Patent ID: 8443062

Claim:
A computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed on at least one processor in a computer in a network, implement a method of interacting with a first set of nodes in the network to perform reconfiguration operations on a distributed database, wherein the first set of nodes is associated with at least one quorum value specifying a number of nodes in the first set of nodes, the method comprising acts of: sending a reconfiguration message to the first set of nodes, wherein the first set of nodes comprise at least a portion of said distributed database; receiving a response to the reconfiguration message from each node in at least a subset of the first set of nodes, wherein each response received from a node in the first set of nodes contains an indication of an acceptance or a rejection of the reconfiguration message; determining whether a number of received responses containing an indication of an acceptance of the reconfiguration message is at least a first quorum value associated with the first set of nodes; and selectively proceeding with the reconfiguration operations based on the determining, the selectively proceeding comprising: proceeding with each of the reconfiguration operations only when the number of received responses containing an indication of an acceptance of the particular reconfiguration operation is at least a quorum value associated with nodes on which the particular operation will be performed.