loopbackjs - Node.js periodic tasks with clustering -

i'm running strongloop's loopback api server in production mode. means master process creates many workers, how many cores cpu has. master process controls workers , never execute code.

my purpose execute periodic task once @ time, because runs on 4 workers.

is there suggestions, except cron or 'key lock' in redis-like storage?

in iojs , node v0.12 possible exclusive socket binding. used form of locking similar filesystem based approach. method same both:

attempt exclusive access resource if success:    perform task else:    not perform task 

with sockets this:

net.createserver().on('error', function(err) {   console.log('did not lock', err); }).listen({ port: 4321, exclusive: true }, function() {   singleprocesstask();   this.close(); }); 

note exclusive: true required cluster mode because defaults sharing sockets.

similarly fs.open:

fs.open('lock.file', 'wx', function(err, fd) {   if (err) {     console.log('did not lock', err);   } else{     singleprocesstask();     fs.close(fd, function(err) {       // insert error handling here       fs.unlink('lock.file', function(err) {         // insert error handling here       });     }); }); 

in both cases there potential race conditions if task quick , processes on different timer schedules. in these cases task still performed 1 process @ time, may processed multiple times per scheduled period depending on how implement scheduling.

edit: more illustrative example

var net = require('net');  var hour = 60*60*1000;  setinterval(mytask, hour);  function mytask() {   locked(function() {     // task code here   }); }  function locked(fn) {   net.createserver().on('error', function(err) {     console.log('did not lock', err);   }).listen({ host: '127.0.0.1', port: 4321, exclusive: true }, function() {     fn();     this.close();   }); }