Patent ID: 7487244

Claim:
A method for managing objects on a network, comprising: providing a plurality of network servers, the plurality of network servers adapted to communicate with a network data source and including a lead server, wherein the lead server leads one or more consensus rounds; selecting a host server from the plurality of network servers, wherein selecting the host server includes: informing the plurality of network servers that a new consensus round is starting; proposing a host server to the plurality of network servers; waiting for a period of time to receive from the plurality of network servers messages accepting the host server; if the lead server does not receive message accepting the host server from a majority of the plurality of network servers within the period of time, starting a new consensus round; after receiving messages accepting the host server from a majority of the plurality of network servers within the period of time, multi-casting a notification to the plurality of network servers to commit selection of the host server; assigning a data object to the host server, the data object related to a data item in the network data source, wherein the data object is configured to be accessed solely through the host server; and accessing the data item on the host server by one of the plurality of network servers other than the host server.