured to receive consistent mappmg data m the event of a node failure, and wherem permission data of said storage device are consistent between said first node and said second node 25 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 24 further compnsrng a third node coupled to said data commumcation mterface and said storage device wherem said dπver is configured to resend said data request to said third node if said dnver fails to receive said data 26 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 25 wherem said mappmg mcludes data mdicative of a primary node coupled to said storage device and a secondary node coupled to said storage device 27 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 26 wherem said mappmg and said permission data are configured to be stored m a highly available database accessible by said first node and said second node. 28 A distπbuted computing system compnsrng: a first node, a second node, a storage device and a commumcation lmk coupled to said first node and said second node, wherem said first node and said second node access said storage device; wherem said storage device has permission data associated with said storage device and said permission data are stored m a highly available distπbuted database accessible by said first node and said second node; when a particular node opens said storage device, said particular node creates a device file with said permission data for said storage device, whereby said first node and said second node obtain consistent permission data m the presence of a node failure. 29 The distnbuted computing system of Claun 28 wherem said permission data mcludes an owner, a group and permission modes for said owner and said group. 30 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 29 wherem said permission modes mclude read, wnte and execute 31 The distnbuted computing system of Claun 28 wherem said highly available database is a cluster configuration database. 32 The distnbuted computing system of Claim 28 wherem said storage device is a disk device 33 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 28 wherem said first node directly accesses said storage device and said second node accesses said storage device via said commumcation lmk 34 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 28, wherem said device file is created a first time said storage device is opened by a particular node. 35 A method of mamtainmg consistent permission data among a plurality of nodes m a distπbuted computing system that mcludes a storage device, said method compπsmg stoπng said permission data to a highly available distnbuted database, a first of said plurality of nodes opening a device and accessmg said highly available database to obtain permission data for said device; a second of said plurahty of nodes opening said device and accessmg said highly- available database to obtain said permission data for said device, whereby said first node and said second node obtain consistent permission data m the presence of a failure 36 The method of Claim 35 wherem said nodes opening said device create a device file for said storage device, wherem said device file mcludes said permission data 37 The method of Claim 36 wherem said permission data mcludes an owner, a group and permission modes for said owner and said group 38 The method of Claim 37 wherem said permission modes mclude read, wnte and execute 39 The method of Claim 35 wherem said highly available database is a cluster configuration database 40 The method of Claim 35 wherem said storage device is a disk device 41 The method of Claim 35 wherem said first node directly accesses said storage device and said second node accesses said storage device via said data commumcation link 42 The method of Claim 36 wherem said device file is created a first time said storage device is opened by a particular node 43 A computer-readable storage medium compπsmg program mstructions for mamtainmg consistent permission data among a plurality of nodes m a distnbuted computing system, wherem said program mstructions execute on said plurality of nodes of said distnbuted computmg system and said program mstructions are operable to implement the steps of stoπng said permission data to a highly available coherent database, a first of said plurality of nodes opening a device and accessmg said highly available database to obtain permission data for said device, a second of said plurality of nodes opening said device and accessmg said highly- available database to obtain said permission data for said device, whereby said first node and said second node obtain consistent permission data m the presence of a failure 44 The medium of Claim 43 wherem said file for said storage device, wherem said device file mcludes said permission data 45. The medium of Claim 44 wherem said permission data mcludes an owner, a group and permission modes for said owner and said group. 46. The medium of Claim 45 wherem said permission modes mclude read, wnte and execute. 47 The medium of Claim 43 wherem said highly available database is a cluster configuration database 48. The medium of Claim 44 wherem said device file is created a first time said storage device is opened by a particular node. 49 A distπbuted computing system compπsmg one or more nodes coupled to a commumcation lmk and one or more storage devices coupled to said one or more nodes wherem said one or more nodes mclude one or more devices, and a highly available database accessible by said one or more nodes, wherem said database provides coherent data to said one or more nodes m the presence of a failure; wherem a mappmg of said one or more devices to said one or more storage devices is stored m said highly available database, wherem when said mappmg is updated, said one or more nodes stop issumg data requests to said one or more storage devices pnor to said highly available database updating said mappmg, and said one or more nodes resume issumg data requests when said mappmg is updated 50 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 49 wherem said nodes send an acknowledge signal to said highly available database when said nodes have stopped issumg data requests. 51 The distπbuted computing system of Claim 50 wherem said one or more nodes wait for outstanding data requests to complete pπor to sendmg said acknowledge signal. 