Configurable adaptive global traffic control and management

• US 20030065762A1
• Filed: 09/30/2002
• Published: 04/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cable & Wireless Internet Services, Inc. (Cyxtera Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hagberg, Aric, Brady, Mark, Koller, Jeffrey, Warren, Michael S., Yevmenkin, Maksim, Salmon, John K., Stolorz, Paul E., Pfitzner, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,822,871 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 : based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 : using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 : Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 : Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1036 : Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 : Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 : Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

A framework for delivery of Internet content includes a subscriber server network; and at least one domain name server constructed and adapted to provide policy-based domain name service, wherein, in response to a request to resolve a hostname, the domain name server resolves the hostname to at least one address corresponding a server in the subscriber server network based on at least one policy consideration. The framework may include a content delivery network, distinct from the subscriber server network, wherein, in response to a request to resolve a hostname, the domain name server provides at least one addresses of a server in the content delivery network based at least on the location of the requestor and other policy considerations. An address returned by the domain name server is selected based on one or more of: (a) geographic policies; (b) load share policies; (c) overflow policies; and (d) network aware policies.

Claims

1. A framework for delivery of Internet content comprising:

a subscriber server network; and

at least one domain name server constructed and adapted to provide policy-based domain name service,

wherein, in response to a request to resolve a hostname, the domain name server attempts to resolve the hostname to at least one address corresponding a server in the subscriber server network based on at least one policy consideration.

2. A framework as in claim 1 further comprising:

a content delivery network, distinct from the subscriber server network,

wherein, in response to a request to resolve a hostname, the domain name server provides at least one addresses of a server in the content delivery network based at least on a location of the requestor and other policy considerations.

3. A framework as in claim 1 wherein an address provided by the domain name server is selected based on one or more of:

(a) geographic policies;

(b) load share policies;

(c) overflow policies; and

(d) network aware policies.

4. The framework according to claim 1, wherein the at least one policy consideration includes at least one of:

a geopolitical policy governing the selection of a server in the subscriber server network according to a geographical location of a requesting client;

a load share policy governing the selection of a primary server from a server according to dynamic load information associated with the servers in the subscriber server network;

a shedding policy governing a manner in which the load of a server in subscriber server network is to be shed to other servers in the subscriber server network;

a partial failover policy governing the selection of a server in subscriber server network when at least one primary server in the subscriber server network fails to function;

a failover policy governing the selection of a server at a next tier in a server hierarchy corresponding to a server group when servers in a previous tier fail to function; and

a server designation policy defining a server in the server network as one of a monitored server and a managed server.

5. A domain name server for providing domain name service comprising:

a location determiner for determining a location of a requester;

an adaptive traffic control mechanism constructed and adapted to provide policy-based domain name service,

wherein, in response to a request to resolve a hostname, the domain name server attempts to provide at least one addresses of a server in a subscriber server network based on one or more of;

(a) geographic policies;

(b) load share policies;

(c) overflow policies; and

(d) network aware policies.

6. A method of providing domain name service comprising:

receiving from a resolver a request to resolve a hostname;

determining a location of the requesting resolver;

determining an address based on the determined location and on other dynamic policy considerations; and

providing the address to the requesting resolver.

7. A method as in claim 6 wherein the address is determined based on one or more of:

(a) geographic policies;

(b) load share policies;

(c) load shed policies; and

(d) network aware policies.

8. A framework for delivery of Internet content comprising:

a server network associated with a subscriber that provides Internet content; and

an adaptive traffic control (ATC) name server network having at least one domain name server constructed and adapted to provide policy-based domain name service,

wherein, in response to a request to resolve a hostname, at least one domain name server in the ATC name server network resolves the hostname to at least one address corresponding a server in the subscriber server network based at least one policy consideration.

9. A framework as in claim 8 wherein the policy considerations comprise one or more of:

(a) geographic policy considerations;

(b) load share policy considerations;

(c) overflow policy considerations; and

(d) network aware policy considerations.

10. A framework for adaptive traffic control comprising:

a server network; and

an adaptive traffic control (ATC) name server network having at least one domain name server constructed and adapted to provide adaptive policy-based domain name service, wherein,

in response to a request to resolve a hostname, at least one domain name server in the ATC domain name server network provides an answer based on a policy and on a location of the requester.

