Patent attributes
Techniques that can minimize latency during remote access between nodes in a reliable distributed computing system. A local computing device includes a protocol data unit that interacts with a substantially similar unit at a remote computing device. Each unit executes a finite state machine that is designed to minimize both the amount of wait time between messages and the number of round-trip message exchanges. The state machine resolves each request as quickly as possible to one of three states: SUCCESS, in which the transfer is successful and it is feasible to free the data transfer buffer, COMPLETE, in which the transfer is finished and a next transfer can be initiated, ABORT, in which either the sending or receiving unit declares the transfer to have failed (or aborted by a higher level element).