Patent ID: 8667092

Claim:
A method for providing online services, the method comprising: receiving from a first server a first message comprising first information specifying a file; transmitting to a plurality of lock services respective second messages comprising second information specifying the file; receiving from each of the plurality of lock services assignment information identifying a file server assigned to handle requests related to the specified file; applying one or more conflict resolution rules to reconcile conflicts among the assignment information received from the plurality of lock services and to determine an assigned file server assigned to handle requests related to the specified file, wherein the applying one or more conflict resolution rules further comprises applying a majority wins conflict resolution rule to determine the file server assigned to handle requests related to the specified file, if a first number of first lock services identifies a first file server assigned to handle requests related to the specified file and a second number of second lock services identifies a second file server assigned to handle requests related to the specified file; transmitting to the first server a third message identifying the file server assigned to handle requests related to the specified file; and transmitting to the plurality of lock services a fourth message identifying the file server assigned to handle requests related to the specified file.