MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING A PROCESS ON A COMPUTING NODE BASED ON THE PARTICIPATION STATUS OF THE COMPUTING NODE

A mechanism is provided for controlling a process on a computing node. In one implementation, a determination is made as to whether the participation status of a computing node has changed. The participation status may, for example, be active, in which case the computing node is participating in the processing of requests from a request handler, or it may be passive, in which case the computing node is not participating in the processing of requests from the request handler. In response to a determination that the participation status of the computing node has changed from a current status to a new status, one or more processes on the computing node may be caused to begin or halt processing, in accordance with the new status. For example, if the current status is passive and the new status is active, a process on the computing node may be caused to begin processing. On the other hand, if the current status is active and the new status is passive, the process on the computing node may be caused to halt processing. Doing so helps to ensure that a process (such as a self-initiated process) executing on a passive node will not perform any processing that may lead to incorrect or inconsistent results, or even worse, to system corruption or failure.