System Isolation and Network Fast Fail Capability in Solaris
Gabriel Montenegro, Steven Drach · 1995
UNIX hosts configured for network operation typically hang, or freeze, when temporarily disconnected from the network. This failure is unacceptable to the user of a mobile host who purposely disconnects the host from the network in order to move it to another location not serviced by a network connection. This paper describes an approach that automatically enables a system to continue to function, in a diminished capacity, when disconnected from the network. 1.0 Introduction - Why is there a problem? Modern computing environments typically consist of a core cluster of servers and many desktop workstations. Together they implement a client-server model of decentralized distributed processing that depends on a robust functional network for successful operation. This type of distributed processing avoids reliance on a particular host and, instead, places the emphasis on the network. In other words, "the network is the computer." The problem is, if a network operation fails, the system ...