Distributed work flow using database replication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10235337-B2
Application number	US-201514748478-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2015
Priority date	Jun 24, 2015
Publication date	Mar 19, 2019
Grant date	Mar 19, 2019

Abstract

A method includes determining if a workflow step has an unsatisfied dependency; setting a state of the workflow step to a blocked state if the workflow step has an unsatisfied dependency; executing the workflow step if the workflow step does not have an unsatisfied dependency; setting the state of the workflow step to a cancelled state if, after executing the workflow step; the workflow step is cancelled; setting the state of the workflow step to a success state if, after executing the workflow step, the workflow step is executed successfully; setting the state of the workflow step to an error state if, after executing the workflow step, the workflow step is executed unsuccessfully; setting a state of a workflow to a success state if the workflow is executed successfully; and notifying other nodes of the state of the workflow step and the state of the workflow using a database replication.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
distributing a workflow over a plurality of nodes in a workflow coordination system, each node being in operable communication with a processor and a memory that are configured to enable the node to perform its respective portion of the workflow;
determining, at each respective node, if a workflow step has an unsatisfied dependency;
setting, at the respective node, a state of the workflow step to a blocked state if the workflow step has an unsatisfied dependency;
executing the workflow step at the respective node if the workflow step does not have an unsatisfied dependency;
setting, at the respective node, the state of the workflow step to a cancelled state if, after executing the workflow step, the workflow step is cancelled;
setting, at the respective node, the state of the workflow step to a success state if, after executing the workflow step, the workflow step is executed successfully;
setting, at the respective node, the state of the workflow step to an error state if, after executing the workflow step, the workflow step is executed unsuccessfully;
setting, at the respective node, a state of a workflow to a success state if the workflow is executed successfully; and
notifying the other respective nodes of the state of the workflow step and the state of the workflow, each time the workflow step state is set and each time the workflow state is set, using a database replication configured to update the other nodes as to the state of the workflow step and the state of the workflow, to enable each respective node to share workflow metadata and workflow status;
wherein the state of the workflow step is deemed to be successful in the database replication if a majority of the plurality of respective nodes execute the workflow step successfully, and wherein availability of the workflow coordination system is not affected by a failure of a minority of the plurality of respective nodes to execute the workflow step successfully.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the workflow having the state set to create status.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein notifying the other respective nodes of the state of the workflow step and the state of the workflow using the replication database comprises notifying the other respective nodes of the state of the workflow step and the state of the workflow using an active-active replication database.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing at each respective node a workflow data structure comprising the status of the workflow and a workflow step data structure comprising the status of the workflow step.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein storing at the respective node the workflow data structure comprises storing at the node a workflow data structure further comprising at least one of uniform resource identifier (URI) ID field, a name of the workflow field, a string task ID field and a Boolean completed field, and
wherein storing the workflow step data structure comprises storing a workflow step data structure further comprising at least one of a URI ID field; URI workflow ID field; URI dependency field; a string execution method field; a date start time field or a date end time field.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a workflow data structure and workflow data step data structure to a respective one of the plurality of nodes; and
replicating the workflow data structure and replicating the workflow step data structure to the other respective other nodes using the database replication.

7. An apparatus, comprising:
electronic hardware circuitry configured to:
distribute a workflow over a plurality of nodes in a workflow coordination system, each node being in operable communication with a processor and a memory that are configured to enable the node to perform its respective portion of the workflow;
determine, at each respective node, if a workflow step has an unsatisfied dependency;
set, at the respective node, a state of the workflow step to a blocked state if the workflow step has an unsatisfied dependency;
execute the workflow step at the respective node if the workflow step does not have an unsatisfied dependency;
set, at the respective node, the state of the workflow step to a cancelled state if, after executing the workflow step, the workflow step is cancelled;
set, at the respective node, the state of the workflow step to a success state if, after executing the workflow step, the workflow step is executed successfully;
set, at the respective node, the state of the workflow step to an error state if, after executing the workflow step, the workflow step is executed unsuccessfully;
set, at the respective node, a state of a workflow to a success state if the workflow is executed successfully; and
notify the other respective nodes of the state of the workflow step and the state of the workflow, each time the workflow step state is set and each time the workflow state is set, using a database replication configured to update the other nodes as to the state of the workflow step and the state of the workflow, to enable each respective node to share workflow metadata and workflow status;
wherein the state of the workflow step is deemed to be successful in the database replication if a majority of the plurality of respective nodes execute the workflow step successfully, and wherein availability of the workflow coordination system is not affected by a failure of a minority of the plurality of respective nodes to execute the workflow step successfully.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to select the workflow having the state set to create status.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the circuitry configured to notify the other respective nodes of the state of the workflow step and the state of the workflow using the database replication database comprises circuitry configured to notify the other respective nodes of the state of the workflow step and the state of the workflow using an active-active replication database.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to store at the respective node a workflow data structure comprising the status of the workflow and a workflow step data structure comprising the status of the workflow step.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the circuitry configured to store at the respective node the workflow data structure comprises circuitry configured to store at the respective node a workflow data structure further comprising at least one of uniform resource identifier (URI) ID field, a name of the workflow field, a string task ID field and a Boolean completed field, and
wherein the circuitry configured to store the workflow step data structure comprises circuitry configured to store a workflow step data structure further comprising at least one of a URI ID field; URI workflow ID field; URI dependency field; a string execution method field; a date start time field or a date end time field.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to replicate the workflow data structure and replicate the workflow step data structure to the other nodes using the database replication.

13. An article comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores computer-executable instructions, the instructions causing a machine to:
distribute a workflow over a plurality of nodes in a workflow coordination system, each node being in operable communication with a processor and a memory that are configured to enable the node to perform its respective portion of the workf

Assignees

• Emc Corp
• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Liu Hui
• Li Hui
• Chen Grace
• Qin Yun
• Lu Boying

Classifications

• G06F16/27 Primary

  Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor · CPC title

• G06Q10/0633 Primary

  Workflow analysis · CPC title