Actions taken by an islanded data center

Abstract

A data center, DC includes applications that are controllable by one or more computing entities external to the DC. However, when the DC becomes unavailable to the computing entities, the applications are no longer controllable by the computing entities, which is undesirable. Disclosed techniques include the DC determining, based on an indication that the apps are no longer controllable by the computing entities, that the applications are to operate in a disaster recovery mode. Disclosed techniques include causing an indication that the applications at the DC are to operate in the disaster recovery mode to be communicated to applications that are already executing at the DC when the determination is made and to applications that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made. Disclosed techniques also include a further DC providing a failover for the DC.

Description

W O 2 0 2 5 / 0 0 6 3 7 5 A 1 (12) INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT) (19) World Intellectual Property Organization International Bureau (10) International Publication Number (43) International Publication Date 02 January 2025 (02.01.2025) WO 2025 / 006375 A1 WIPO PCT (51) International Patent Classification: G06F 11 / 14 (2006.01) G06F 11 / 20 (2006.01) (21) International Application Number: PCT / US2024 / 035213 (22) International Filing Date: 24 June 2024 (24.06.2024) (25) Filing Language: English (26) Publication Language: (30) Priority Data: 18 / 214.330 (84) 26 June 2023 (26.06.2023) US English (71) Applicant: TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTER- NATIONAL, INC. [US / US]; 1 South Wacker Drive, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL 60606 (US). (72) Inventors: ANGUIANO, Frederick, J., c / o Trading Tech- nologies International, Inc., 1 South Wacker Drive, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL 60606 (US). KANNAN, Praveen; с / o Trading Technologies International, Inc., 1 South Wacker Drive, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL 60606 (US). RICHARDS, Jeffrey, S.; c / o Trading Technologies International, Inc., 1 South Wacker Drive, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL 60606 (US). (81) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every kind of national protection available): AE, AG, AL, AM, AO, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BN, BR, BW, BY, BZ, CA, CH, CL, CN, CO, CR, CU, CV, CZ, DE, DJ, DK, DM, DO, DZ, EC, EE, EG, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT, HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IQ, IR, IS, IT, JM, JO, JP, KE, KG, KH, KN, KP, KR, KW, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LR, LS, LU, LY, MA, MD, MG, MK, MN, MU, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NG, NI, NO, NZ, OM, PA, PE, PG, PH, PL, PT, QA, RO, RS, RU, RW, SA, SC, SD, SE, SG, SK, SL, ST, SV, SY, TH, TJ, TM, TN, TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VC, VN, WS, ZA, ZM, ZW. Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every kind of regional protection available): ARIPO (BW, CV, GH, GM, KE, LR, LS, MW, MZ, NA, RW, SC, SD, SL, ST, SZ, TZ, UG, ZM, ZW), Eurasian (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, RU, TJ, TM), European (AL, AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LT. LU, LV, MC, MЕ, MK, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE. SI, SK, SM, TR), OAPI (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GQ, GW, KM, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG). Published: - with international search report (Art. 21(3)) - before the expiration of the time limit for amending the claims and to be republished in the event of receipt of amendments (Rule 48.2(h)) (54) Title: ACTIONS TAKEN BY AN ISLANDED DATA CENTER obtaining an indication that the applications at the DC are no longer remotely controllable L402 determining that the applications are to operate in a disaster recovery, DR, mode -404 (57) Abstract: A data center, DC includes applications that are controllable by one or more computing entities external to the DC. However, when the DC becomes unavailable to the com- puting entities, the applications are no longer controllable by the computing entities, which is undesirable. Disclosed techniques include the DC determining, based on an indication that the apps are no longer controllable by the computing entities, that the ap- plications are to operate in a disaster recovery mode. Disclosed techniques include causing an indication that the applications at the DC are to operate in the disaster recovery mode to be commu- nicated to applications that are already executing at the DC when the determination is made and to applications that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made. Disclosed techniques also include a further DC providing a failover for the DC. causing an indication to operate in the DR mode to be communicated to applications already executing causing the indication to be communicated to applications that start to execute after the determination FIG. 4 408 406 WO 2025 / 006375 PCT / US2024 / 035213 ACTIONS TAKEN BY AN ISLANDED DATA CENTER BACKGROUND

[0001] A data center, DC, typically includes a group of computing devices that provide computing power for executing applications, or functions thereof. For example, DCs may be used where it would not be feasible or practical to execute one or more resource intensive applications on an individual computing entity, such as a personal computer. In this case, the resource intensive applications, or functions thereof, may instead be executed at the datacenter, thereby taking advantage of the computing power at the data center. Alternatively, or additionally, DCs may be used where it is beneficial that the latency of communications between a computing device executing one or more applications and a further computing device is kept to a minimum. In this case, computing devices of a DC co-located with the further computing device may be used to execute the applications. This minimizes the physical separation of the computing devices and hence inherently minimizes latency of communications between the computing devices. In either case, operation of the applications at the DC are typically controlled by one or more computing entities external to the DC. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] Certain embodiments are disclosed with reference to the following drawings.

