Patent ID: 7945756

Claim:
In a data storage system having a plurality of processors each managing an object database associated with each processor, and each processor being connected to each other processor through an internal channel and by a network, a method for managing a state of the data storage system comprising: a first processor of the plurality of processors periodically executing a poll to determine a state of the data storage system without use of the network, the poll comprising a local poll and a peer poll, wherein the peer poll comprises a request to get peer specific data about the state of the data storage system; in response to the poll, the first processor contacting each other processor in the data storage system without the use of the network; the first processor conducting the local poll to determine a local state of the data storage system; the first processor receiving the peer poll from each other processor without the use of the network, each peer poll comprising a peer state of the data storage system; and the first processor merging selected data from the local poll with select data from the peer poll to determine the state of the data storage system, wherein said merging comprises: appending data from said peer poll to said local poll data when comparable data is not available in said local poll.