資訊應用系統的可靠度需求願景為每週7天，每天24小時不間斷地工作。一個可靠度差的資訊系統往往因為執行環境的異常或者人為操作的疏失而使工作停擺，導致金錢上嚴重的損失。有鑑於此，本研究提出一種具應用程式錯誤後轉移能力之叢集服務架構 (Application Cluster Service, APCS)。此叢集服務針對應用程式的管理提供了兩種服務機制：“錯誤後轉移機制” 與 “狀態回復機制”。“錯誤後轉移機制” 主要功能為當工作中的應用程式或電腦發生異常而終止服務時，會自動地啟動備援應用程式來代替原本失效的應用程式。而 “狀態回復機制”主要是針對有狀態回復需求的應用程式，設計了一套讓應用程式繼承的設計樣版，應用程式只要繼承此設計樣版並實做出內容即可與 “狀態回復機制” 溝通，完成狀態備份與還原的工作。另外本研究更進一步地研發具電腦效能偵測與評估機制的 “效能評估器” (Performance Evaluator, PEV)。將 PEV 與 APCS 結合後，由於PEV可事先偵測出電腦效能衰竭情況，所以可在叢集中之節點當機前通知並執行應用程式轉移的動作，達到當機前轉移的效果，俾提供連續不間斷的服務。

The required reliability in applications of a distributed computer system is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week nonstop services. However, the abnormalities of the operating environment or manual errors may interrupt the services that may cause a great loss. Hence, this work proposes an Application Cluster Service with failover capacities. The proposed clustering services offer both “Failover Scheme” and “State Recovery Scheme” for the failure management. “Failover Scheme” is mainly to automatically activate the backup application for replacing the failed application when it is sick or down. “State Recovery Scheme” is mainly to provide an inheritable design pattern for supporting the applications that have state recovery requirement. The applications only have to inherit this design pattern and implement the contents, and then the applications are able to accomplish the task of state backup and recovery. Furthermore, a Performance Evaluator (PEV) that can detect performance degradation and predict time to failure is developed in this study. By using these detection and prediction capabilities, the APCS can perform the failover process before a node breakdown. Thus, by applying APCS and PEV, a distributed computer system can provide near-zero-downtime services.

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