Patent ID: 7716305

Claim:
An apparatus to preserve cluster level serialization during file server serialization reinitialization, the apparatus comprising: a permission request module configured to communicate a permission request to a remote file server in anticipation of a reinitialization of a local file server, wherein the local file server, during the reinitialization, is unavailable to accept data access requests to modify shared resources; a cluster negotiation module configured to implement on the remote file server a reinitialization protocol for cluster level serialization negotiations during the reinitialization of the local file server, the reinitialization protocol assigning data access rights to the local file server to preserve serialization rights of the local file server during cluster level serialization negotiations while the local file server is being reinitialized and is unable to directly participate in cluster level serialization negotiations; and a completion notification module configured to notify the remote file server of a completion of the reinitialization of the local file server, wherein all or a portion of the permission request module, the cluster negotiation module, and the completion notification module comprise one or more of logic hardware and executable code, the executable code stored on one or more computer readable storage media.