Patent ID: 6920454

Claim:
A method for re-distributing, over a cluster of one or more active nodes, management of locks on shared resources, the method comprising: establishing a first master node as master for one or more resources in response to a hash value range being mapped to said first master node, wherein the hash value range is associated with said one or more resources by a hash function; transferring responsibility for mastering said one or more resources from the first master node to a second master node during a transfer time interval; during the transfer time interval, a receiving node receiving new lock requests, wherein said receiving node is one of the first master node and the second master node; during the transfer time interval, processing the new lock requests; re-mapping the hash value range to the second master node at the first master node; and sending initial lock information resident on the first master node at a start of the transfer time interval to the second master node; wherein transfer of locks from the first master node to the second master node begins at a first point in time; wherein the transfer of locks from the first master node to the second master node ends at a second point in time; wherein the transfer time interval begins at the first point in time and ends at the second point in time; and wherein other active nodes in the cluster acknowledge that said other active nodes have been informed that said second master node is assuming responsibility for mastering said one or more resources.