52. The distnbuted computing system of Claim 51 wherem said highly available database updates said mappmg after receivmg said acknowledge signals 53. The distnbuted computing system of Claim 52 wherem said highly available database outputs a first synchronization signal to mdicate a pendmg update of said mappmg 54 The distnbuted computing system of Claun 53 wherem said highly available database outputs a second synchronization signal to mdicate said mappmg is updated. 55. The distπbuted computing system of Claim 54 wherem said first synchronization commands and said second synchronization commands are issued to said one or more nodes concurrently. 56. The distπbuted computing system of Claim 55 wherem said highly available database waits for an acknowledge signal from each active node pnor to updating said mappmg 57. The distπbuted computing system of Claim 56 whereby said computer system reconfigures said connections between said one or more nodes and said one or more storage devices without losmg or corrupting data. 58 A method of updating a mappmg of nodes to storage devices, compnsrng: storing said mappmg m a highly available database wherem said database is accessible by said nodes and provides coherent data to said nodes m the presence of a failure, said database outputting an mdication to said nodes that an updated mappmg is pendmg, said nodes suspendmg data requests to said storage devices, said nodes waiting for outstanding data requests to complete, said nodes invalidating an internal representation of said mappmg; said nodes outputting acknowledge signals to said database, said database waiting for said acknowledge signals from active nodes, said database updating said mappmg; said database outputting an mdication to said nodes that said update is complete; said nodes requesting an updated version of said mappmg from said database; and said nodes resuming sendmg said data requests to said storage devices 59. The method of Claim 58 wherem if said database does not receive an acknowledge signal from an active node, said database outputs a cancel mdication to said nodes to reactivate said mtemal representation of said mappmg 60 The method of Claim 58 wherem said mdication to said nodes are synchronization signals from said database 61 The method of Claim 60 wherem said synchronization signals are issued to said one or more nodes concurrently 62 The method of Claim 61 whereby said mappmg is updated without losmg or corrupting data 63 A method of updating a mappmg of nodes to storage devices, compπsmg storing said mappmg m a highly available database wherem said database is accessible by said noα ^ s and provides coherent data to said nodes m the presence of a failure, said database outputting an mdication to said nodes that an updated mappmg is pendmg, said nodes suspendmg data requests to said storage devices, said database updating said mappmg, said database outputting an mdication to said nodes that said update is complete, and said nodes resummg sendmg said data requests to said storage devices 64 The method of claun 63 further compnsrng pnor to said database updatmg said mappmg said nodes outputting acknowledge signals to said database, and said database waiting for said acknowledge signals from said active nodes 65 The method of claim 64 further compπsmg pπor to said nodes outputting acknowledge signals to said database said nodes waiting for outstanding data requests to complete, and said nodes invalidating an internal representation of said mappmg 66 The method of Claun 65 further compπsmg pπor to said nodes resummg sendmg said data requests to said storage devices said nodes requesting an updated version of said mappmg from said database 67 The method of Claim 63 wherem if said database does not receive an acknowledge signal from an active node, said database outputs a cancel mdication to said nodes to reactivate said internal representation of said mappmg 68 The method of Claim 67 wherem said mdication to said nodes is a synchronization command from said database 69 The method of Claim 68 wherem said synchronization signal is issued to said one or more nodes concurrently 70 The method of Claim 69 whereby said mappmg is updated without losmg or corrupting data 71 A computer-readable storage medium compπsmg program mstructions for updating a mappmg of nodes to storage devices, wherem said program mstructions execute on a plurality of nodes of a distnbuted computing system and said program mstructions are operable to implement the steps of stoπng said mappmg m a highly available database wherem said database is accessible by said nodes and provides coherent data to said nodes m the presence of a failure, said database outputting an mdication to said nodes that an updated mappmg is pendmg, said nodes suspendmg data requests to said storage devices, said nodes waiting for outstanding data requests to complete, said nodes invalidating an internal representation of said mappmg, said nodes outputting acknowledge signals to said database, said database waiting for said acknowledge signals from active nodes, said database updating said mappmg, said database outputting an mdication to said nodes that said update is complete, said nodes requesting an updated version of said mappmg from said database, and said nodes resuming sendmg said data requests to said storage devices 72 A data transport system of a distπbuted computing system mcludmg a first node, a second node, a third node and a data commumcation l k compπsmg a configuration module configured to determine a number of active nodes of said distπbuted computing system and a number of links between said active nodes, and to establish connections over said links, a connection module configured to receive data mdicative of said number of active nodes and said number of links from said configuration module, to receive a request from a client to transfer data to a first active node, and to convey said data to said first active node via one or more of said links, wherem when said number of active nodes changes, said configuration module notifies said connection module of said change and said connection module is configured to reestablish said connections to said active nodes transparent to said client 73 The data transport system of Claim 72 wherem said configuration module receives data mdicative of said number of said links from a highly available database 74 The data transport system of Claim 73 wherem said highly available database is accessible by all of said nodes, whereby each node receives consistent data 75 The data transport system of Claim 74 wherem said highly