Apparatus and method for offloading application components to edge servers

• US 20030084091A1
• Filed: 09/28/2001
• Published: 05/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lee, Shih-pai, Patil, Mahesh, Gugnani, Manu M., Verma, Dinesh, Giles, James R., Agarwalla, Rajesh S., Meduri, Subbarao, Chetuparambil, Madhu, Amiri, Khalil S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,791 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

An apparatus and method for off-loading application components to edge servers are provided. An application is made edge-aware by defining which components of the application may be run from an edge server, and which components cannot be run from an edge server. When a request is received that is to be processed by an application on an origin server, a determination is made as to whether the application contains edgable components. If so, an edgified version of the application is created. When a request is received that is handled by a component that may be run on the edge server, the request is handled by that component on the edge server. When a request is received that is handled by a component that is not edgable, the request is passed to a proxy agent which then provides the request to a broker agent on the origin server.

Claims

1. A method of executing an application in a distributed data processing system, comprising:

receiving a request directed to an application on an origin server, wherein the application is an application written for execution on a single computing device;

identifying whether the application includes one or more components that may be executed by an edge server; and

creating an edge version of the application on the edge server if the application includes one or more components that may be executed by the edge server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein creating an edge version of the application includes classifying components of the application into edgable and non-edgable components.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein creating an edge version of the application further includes replacing non-edgable components of the application with proxy agents.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the proxy agents redirect requests that are to be processed by non-edgable components of the edge application to corresponding non-edgable components of the application on the origin server.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein requests to be processed by edgable components are handled by components of the edge version of the application and requests to be processed by non-edgable components are forwarded to the origin server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the requests to be processed by non-edgable components are sent to a broker agent on the origin server, and wherein the broker agent operates to invoke the non-edgable components of the application to operate on the requests.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the broker agent invokes the non-edgable components using objects that are consistent in state with the requests.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying whether the application includes one or more components that may be executed by an edge server includes using a configuration file associated with the application, wherein the configuration file indicates distributability of components of the application.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the configuration file is automatically generated by one or more application program interfaces.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more components that may be executed by the edge server are components that do not access any resource on the origin server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein creating an edge version of the application on the edge server includes generating a deployment descriptor for an edge server, wherein the deployment descriptor includes all of the components of the application that can be run on the edge server and a proxy agent for each component of the application that cannot be run on the edge server.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying whether the application includes one or more components that may be executed by an edge server includes defining an interface for identifying edge-aware applications, and determining if the application implements the interface.

37. The method of claim 1, wherein the edge server and the origin server are web application servers.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more components that may be executed by the edge-server include one or more servlets.

13. An apparatus for executing an application in a distributed data processing system, comprising:

means for receiving a request directed to an application on an origin server, wherein the application is an application written for execution on a single computing device;

means for identifying whether the application includes one or more components that may be executed by an edge server; and

means for creating an edge version of the application on the edge server if the application includes one or more components that may be executed by the edge server.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for creating an edge version of the application includes means for classifying components of the application into edgable and non-edgable components.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the means for creating an edge version of the application further includes means for replacing non-edgable components of the application with proxy agents.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the proxy agents redirect requests that are to be processed by non-edgable components of the edge application to corresponding non-edgable components of the application on the origin server.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein requests to be processed by edgable components are handled by components of the edge version of the application and requests to be processed by non-edgable components are forwarded to the origin server.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the requests to be processed by non-edgable components are sent to a broker agent on the origin server, and wherein the broker agent operates to invoke the non-edgable components of the application to operate on the requests.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the broker agent invokes the non-edgable components using objects that are consistent in state with the requests.

20. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for identifying whether the application includes one or more components that may be executed by an edge server includes means for using a configuration file associated with the application, wherein the configuration file indicates distributability of components of the application.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the configuration file is automatically generated by one or more application program interfaces.

22. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more components that may be executed by the edge server are components that do not access any resource on the origin server.

23. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for creating an edge version of the application on the edge server includes means for generating a deployment descriptor for an edge server, wherein the deployment descriptor includes all of the components of the application that can be run on the edge server and a proxy agent for each component of the application that cannot be run on the edge server.

24. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for identifying whether the application includes one or more components that may be executed by an edge server includes means for defining an interface for identifying edge-aware applications, and means for determining if the application implements the interface.

39. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the edge server and the origin server are web application servers.

40. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more components that may be executed by the edge-server include one or more servlets.

25. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for executing an application in a distributed data processing system, comprising:

first instructions for receiving a request directed to an application on an origin server, wherein the application is an application written for execution on a single computing device;

second instructions for identifying whether the application includes one or more components that may be executed by an edge server; and

third instructions for creating an edge version of the application on the edge server if the application includes one or more components that may be executed by the edge server.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the third instructions for creating an edge version of the application include instructions for classifying components of the application into edgable and non-edgable components.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the third instructions for creating an edge version of the application further include instructions for replacing non-edgable components of the application with proxy agents.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the proxy agents redirect requests that are to be processed by non-edgable components of the edge application to corresponding non-edgable components of the application on the origin server.

29. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein requests to be processed by edgable components are handled by components of the edge version of the application and requests to be processed by non-edgable components are forwarded to the origin server.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the requests to be processed by non-edgable components are sent to a broker agent on the origin server, and wherein the broker agent operates to invoke the non-edgable components of the application to operate on the requests.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the broker agent invokes the non-edgable components using objects that are consistent in state with the requests.

32. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the second instructions for identifying whether the application includes one or more components that may be executed by an edge server include instructions for using a configuration file associated with the application, wherein the configuration file indicates distributability of components of the application.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the configuration file is automatically generated by one or more application program interfaces.

34. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the one or more components that may be executed by the edge server are components that do not access resource on the origin server.

35. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the third instructions for creating an edge version of the application on the edge server include instructions for generating a deployment descriptor for an edge server, wherein the deployment descriptor includes all of the components of the application that can be run on the edge server and a proxy agent for each component of the application that cannot be run on the edge server.

36. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the second instructions for identifying whether the application includes one or more components that may be executed by an edge server include instructions for defining an interface for identifying edge-aware applications, and instructions for determining if the application implements the interface.

41. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the edge server and the origin server are web application servers.

42. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the one or more components that may be executed by the edge-server include one or more servlets.