METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RELIABLY CHOOSING A MASTER NETWORK MANAGER DURING INITIALIZATION OF A NETWORK COMPUTING SYSTEM

A method in a node within network computing system for selecting a master network manager, wherein the first node is associated with a first priority. Requests are sent to the network computing system to discover other nodes within the network computing system. A second priority from the request is identified in response to receiving a response to one of the requests from another node within the network computing system. The first node shifts to a standby mode if it discovers a master subnet manager or the second priority is higher than the first priority. The first node shifts to a master mode if a response containing a priority higher than the first priority is absent in responses received by the first node and the first node has completed checking all other nodes in the network computing system. In the case where the priority received is equal, the comparison is further made on the globally unique identifier which is received from the same node, in which case the node with the lowest globally unique identifier wins the arbitration.