Patent ID: 7743381

Claim:
A computer accessible storage medium encoded with instructions forming a checkpoint service, wherein the instructions, when executed: receive a request to register a checkpoint segment from an application that is separate from the checkpoint service; replicate the checkpoint segment from a first local storage of a first node to at least one other node responsive to the application registering the checkpoint segment with the checkpoint service, wherein the checkpoint segment is stored into the first local storage by the application, and wherein the checkpoint segment comprises a state of the application, and wherein the first local storage is directly accessible only to the first node; and load a copy of the replicated checkpoint segment from the at least one other node into a second local storage of a second node responsive to a request from the second node to load the copy, wherein the second node is to execute the application, wherein the checkpoint segment is identified by a checkpoint segment name that is unique within a cluster including the first node and the second node.