Question

Which distributed lock service would you use?

Requirements are:

1. A mutual exclusion (lock) that can be seen from different processes/machines
2. lock…release semantics
3. Automatic lock release after a certain timeout – if lock holder dies, it will automatically be freed after X seconds
4. Java implementation
5. Nice to have: .Net implementation
6. If it’s free: Deadlock detection / mitigation
7. Easy deployment, see note below.

I’m not interested in answers like “it can be done over a database”, or “it can be done over JavaSpaces” – I know. I’m interested in a ready, out-of-the-box, proven implementation.

Answer 1

Teracotta, including the Open Source edition, has distributed locking semantics by using either synchronized or the java.util.concurrent.ReentrantReadWriteLock – the latter apparently fitting your requirements.

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Update

Since the question now added the requirement of ‘mixing’ with GigaSpaces, I’m going to say don’t mix them. It’s just going to add more complexity to your technological stack, and the effort of:

• integrating, in terms of both code and infrastructure;
• managing synchronisation between them;
• learning/tuning/debugging Teracotta.

will be better spent creating or implementing a locking solution based on GigaSpaces.