11. A framework as in claim 10 wherein the answer comprises:

an Internet protocol (IP) address or a CNAME corresponding to a server in the server network.

12. The framework according to claim 10, wherein the server network includes at least one of:

a subscriber server network; and

a content delivery network.

13. The framework according to claim 12, wherein the subscriber server network comprises at least one server group, wherein each of the at least one server groups corresponds to a server hierarchy.

14. The framework according to claim 13, wherein the server hierarchy includes at least one of:

a first tier comprising at least one primary server;

a second tier comprising at least one first level overflow server that functions when the at least one primary server in the first tier fails to function; and

a third tier comprising at least one second level overflow server that functions when both the at least one primary server and the one or more first level overflow server fail to function.

15. The framework according to claim 14, wherein each server in the server network is at least one of:

a monitored server, wherein the availability of the monitored server is dynamically monitored; and

a managed server, wherein either the availability of the managed server is dynamically monitored, or the load share or the shed fraction of the managed server is defined dynamically.

16. The framework according to claim 15, wherein each domain name server in the ATC domain name server network comprises:

a location determiner constructed and adapted to determine a geographic location of a requesting client;

an adaptive traffic control (ATC) mechanism capable of facilitating the policy-based domain name service.

17. The framework according to claim 16, wherein the at least one policy includes at least one of:

a geo-political policy governing the selection of a server group in the server network according to a geographical location of the client;

a load share policy governing the selection of a server from a server group according to dynamic load share information associated with the servers in the server group;

a shedding policy governing how the load of a server in a server group is to be shed to other servers;

a failover policy governing the selection of a server at a tier of a server hierarchy when at least one of the servers at the same tier fail to function;

a tiered failover policy governing the selection of a server at a next tier in a server hierarchy when servers in a previous tier fail to function; and

a server designation policy defining a server in the server network as at least one of a monitored server and a managed server.

18. The framework according to claim 17, wherein the geo-political policy includes at least one of:

a continent-based policy;

a country-based policy;

a region-based policy; and

a time-zone based policy.

19. The framework according to claim 18, further comprising a regulatory policy.

20. The framework according to claim 16, wherein the domain name server further comprises a monitoring agent capable of observing events that occur during the operation of the domain name server.

21. The framework according to claim 20, wherein the monitoring agent is further constructed and adapted to monitor availability of one or more servers in the server network that are designated as either a monitored server or a managed server whereby the domain name server can determine the server according to the availability of the one or more servers.

22. The framework according to claim 21, wherein the monitoring agent is further capable of polling dynamic load share and load shed information from one or more managed servers so that the domain name server can determine a server according to the dynamic load share and load shed information associated with the managed servers.

23. The framework according to claim 20, further comprising an adaptive traffic control (ATC) administrative framework capable of administering the operations of the ATC name server network and the status of the server network.

24. The framework according to claim 23, wherein the ATC administrative framework comprises:

an administrative master agent (AMA);

at least one administrative master backup agent; and

a network operation center.

25. The framework according to claim 24, wherein the AMA comprises:

an ATC network monitoring mechanism capable of monitoring the operations of the ATC domain name server network through event information received from at least one monitoring agent of the at least one domain name server;

an ATC policy management mechanism capable of receiving and dynamically polling at least one policy from at least one source and broadcasting the at least one policy to the at least one domain name server in the ATC domain name server network; and

an administrative master backup mechanism capable of enabling the at least one administrative master agent backup to function in place of the AMA when the AMA fails to function.

26. The framework according to claim 25, wherein the at least one source includes at least one of:

the subscriber capable of interacting with the administrative master agent to define subscriber'"'"'s policies and providing dynamic policies that can be polled by the ATC policy management mechanism;

one or more policy entities defining policies that can be received or dynamically polled by the ATC policy management mechanism; and

one or more managed servers in the server network that provide dynamic load share and load shed policies that can be polled.

27. The framework according to claim 25, wherein the ATC network monitoring mechanism comprises:

a trap handler capable of receiving event information from monitoring agents associated with different ATC domain name servers and consolidating the trapped event information;

a processing mechanism capable of analyzing the consolidated trapped event information; and

an alert generation mechanism capable of generating an alert according to the processing result from said processing and sending the alert to the network operation center.

28. The framework according to claim 27, wherein the alert generation mechanism is further capable of sending the alert to the subscriber.

