Middleware support for primary component in a partitionable cluster environment

摘要

A method for controlling operation of a computer software application running on a given computing entity, which is a member of a group of mutually-linked computing entities running the application within a distributed computing system. The method includes selecting a partitioning strategy for the application from among a plurality of available strategies. When a message is received at the given computing entity indicative of a change in membership of the group, the given computing entity determines in accordance with the selected partitioning strategy whether the given computing entity belongs to a primary component of the group following the change in membership, such that running of the software application on the given entity is restricted if the entity does not belong to the primary component.