available database stores consistent data m the presence of a node failure 76 The data transport system of Claun 72 wherem said configuration module is a daemon 77 The data transport system of Claim 76 wherem said connection module is a kernel module 78 The data transport system of Claim 72 wherem said configuration module and said connection module commumcate via a pnvate mterface 79 The data transport system of Claim 72 wherem said data commumcation lmk provides an mterface between an instance of said connection module runmng on said first node and instance of said connection module runnmg on said second node 80 The data transport system of Claim 79 wherem said data commumcation link compπses multiple physical links between said first node and said second node, and said configuration module manages said multiple physical links as one virtual link 81 The data transport system of Claim 72 wherem said data transport system services multiple clients 82. The data transport system of Claim 81 wherem said multiple clients send and receive messages between said nodes. 83 The data transport system of Claim 82 wherem said configuration module notifies a client of a message received from another active node via a call-back function 84 The data transport system of Claim 72 wherem data transfeπed by said data transport system compπses messages 85 The data transport system of Claim 84 wherem a message mcludes both a control message and a data portion 86 The data transport system of Claim 72 wherem said connection module allocates and frees storage space for messages 87 The data ttansport system of Claim 86 wherem a client notifies said connection module when data from a message is no longer required and said connection module frees storage space associated with said message 88 A method of transporting data m a distπbuted computing system compπsmg a plurality of nodes and a data communication bus, the method compnsrng determimng physical resources m said distπbuted computmg system, wherem said physical resources mclude active nodes of said distnbuted computing system and active links between said active nodes, establishing a connection over said active links, receivmg a data access request to convey data to a first of said active nodes, conveymg said data over one or more of said active links to said first active node, determrmng that said physical resources have changed; and reestablishmg connections to said changed physical resources, wherem said determination of changed resources and said reestablishing of links are transparent to a client 89. The method of Claim 88 wherem multiple lmks between active nodes are handled as one logical link 90. The method of Claun 88 wherem said deteπmmng of physical resources is performed by a daemon module. 91. The method of Claun 90 wherem establishing a connection over said active links is performed by a daemon module. 92. The method of Claim 91 wherem conveymg said data to said active nodes is performed by a kernel module 93. The method of Claun 88 wherem multiple clients are supported, wherem said data conveyed to said active nodes mcludes an identification of a client that requested the data access request 94 The method of Claim 88 wherem said conveyed data mcludes a control portion and a data portion 95. The method of Claim 88 further compnsrng- allocating memory space to store said data conveyed to an active node; and freeing said memory space 96. The method of Claim 89 further compπsmg notifymg a client at a destination node of the receipt of data directed to said client 97 The method for Claun 89 wherem deteπrumng physical resources mcludes accessmg a highly available database that stores a list of physical resources 98 The method of Claim 97 wherem said highly available database is accessible by said active nodes, whereby said active nodes have consistent configuration data 99. A computer-readable storage medium compnsrng program mstructions for transporting data m a distnbuted computing system compnsrng a plurality of nodes and a data commumcation lmk, wherem said program mstructions execute on a said plurality of nodes of said distπbuted computing system and said program instructions are operable to implement the steps of determimng physical resources m said distnbuted computing system, wherem said physical resources mclude active nodes of said distnbuted computing system and active lmks between said active nodes; establishing a connection over said active links, receivmg a data access request to convey data to a first of said active nodes; conveymg said data over one or more of said active links to said first active node, determmmg that said physical resources have changed; and reestablishmg connections to said changed physical resources; wherem said determmation of changed resources and said reestablishmg of connections are transparent to a client. 100 The computer-readable storage medium of Claun 99 wherem multiple lmks between active nodes are handled as one logical link 101 The computer-readable storage medium of Claim 99 wherem said determimng of physical resources is performed by a daemon module. 102 The computer-readable storage medium of Claim 101 wherem establishing a connection over said active links is performed by a daemon module. 103 The computer-readable storage medium of Claim 102 wherein conveymg said data to said active nodes is performed by a kernel module 104 The computer-readable storage medium of Claim 99 further compπsmg allocating memory space to store said data conveyed to an active node; and freeing said memory space. 105. The computer-readable storage medium of Claim 99 further compnsrng notifymg a client at a destination node of the receipt of data duected to said client 106. The computer-readable storage medium for Claim 100 wherem determmmg physical resources mcludes accessmg a highly available database that stores a list of physical resources 107. The computer-readable storage medium of Claim 106 wherem said highly available database is accessible by said active nodes, whereby said active nodes have consistent configuration data.

Inventors: BLOCK ROBERT J, HERNDON ROBERT, SLAUGHTER GREGORY L, TRAVERSAT BERNARD A, ZHENG XIAOYAN, BLOCK, ROBERT, J., HERNDON, ROBERT, SLAUGHTER, GREGORY, L., TRAVERSAT, BERNARD, A., ZHENG, XIAOYAN
Applicants: SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC, SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC.
Application year: 1999
Main classification: G06F11
IPC codes: G06F11, G06F12, G06F13