System and method for reliability-based load balancing and dispatching using software rejuvenation

摘要

A method of operating a node of a computer network which uses a plurality of servers, by determining that one of the servers has degraded health due to software aging, assigning tasks to the other servers while reducing workload at the first server, rejuvenating the first server once its workload has terminated and, after rejuvenation, assigning tasks to the first server. The servers are clustered to provide service based on a single server address (TCP/IP). The node may include a gateway interface which receives the server requests and passes them on to a dispatcher at the node. Tasks are assigned in response to health-related messages sent by the servers and received by a workload monitor agent of the dispatcher.