Patent ID: 7249280

Claim:
A method for selecting a value in a distributed computing system comprising one or more main computing devices and one or more auxiliary computing devices, the method comprising the steps of: proposing a first set of quorums comprising a first preferred quorum comprising all of the operational main computing devices and one or more additional quorums comprising one or more of the one or more main computing devices and one or more of the one or more auxiliary computing devices so that any two quorums in the proposed first set of quorums share at least one computing device; receiving a first set of vote responses from a first quorum, wherein the first quorum comprises at least one operational main computing device; and if the first set of vote responses indicate that every computing device in the first quorum has voted for the proposed set of quorums: proposing the value to a second quorum from the first set of quorums; receiving a second set of vote responses from the second quorum; and determining that the value was selected if the second set of vote responses from the second quorum indicate that every computing device in the second quorum has voted for the value.