Patent ID: 8352692

Claim:
A computer system comprising: a plurality of interconnected hosts including at least one peer group that includes two or more member hosts of the hosts; wherein members of the peer group are configured to: share resources with other members of the peer group; store backup data for other members of the peer group; and maintain at least a portion of a distributed hash table corresponding to the backup data; wherein a first host of the hosts that is not a member of the peer group is configured to negotiate for membership of the first host in the peer group, whereby the first host is configured to: send a request for attributes of each member of the peer group, wherein the attributes include at least an available storage capacity; receive one or more responses to the request, wherein said responses include an indication as to what portion of a distributed hash table is maintained by each member of the peer group; determine a proposal for the first host to become a member of the peer group based at least in part on the one or more responses, the proposal including an offer to maintain at least a portion of a distributed hash table corresponding to the backup data; send the proposal to members of the peer group; receive one or more responses to the proposal; in response to determining the received one or more responses from the hosts satisfy given membership rules, the first host is configured to: become a member of the peer group, thereby forming a new peer group; share resources with other members of the new peer group; store backup data for other members of the new peer group; and maintain at least a portion of a distributed hash table corresponding to the backup data.