[0003] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example computing device which may be used to implement certain embodiments.

[0004] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example system in which certain embodiments may be implemented.

[0005] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method performed at a computing system of a first data center, DC, according to an example.

[0006] FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of a method performed at one or more applications of the first DC, according to an example.

[0007] FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of a method performed at a computing system of a second DC, according to an example. 1 538605\46004721_1.docx IRN: 538605 Title: 孤島資料中心採取的措施 Abstract: 資料中心 (DC) 包含可由一個或多個外部運算實體控制的應用程式。然 而，當資料中心對計算實體不可用時，這些應用程式將不再受其控制，這是不希望發 生的。所揭露的技術包括：資料中心基於應用程式不再受計算實體控制的指示，確定 這些應用程式應以災難復原模式運作。所公開的技術包括：將資料中心應用程式應以 災難復原模式運行的指示傳達給在做出此決定時已在資料中心運行的應用程序，以及 在做出此決定後開始在資料中心運行的應用程式。所揭露的技術還包括：由另一個資 料中心提供故障轉移功能。 摘 要

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method of controlling applications at a data center, DC, the applications being controllable by one or more computing entities external to the DC, the method including: at a computing system of the DC: obtaining an indication that the applications at the DC are no longer controllable by the one or more computing entities external to the DC; determining, based on the indication, that the applications at the DC are to operate in a disaster recover}’ mode; and in response to the determination: causing an indication that the applications at the DC are to operate in the disaster recovery mode to be communicated to one or more of the applications at the DC that are already executing at the DC when the determination is made; and causing the indication that the applications at the DC are to operate in the disaster recovery mode to be communicated to one or more of the applications at the DC that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein causing the indication to be communicated to the one or more of the applications at the DC that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made, includes, at the computing system of the DC: causing data, representing the indication, to be written to a location in storage which applications are configured to access when starting to execute at the DC.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the one or more of the applications at the DC already executing at the DC are configured to access the location, and causing, at the computing system of the DC, the data to be written to the location in storage causes the indication to be communicated to the one or more of the applications at the DC already executing at the DC.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein causing, at the computing system of the DC, the data to be written to the location in storage includes:causing a function to be modified so as to represent the indication, the function being stored in a library that is used by the applications at the DC, wherein the library is accessible by the applications at the DC when starting to execute at the DC, the function being one that the applications at the DC call from the library when starting to execute at the DC.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein causing the indication to be communicated to the one or more applications at the DC already executing at the DC includes, at the computing system of the DC: causing data, representing the indication, to be written to a location in storage which applications are configured to access when executing at the DC.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein causing the indication to be communicated to the one or more applications at the DC already executing at the DC includes, at the computing system of the DC: transmitting a message, including data representing the indication, to the one or more applications at the DC already executing at the DC. over an internal communications network of the DC.

7. The method according to claim 6. wherein transmitting the message includes multicasting the message to the one or more applications at the DC already executing at the DC over the internal communications network.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the indication that applications at the DC are no longer controllable by the one or more entities external to the DC includes, at the computing system of the DC: determining that one or more communications connections between the DC and one or more further data centers, DCs, have become inoperative.

9. A method of controlling applications at a data center, DC, the applications being controllable by one or more computing entities external to the DC, the DC including a computing system that determines, on the basis of an indication that the applications at the DC are no longer controllable by the one or more entities external to the DC, that the applications at the DC are to operate in a disaster recovery mode, the method including:at each of one or more of the applications at the DC that are already executing at the DC when the determination is made: obtaining an indication, caused to be communicated by the computing system of the DC, that the applications at the DC are to operate in a disaster recovery mode; and in response to obtaining the indication, operating the application in a disaster recovery mode; and at each of one or more of the applications at the DC that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made: obtaining the indication, caused to be communicated by the computing system of the DC, that the applications at the DC are to operate in the disaster recovery mode; and in response to obtaining the indication, operating the application in a disaster recovery7mode.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the indication is caused to be communicated by the computing system of the DC by causing data, representing the indication, to be written to a location in storage, and wherein obtaining the indication includes: at each of the one or more applications at the DC that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made: accessing the location when starting to execute the application to read the data representing the indication.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein obtaining the indication includes: at each of the one or more applications at the DC that are already executing at the DC when the determination is made: accessing the location during execution of the application to read the data representing the indication.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the indication is caused to be communicated by the computing system of the DC by causing a function to be modified so as to represent the indication, the function being stored in a library' accessible to the applications at the DC, and wherein obtaining the indication includes:at each of the one or more applications at the DC that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made: accessing the library to call the modified function when starting to execute the application.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the indication is caused to be communicated by the computing system of the DC by transmitting a message, to the one or more applications at the DC already executing at the DC, and wherein obtaining the indication includes: at each of the one or more applications at the DC already executing at the DC when the determination is made: receiving the message, from the computing system of the DC, over an internal communications network of the DC.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein, at each of the one or more of the applications at the DC that are already executing at the DC when the determination is made, operating the application in a disaster recovery mode includes one or more of: terminating one or more communications connections, established between the application and a further computing entity, over which the application sends data to the further computing entity; ceasing routing of data by the application to one or more further applications at the DC; ceasing processing of data by the application; and shutting down the application.

