Patent ID: 7870419

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a first member among a plurality of members participating in a distributed computing system, the first member including a memory and at least one processor; and a distribution service resident on the first member and configured to distribute member-specific state data within the distributed computing system, the distribution service configured to execute on the at least one processor, the distribution service configured to determine, for state data associated with each of a plurality of subjects, a coordinating member among a set of coordinating members from the plurality of members that is assigned to manage state data associated with a particular subject, the distribution service resident on the first member further including at least one of: a first service configured to forward member-specific state data maintained by the first member and associated with a first subject to the coordinating member assigned to manage state data associated with the first subject; a second service configured to request to subscribe to receive member-specific state data associated with a second subject and to thereafter receive such member-specific state data; and a third service configured to distribute member-specific state data associated with a third subject, the third service further configured to subscribe a second member to the third subject in response to a request received from the second member, and to thereafter distribute to the second member member-specific state data associated with the third subject and received from a third member; wherein the third service is configured to, subsequent to an update in the member-specific state data for the third member, receive updated member-specific state data from the third member, and distribute the updated member-specific state data from the third member to the second member.