Patent ID: 7113938

Claim:
A method of splitting a system to increase system availability, the system prior to splitting comprising (i) a processor subsystem including a plural number (n p ) of processors, and (ii) an instance of a database, the system being split by a method comprising: (a) selecting a number (n n ) of nodes that the system is to be split into; (b) providing at each of the nodes, (i) a processor subsystem including at least one processor, at least some of the nodes further including (ii) an instance of at least a portion of the database; (c) providing a network for communications among the nodes, wherein the combination of the nodes and the network define the split system; and (d) automatically synchronizing at least some of the nodes that contain an instance of at least a portion of the database so that contents of the database that exist in plural nodes remain synchronized in at least some of the plural nodes whenever contents of the database at one of the nodes is changed, wherein the availability of the system is increased after the split and as a result of the split.