15. The method according to claim 9, wherein, at each of the one or more of the applications at the DC that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made, operating the application in a disaster recovery mode includes one or more of: preventing the application from establishing a communications connection, to a further computing entity, over which the application sends data to the further computing entity’; preventing the application from routing data to one or more further applications of the DC; preventing the application from processing data; and shutting down the application before one or more functions of the application are performed.

16. A computing system for controlling applications at a data center, DC, the applications being controllable by one or more computing entities external to the DC, the computing system including: a memory; and at least one processor configured to: obtain an indication that applications at the DC are no longer controllable by the one or more computing entities external to the DC; determine, based on the indication, that the applications at the DC are to operate in a disaster recovery' mode; and in response to the determination: cause an indication that the applications at the DC are to operate in a disaster recovery mode to be communicated to one or more of the applications at the DC that are already executing at the DC when the determination is made; and cause the indication that the applications at the DC are to operate in the disaster recovery mode to be communicated to one or more of the applications at the DC that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made.

17. A tangible computer readable medium including instructions which, when executed, cause at least one processor of a computing system to perform functions, the computing system being for controlling applications at a data center, DC, the applications being controllable by one or more computing entities external to the DC, the functions including at least: obtaining an indication that applications at the DC are no longer controllable by the one or more computing entities external to the DC; determining, based on the indication, that the applications at the DC are to operate in a disaster recovery7mode; and in response to the determination: causing an indication that the applications at the DC are to operate in a disaster recovery mode to be communicated to one or more of the applications at the DC that are already executing at the DC when the determination is made; and causing the indication that the applications at the DC are to operate in the disaster recovery mode to be communicated to one or more of the applications at the DC that start to execute at the DC after the determination is made.

18. A method including : at a first computing system of a first data center, DC, the first DC having first applications controllable by one or more computing entities external to the first DC: obtaining an indication that the first applications at the first DC are no longer controllable by the one or more computing entities external to the first DC: determining, based on the indication, that the first applications at the first DC are to operate in a disaster recovery mode: and in response to the determination: causing an indication that the first applications at the first DC are to operate in the disaster recovery mode to be communicated to one or more of the first applications at the first DC that are already executing at the first DC when the determination is made; and causing the indication that the first applications at the first DC are to operate in the disaster recovery’ mode to be communicated to one or more of the first applications at the first DC that start to execute at the first DC after the determination is made; and at a second computing system of a second DC: obtaining an indication that the first applications at the first DC are no longer controllable by the one or more computing entities external to the first DC; determining, based on the indication, that the second DC is to provide a failover for the first DC; and in response to the determination, causing one or more second applications at the second DC to operate in a failover mode to provide a failover for one or more of the first applications at the first DC.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein obtaining the indication that the first applications at the first DC are no longer controllable by the one or more computing entities external to the first DC includes one or both of: at the first computing system of the first DC : determining that one or more communications connections between the first DC and the second DC have become inoperative; and at the second computing system of the second DC:determining that the one or more communications connections between the first DC and the second DC have become inoperative.

20. A system including a first data center, DC, and a second DC, the first DC including: a first computing system for controlling first applications at the first DC, the first applications being controllable by one or more computing entities external to the first DC, the first computing system including: a first memory: and at least one first processor configured to: obtain an indication that the first applications at the first DC are no longer controllable by the one or more computing entities external to the first DC; determine, based on the indication, that the first applications at the first DC are to operate in a disaster recovery mode; and in response to the determination: causing an indication that the first applications at the first DC are to operate in the disaster recovery' mode to be communicated to one or more of the first applications at the first DC that are already executing at the first DC when the determination is made; and causing the indication that the first applications at the first DC are to operate in the disaster recovery mode to be communicated to one or more of the first applications at the first DC that start to execute at the first DC after the determination is made; and the second DC including: a second computing system including: a second memory; and at least one second processor configured to: obtain an indication that the first applications at the first DC are no longer controllable by the one or more entities external to the first DC;determine, based on the indication, that the second DC is to provide a failover for the first DC; and in response to the determination, causing one or more second applications at the second DC to operate in a failover mode to provide a failover for one or more of the first applications at the first DC.

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