Patent ID: 8612383

Claim:
A method for caching data within a cluster computing system, the cluster computing system including a plurality of computer nodes coupled in communication, each computer node of the plurality of computer nodes including a cache manager, a local cache, and at least one application, said method comprising: storing a first cache configuration file within a first computer node included within the cluster computing system, the first cache configuration file comprising information defining a first communication format for communication with a data replication application; storing a document type definition (DTD) file within the first computer node, the DTD file defining an acceptable data format for the first cache configuration file; receiving the first cache configuration file at a first cache manager operating at the first computer node; parsing the first cache configuration file at the first cache manager to determine whether the first cache configuration file conforms to the acceptable data format and to enable the first cache manager to communicate with the data replication application according to the first communication format; receiving, at the first cache manager operating at the first computer node, a command according to a second communication format from an application operating within the first computer node, wherein the command is a command regarding a cache object; and communicating the cache object from the first cache manager to the data replication application according to the first communication format.