Apparatus and method for simulating multiple nodes on a single machine

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising: a clock procedure, that at a predefined time interval, notifies the communications membership monitor to monitor the operational status of each of the user-level simulated kernel domains associated with the cluster.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a debugger mechanism for debugging operations of any specified one of the plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a first procedure for generating one or more of the user-level simulated kernel domains.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a second interprocess communication mechanism for handling communications between the user-level simulated kernel domains.

Claim 11

A computer-implemented method for simulating a cluster of computing nodes, the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of user-level domains, each user-level domain including one or more user applications; providing a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain representing a select one of the computing nodes, each user-level simulated kernel domain including a first interprocess communication (IPC) mechanism for communicating with the user-level domains and a particular one of the user-level simulated kernel domains, a plurality of executable procedures, and an gateway handler for executing an executable procedure; obtaining a request from a specific user-level domain to execute an executable procedure in a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains; determining a first IPC mechanism associated with the select user-level simulated kernel domain; utilizing the first IPC mechanism associated with the select user-level simulated kernel domain to transmit the request to a gateway handler associated with the select user-level simulated kernel domain; and executing the requested executable procedure in the select user-level simulated kernel domain.

Claim 12

A computer-implemented method for simulating a cluster of computing nodes, the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of user-level domains, each user-level domain including one or more user applications; providing a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain representing a select one of the computing nodes, each user-level simulated kernel domain including a first interprocess communication (IPC) mechanism for communicating with the user-level domains and a particular one of the user-level simulated kernel domains, a plurality of executable procedures, and an gateway handler for executing an executable procedure; obtaining a request from a specific user-level domain to execute an executable procedure in a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains; determining a first IPC mechanism associated with the select user-level simulated kernel domain; utilizing the first IPC mechanism associated with the select user-level simulated kernel domain to transmit the request to a gateway handler associated with the select user-level simulated kernel domain; and executing the requested executable procedure in the select user-level simulated kernel domain.

Claim 13

The method of claim 8, said step of providing a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains further comprising the steps of: generating one or more user-level simulated kernel domains; and associating with each user-level simulated kernel domain a cluster identifier and a node identifier; and providing each user-level simulated kernel domain with a second IPC mechanism that provides a communication path between one or more of the user-level simulated kernel domains, the second IPC mechanism using the cluster identifier and the node identifier.

Claim 14

The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of: debugging an execution of the requested executable procedure in any specified one of the plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains.

Claim 15

The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of: associating a subset of the user-level simulated kernel domains with a particular cluster; and providing each user-level kernel domain with a communications membership monitor (CMM) mechanism that monitors an operational status of each user-level simulated kernel domain associated with a particular cluster at predefined time intervals.

Claim 16

The of claim 11, further comprising the step of: notifying the CMM mechanism when the predefined time intervals occurs.

Claim 17

The method of claim 8, wherein the executable procedures includes a plurality of shared objects referenced by a module name and a function name.

Claim 18

The method of claim 13, said executing step further comprising the steps of: determining a module name associated with the requested executable procedure; dynamically loading the module associated with the module name into memory; and invoking the function associated with the requested executable procedure.

Claim 19

The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of: obtaining a reply from the executed procedure; and transmitting the reply to the requesting user-level domain.

Claim 20

The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of: providing an object request broker (ORB) mechanism to invoke methods associated with one or more objects referenced by the requested executed procedure.

Claim 21

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a plurality of user-level non-simulated domains, each user-level domain having a distinct address space and having one or more user-level procedures; and a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain having a distinct address space and providing a capability to simulate a kernel operating system, each user-level simulated kernel domain including: at least one executable procedure; a gateway handler procedure receiving a request to execute a select one of the executable procedures and executing the select executable procedure; and a first interprocess communication mechanism providing communication between a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains and the user-level domains; wherein the user-level domains utilize the first interprocess communication mechanism to request execution of a particular one of the executable procedures in a particular user-level simulated kernel domain.

Claim 22

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a plurality of user-level non-simulated domains, each user-level domain having a distinct address space and having one or more user-level procedures; and a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain having a distinct address space and providing a capability to simulate a kernel operating system, each user-level simulated kernel domain including: at least one executable procedure; a gateway handler procedure receiving a request to execute a select one of the executable procedures and executing the select executable procedure; and a first interprocess communication mechanism providing communication between a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains and the user-level domains; wherein the user-level domains utilize the first interprocess communication mechanism to request execution of a particular one of the executable procedures in a particular user-level simulated kernel domain.

