A Task-Based Fault-Tolerance Mechanism to Hierarchical Master/Worker with Divisible Tasks

The master/worker API of the ProActive middleware provides with an easy way to use framework for parallelizing embarrassingly parallel applications. However, the traditional master/worker model faces great challenges as the development of the scalability of the distributed computing. A single-layer hierarchical master/worker has been implemented as a solution to the scalability issues of the MW API. In the new framework, the mainmaster only communicates with some submasters, and each submaster manages a set of workers. A ldquobully election algorithmrdquo and an ldquoobject discovery mechanismrdquo are implemented to solve the fault-tolerance problems of the submasters. An automatic load-balancing mechanism is implemented for the hierarchical master/worker to solve divisible tasks. Moreover, an optimization has been done to make the fault-tolerance mechanism more efficient.