Abstract: A request is received by a network management server, from a managed node, to get cluster information. The cluster information identifies a coordinator node and a leader node (a node hierarchy) that are used to track liveness of the managed node. The coordinator node and the leader node may be identified based on being in the same location as the managed node. The cluster information is sent to the managed node to make the managed node aware of the hierarchy. The coordinator node consolidates liveness of the nodes in its grouping in the cluster. The coordinator node sends a first liveness message of the managed node to the leader node. The leader consolidates a group of coordinator nodes by sending a second liveness message of the managed node to the network management server. This gives the network management server a status of all the managed nodes in the cluster.

Abstract: A manifest file from a container image for a cross-platform application that has been containerized for execution on a source platform specifies image layers for the cross-platform application within the container image and are ordered from a first image layer through a last image layer. The manifest file specifies exclusion/inclusion directories related to containerized execution of the cross-platform application on a target platform different than the source platform. Starting with the first image layer and ending at the last image layer, each image layer is unpacked at the target platform by copying files from the image layer to a directory at the target platform in accordance with the identified exclusion/inclusion directories. A version of the cross-platform application corresponding to the image layers as unpacked at the target platform is executed in a containerized manner.