Claim 23

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a plurality of user-level domains, each user-level domain having a distinct address space and having one or more user-level procedures; and a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain having a distinct address space and providing a capability to simulate a kernel operating system, each user-level simulated kernel domain including: at least one executable procedure; a gateway handler procedure receiving a request to execute a select one of the executable procedures and executing the select executable procedure; and a first interprocess communication mechanism providing communication between a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains and the user-level domains; wherein the user-level domains utilize the first interprocess communication mechanism to request execution of a particular one of the executable procedures in a particular user-level simulated kernel domain; each user-level simulated kernel domain includes a plurality of object methods; and each user-level simulated kernel domain includes an object request broker (ORB) that receives a request from the select executable procedure to invoke a specified object method.

Claim 24

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a plurality of user-level domains, each user-level domain having a distinct address space and having one or more user-level procedures; and a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain having a distinct address space and providing a capability to simulate a kernel operating system, each user-level simulated kernel domain including: at least one executable procedure; a gateway handler procedure receiving a request to execute a select one of the executable procedures and executing the select executable procedure; and a first interprocess communication mechanism providing communication between a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains and the user-level domains; wherein the user-level domains utilize the first interprocess communication mechanism to request execution of a particular one of the executable procedures in a particular user-level simulated kernel domain; each user-level simulated kernel domain includes a plurality of object methods; and each user-level simulated kernel domain includes an object request broker (ORB) that receives a request from the select executable procedure to invoke a specified object method.

Claim 25

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a plurality of user-level domains, each user-level domain having a distinct address space and having one or more user-level procedures; and a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain having a distinct address space and providing a capability to simulate a kernel operating system, each user-level simulated kernel domain including: at least one executable procedure; a gateway handler procedure receiving a request to execute a select one of the executable procedures and executing the select executable procedure; and a first interprocess communication mechanism providing communication between a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains and the user-level domains; wherein the user-level domains utilize the first interprocess communication mechanism to request execution of a particular one of the executable procedures in a particular user-level simulated kernel domain; a subset of the user-level simulated kernel domains represent a cluster; the computer program product includes a communications membership monitor procedure that monitors an operational status of each of the user-level simulated kernel domains associated with a particular cluster.

Claim 26

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a plurality of user-level domains, each user-level domain having a distinct address space and having one or more user-level procedures; and a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain having a distinct address space and providing a capability to simulate a kernel operating system, each user-level simulated kernel domain including: at least one executable procedure; a gateway handler procedure receiving a request to execute a select one of the executable procedures and executing the select executable procedure; and a first interprocess communication mechanism providing communication between a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains and the user-level domains; wherein the user-level domains utilize the first interprocess communication mechanism to request execution of a particular one of the executable procedures in a particular user-level simulated kernel domain; a subset of the user-level simulated kernel domains represent a cluster; the computer program product includes a communications membership monitor procedure that monitors an operational status of each of the user-level simulated kernel domains associated with a particular cluster.

Claim 27

The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising: a clock procedure, that at a predefined time interval, notifies the communications membership monitor to monitor the operational status of each of the user-level simulated kernel domains associated with the cluster.

Claim 28

The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising: a debugger mechanism for debugging operations of a any specified one of the plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains.

Claim 29

The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising: a first procedure for generating one or more of the user-level simulated kernel domains.

Claim 30

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a plurality of user-level domains, each user-level domain having a distinct address space and having one or more user-level procedures; and a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain having a distinct address space and providing a capability to simulate a kernel operating system, each user-level simulated kernel domain including: at least one executable procedure; a gateway handler procedure receiving a request to execute a select one of the executable procedures and executing the select executable procedure; and a first interprocess communication mechanism providing communication between a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains and the user-level domains; wherein the user-level domains utilize the first interprocess communication mechanism to request execution of a particular one of the executable procedures in a particular user-level simulated kernel domain; the computer program product further comprising a second interprocess communication mechanism for handling communications between one or more of the user-level simulated kernel domains.

Claim 31

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a plurality of user-level domains, each user-level domain having a distinct address space and having one or more user-level procedures; and a plurality of user-level simulated kernel domains, each user-level simulated kernel domain having a distinct address space and providing a capability to simulate a kernel operating system, each user-level simulated kernel domain including: at least one executable procedure; a gateway handler procedure receiving a request to execute a select one of the executable procedures and executing the select executable procedure; and a first interprocess communication mechanism providing communication between a select one of the user-level simulated kernel domains and the user-level domains; wherein the user-level domains utilize the first interprocess communication mechanism to request execution of a particular one of the executable procedures in a particular user-level simulated kernel domain; the computer program product further comprising a second interprocess communication mechanism for handling communications between one or more of the user-level simulated kernel domains.