29. A domain name server for resolving a hostname, comprising:

a location determiner capable of determining a geographic location of a client from which a request to resolve a hostname is received;

an adaptive traffic control (ATC) mechanism capable of supporting policy-based domain name service, wherein,

in response to the request from the client, the domain name server provides an answer which is at least one of an IP address and a CNAME of a server in a server network based at least on the location as ascertained by the location determiner and at least one policy.

30. The domain name server according to claim 29, wherein the server network includes at least one of:

a subscriber server network comprising at least one server group; and

a content delivery network comprising at least one server.

31. The domain name server according to claim 30, wherein each server group corresponds to a server hierarchy that includes at least one of:

a first tier comprising at least one primary server;

a second tier comprising one or more first level overflow servers that function when the at least one primary server fails to function; and

a third tier comprising one or more second level overflow servers that function when both the at least one primary server and the one or more first level overflow server fail to function.

32. The domain name server according to claim 29, wherein the at least one policy includes at least one of:

a geo-political policy governing the selection of a server group in the server network according to the geographical location of the client;

a load share policy governing the selection of a server from a server group according to dynamic load share information associated with the servers in the server group;

a shedding policy governing how the load of a server in a server group is to be shed to other servers;

a failover policy governing the selection of a server at a tier of a server hierarchy when at least one of the servers at the same tier fail to function;

a tiered failover policy governing the selection of a server at a next tier in a server hierarchy when servers in a previous tier fail to function; and

a server designation policy defining a server in the server network as at least one of a monitored server and a managed server.

33. The domain name server according to claim 32, wherein

a monitored server corresponds to a server where the availability of the monitored server is dynamically monitored;

and

a managed server corresponds to a server where either the availability of the managed server is dynamically monitored or the load share and load shed is dynamically defined.

34. The domain name server according to claim 32, wherein the geo-political policies include at least one of:

a continent-based policy;

a country-based policy;

a region-based policy; and

a time-zone based policy.

35. The domain name server according to claim 32, further comprising a regulatory policy.

36. The domain name server according to claim 29, further comprising a monitoring agent capable of observing events occurred during the operation of the domain name server and sending such events to an adaptive traffic control (ATC) network monitoring mechanism of an adaptive traffic control (ATC) administrative framework.

37. The domain name server according to claim 36, wherein the monitoring agent is further capable of monitoring the availability of one or more servers in the server network that are designated as either a monitored server or a managed server so that the domain name server can determine the server according to the availability of the one or more servers.

38. The domain name server according to claim 37, wherein the monitoring agent is further capable of polling dynamic load share and load shed information from one or more managed servers so that the domain name server can determine the server according to the dynamic load share and load shed information.

39. An adaptive traffic control (ATC) administrative framework, comprising:

an administrative master agent (AMA);

at least one administrative master agent (AMA) backup; and

a network operation center, wherein the AMA comprises;

an ATC network monitoring mechanism capable of monitoring the operations of an adaptive traffic control (ATC) domain name server network comprising at least one domain name server through event information received from at least one monitoring agent located in the at least one domain name server;

an ATC policy management mechanism capable of receiving and dynamically polling at least one policy from at least one source and broadcasting the at least one policy to the at least one domain name server; and

an administrative master backup mechanism capable of enabling the at least one administrative master agent backup to function in place of the AMA when the AMA fails to function.

40. The framework according to claim 39, wherein the at least one source includes at least one of:

a subscriber capable of interacting with the administrative master agent to define subscriber'"'"'s policies and providing dynamic policies that can be polled by the ATC policy management mechanism;

one or more policy entities capable of defining policies that can be dynamically polled by the ATC policy management mechanism; and

one or more servers in a server network that are designated as managed servers.

41. The framework according to claim 40, wherein the ATC network monitoring mechanism comprises:

a trap handler capable of receiving event information from monitoring agents located in different ATC domain name servers and consolidating the trapped event information;

a processing mechanism capable of analyzing the trapped event information; and

an alert generation mechanism capable of generating an alert according to the processing result from said processing and sending the alert to the network operation center and the subscriber.

42. A method for adaptive traffic control based domain name service, comprising:

receiving, by a domain name server in an adaptive traffic control (ATC) domain name server network, a request from a resolver to resolve a hostname;

determining an answer corresponding to a server in a server network based at least on the geographic location of the client and at least one policy; and

causing the answer to be provided to the requestor, wherein the answer is at least one of the IP address and the CNAME of a server in a server network.

