Method and apparatus in order to ensure the timely program sequence

摘要

In order to prevent data corruption and inconsistency caused by incorrect assumption regarding a presumably failed node and/or program, a fail-fast timer mechanism enforces deadlines, i.e. enforces timeliness in programs. For example, given a program which needs to ensure a given code segment is executed within a specified deadline, the program arms a fail- fast timer before executing the code segment. After completing the execution of the code segment, the program disarms the fail-fast timer. If the program executes too slowly and the fail-fast timer expires before the fail-fast timer has been disarmed, the entire node is forced to stop very quickly (i.e. the node fails fast). The fail-fast timer of the present invention also triggers if the program exits before disarming a previously armed timeout.