Dynamically sharing a pool of IP addresses
First Claim
1. A method for dynamically sharing a limited supply of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses among a larger number of servers comprising the steps of:
- receiving a request for an IP address associated with a domain name;
searching a table comprising a listing of one or more available IP addresses;
selecting an IP address from said one or more available IP addresses in said table if said domain is not assigned a particular IP address, wherein said selected IP address is valid for a predetermined period of time; and
returning said selected IP address to said listing of one or more available IP addresses upon expiration of said predetermined period of time and determining that there does not exist a persistent connection with a server hosting a web site of said domain name.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method, system and computer program product for dynamically sharing a limited supply of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses among a larger number of servers. A manager coupled between the Internet and a plurality of servers may receive a request for an IP address associated with a domain name from a client coupled to the Internet. The manager may be configured to map the domain name into an IP address assigned to the server hosting the web site of the domain name. Each assigned IP address may be valid only for a limited time. Once the time the assigned IP address is valid has expired, the assigned IP address may be returned to the pool of available IP addresses thereby allowing a smaller number of IP addresses to be dynamically shared among a larger number of servers.
-
Citations
69 Claims
-
1. A method for dynamically sharing a limited supply of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses among a larger number of servers comprising the steps of:
-
receiving a request for an IP address associated with a domain name;
searching a table comprising a listing of one or more available IP addresses;
selecting an IP address from said one or more available IP addresses in said table if said domain is not assigned a particular IP address, wherein said selected IP address is valid for a predetermined period of time; and
returning said selected IP address to said listing of one or more available IP addresses upon expiration of said predetermined period of time and determining that there does not exist a persistent connection with a server hosting a web site of said domain name. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A system, comprising:
-
a plurality of servers configured to host one or more web sites; and
a manager coupled to said plurality of servers, wherein said manager is configured to map domain name into corresponding Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, wherein said manager comprises;
a memory unit operable for storing a computer program operable for dynamically sharing a limited supply of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses among a larger number of said plurality of server of servers; and
a processor coupled to said memory unit, wherein said processor, responsive to said computer program, comprises;
circuitry operable for receiving a request for an IP address associated with a domain name;
circuitry operable for searching a table comprising a listing of one or more available IP addresses;
circuitry operable for selecting an IP address from said one or more available IP addresses in said table if said domain is not assigned a particular IP address, wherein said selected IP address is valid for a predetermined period of time; and
circuitry operable for returning said selected IP address to said listing of one or more available IP addresses upon expiration of said predetermined period of time and determining that there does not exist a persistent connection with a server of said plurality of servers hosting a web site of said domain name. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 57, 58, 59)
-
-
47. A computer program product embodied in a machine readable medium for dynamically sharing a limited supply of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses among a larger number of servers comprising the programming steps of:
-
receiving a request for an IP address associated with a domain name;
searching a table comprising a listing of one or more available IP addresses;
selecting an IP address from said one or more available IP addresses in said table if said domain is not assigned a particular IP address, wherein said selected IP address is valid for a predetermined period of time; and
returning said selected IP address to said listing of one or more available IP addresses upon expiration of said predetermined period of time and determining that there does not exist a persistent connection with a server hosting a web site of said domain name. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
-
Specification