43. The method according to claim 42, wherein the server network includes at least one of:

a subscriber server network providing content delivery service; and

a content delivery network providing the content delivery service.

44. The method according to claim 43, wherein the subscriber server network includes at least one server group.

45. The method according to claim 44, wherein each server group corresponds to a server hierarchy that includes at least one of:

a first tier comprising at least one primary server;

a second tier comprising one or more first level overflow servers that function when the at least one primary server fails to function; and

a third tier comprising one or more second level overflow servers that function when both the at least one primary server and the one or more first level overflow servers fail to function.

46. The method according to claim 45, wherein each server in the server network can be designated as at least one of:

a monitored server, wherein the availability of the monitored server is dynamically monitored; and

a managed server, wherein either the availability of the managed server is dynamically monitored or the load share or the load shed of the managed server is dynamically defined.

47. The method according to claim 46, wherein the at least one policy includes one or more of:

a geo-political policy governing the selection of a server group in the '"'"'server network according to the geographical location of the client;

a load share policy governing the selection of a server from a server group according to dynamic load share information associated with the servers in the server group;

a shedding policy governing how the load of a server in a server group is to be shed to other servers;

a failover policy governing the selection of a server at a tier of a server hierarchy when at least one of the servers at the same tier fail to function;

a tiered failover policy governing the selection of a server at a next tier in a server hierarchy when servers in a previous tier fail to function; and

a server designation policy defining a server in the server network as at least one of a monitored server and a managed server.

48. The method according to claim 47, wherein the geo-political policy includes at least one of:

a continent-based policy;

a country-based policy;

a region-based policy; and

a time-zone based policy.

49. The method according to claim 48, further comprising a regulatory policy.

50. The method according to claim 49, wherein said determining the IP address comprises:

determining the geographic location of the client;

retrieving one or more policies relevant to the geographic location of the client;

identifying the server according to the retrieved one or more policies; and

identifying the at least one of the IP address and the CNAME of the server.

51. The method according to claim 50, further comprising establishing the at least one policy.

52. The method according to claim 51, wherein said establishing the at least one policy comprises at least one of:

receiving, by an adaptive traffic control (ATC) policy management mechanism of an administrative master agent (AMA) in an adaptive traffic control (ATC) administrative framework, the at least one policy from at least one source;

dynamically polling the at least one policy from one or more managed servers in the server network.

53. The method according to claim 52, wherein the at least one source includes at least one of:

the subscriber; and

a regulatory entity.

54. The method according to claim 53, further comprising broadcasting the at least one policy to the at least one domain name server in the ATC name server network.

55. The method according to claim 54, further comprising:

dynamically updating a policy based on a dynamic policy polled by said polling to generate an updated policy; and

broadcasting the updated policy to the at least one domain name server in the ATC name server network.

56. The method according to claim 55, further comprising monitoring, by a monitoring mechanism in a domain name server, the operational status of the domain name server.

57. The method according to claim 56, wherein said monitoring comprises:

monitoring events that occur during the operations of the domain name server; and

sending the events to an ATC network monitoring mechanism in the ATC administrative framework.

58. The method according to claim 57, further comprising monitoring, by the monitoring mechanism, the availability of one or more servers that are designated as either a monitored server or a managed server so that the domain name server can determine the server according to the availability of the one or more servers.

59. The method according to claim 58, further comprising polling, by the monitoring mechanism, dynamic load share or load shed information from one or more managed servers in the server network so that the domain name server can determine the server according to the dynamic load share and load shed information.

60. The method according to claim 59, further comprising administering, by the ATC administrative framework, the operational status of the ATC name server network.

61. The method according to claim 60, wherein said administering comprises:

receiving events from monitoring mechanisms of the domain name servers in the ATC name server network;

consolidating, by the ATC network monitoring mechanism, the events received from the domain name servers to generate consolidated events; and

processing the consolidated events.

62. The method according to claim 61, further comprising:

generating an alert based on results from said processing; and

sending the alert to an network operation center of the ATC administrative network and the subscriber.

