EFFICIENT SCHEMES FOR CONSTRUCTING RELIABLE COMPUTING NODES IN DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

摘要

The invention relates to a computing system, a fail-silent node for use in a computing system and a method of organising information so that a number of microprocessors in a computing node, which are arranged to receive messages from other components in the computing system and to process the received messages so as to transmit the results of this processing to other components in the system, compare the results of their processing and send nothing out from the node unless either all the microprocessors in the node produce identical results or more than half of the microprocessors in the node produce identical results. This is achieved by manipulating the order in which messages are processed by each microprocessor so as to ensure that each microprocessor in the node receives the same messages, orders these same messages so that messages within each microprocessor are processed in the same order, thus ensuring, if all the microprocessors are functioning correctly that the same results are produced.