Patent ID: 8190566

Claim:
A method, comprising: transmitting, using one or more processing units, one or more change list entries to a shared storage device, wherein each change list entry includes one or more fields identifying an operation, an operation description, an originating device, and a changed file, and wherein the one or more change list entries are incorporated into a first slave list of changes; transmitting, using the one or more processing units, a signal to the shared storage device, wherein the signal is used to determine a master lock status of the shared storage device, and wherein the master lock status includes an identity of a current master device maintaining a master list of changes on the shared storage device; transforming, using the one or more processing units, from a slave device into a new master device when the master lock status is locked and the current master device is non-responsive; updating, using the one or more processing units, the master lock status of the shared storage device to identify the slave device as the new master device, wherein updating includes updating the master lock status to include the identity of the new master device; scanning, using the one or more processing units, one or more slave lists of changes on the shared storage device to identify published change list entries, wherein the one or more scanned slave lists of changes includes the first slave list of changes; and collecting, using the one or more processing units, the published change list entries.