63. A method for resolving a hostname, comprising:

receiving, by a domain name server in an adaptive traffic control (ATC) name server network, a request to resolve a hostname from a client via a resolver;

determining a server in a server network based at least on the geographic location of the client and at least one policy; and

determining at least one of an IP address and a CNAME of the server based on the determined location at least one location based policy.

64. The method according to claim 63, wherein the server network includes at least one of:

a subscriber server network; and

a content delivery network.

65. The method according to claim 64, wherein the subscriber server network includes at least one server group.

66. The method according to claim 65, wherein each server group corresponds to a server hierarchy that includes at least one of:

a first tier comprising at least one primary server;

a second tier comprising one or more first level overflow servers that function when the at least one primary server fails to function; and

a third tier comprising one or more second level overflow servers that function when both the at least one primary server and the one or more first level overflow servers fail to function.

67. The method according to claim 66, wherein each server in the server network is at least one of:

a monitored server, wherein the availability of the monitored server is dynamically monitored; and

a managed server, wherein either the availability of the managed server is dynamically monitored or the load share or the load shed of the managed server is dynamically defined.

68. The method according to claim 67, wherein the at least one policy includes one or more of:

a geo-political policy governing the selection of a server group in the server network according to the geographical location of the client;

a load share policy governing the selection of a server from a server group according to dynamic load share information associated with the servers in the server group;

a shedding policy governing how the load of a server in a server group is to be shed to other servers;

a failover policy governing the selection of a server at a tier of a server hierarchy when at least one of the servers at the same tier fail to function;

a tiered failover policy governing the selection of a server at a next tier in a server hierarchy when servers in a previous tier fail to function;

a server designation policy defining a server in the server network as at least one of a monitored server and a managed server; and

a regulatory policy.

69. The method according to claim 68, wherein said determining the server comprises:

determining the geographic location of the client;

retrieving one or more policies relevant to the geographic location of the client; and

determining the server according to the retrieved one or more policies.

70. The method according to claim 69, further comprising dynamically establishing the at least one policy.

71. The method according to claim 70, wherein said establishing the at least one policy comprises at least one of:

receiving the at least one policy broadcasted from an adaptive traffic control (ATC) policy management mechanism of an administrative master agent (AMA) in an adaptive traffic control (ATC) administrative framework; and

dynamically polling one or more load share or load shed policies from one or more managed servers in the server network; and

updating a policy based on a corresponding dynamic policy that is either received from the ATC policy management mechanism or polled from a managed server to generate an updated policy.

72. The method according to claim 71, further comprising monitoring, by a monitoring mechanism of the domain name server, the operational status of the domain name server.

73. The method according to claim 72, wherein said monitoring comprises:

monitoring events that occur during the operations of the domain name server;

sending the events to an ATC network monitoring mechanism in the ATC administrative framework.

74. The method according to claim 73, further comprising monitoring the availability of one or more servers that are designated as wither a monitored server or a managed server so that the domain name server can determine the server according to the availability of the one or more servers.

75. A method of an adaptive traffic control (ATC) administrative framework, comprising:

maintaining at least one policy used by at least one domain name server in an adaptive traffic control (ATC) name server network to determine the IP address of a server in a server network in response to a request from a client to resolve a hostname;

monitoring the operational status of the ATC name server network.

76. The method according to claim 75, wherein said maintaining the at least one policy comprises:

receiving, by an adaptive traffic control (ATC) policy management mechanism of an administrative master agent (AMA) in the ATC administrative framework, the at least one policy from at least one source; and

broadcasting the received at least one policy to the at least one domain name server in the ATC name server network.

77. The method according to claim 76, wherein the at least one source includes at least one of:

a subscriber; and

a regulatory entity.

78. The method according to claim 77, further comprising:

polling one or more load share or load shed policies from one or more servers that are designated as managed servers in the server network;

updating a policy using a corresponding dynamic policy that is either received from the at least one source or polled from a managed server to generate an updated policy; and

broadcasting the updated policy to one or more domain name servers in the ATC name server network.

79. The method according to claim 78, wherein said monitoring comprises:

receiving, by an ATC network monitoring mechanism in the ATC administrative framework, events sent from at least one monitoring mechanism of the at least one domain name server;

consolidating the events to form consolidated events; and

processing the consolidated events.

80. The method according to claim 79, further comprising:

generating an alert based on results from said processing; and

sending the alert to an network operation center of the ATC administrative framework and the subscriber.