VMware, Inc.
Data channel between a client and a restartable service

Abstract:

A data communication channel between a client and a service is preserved through a failure of the server by maintaining a request log and an inflight request queue in a protected memory region that preserves the contents of the request log and the inflight request queue even when the service encounters a failure. The method of restarting the data communication channel includes, upon the service being restarted following the failure of the service, determining whether the request log contains requests and, if so, copying the requests from the request log into the in-flight request queue and then removing the copied requests from the request log. The requests in the in-flight request queue, which include any that were in the in-flight request queue at the time of the failure of the service and any that were copied from the request log, are then processed.