Polling-based mechanism for improved RPC timeout handling

• US 20030200329A1
• Filed: 04/23/2002
• Published: 10/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LSI Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Delaney, William P., Jantz, Ray M., Copas, Kevin W., Lewis, Carey W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,146,427 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/237
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The present invention provides for a method and computer program product for handling timeout in a standard RPC connection. First, a client establishes a connection with a server with unique identification. After submitting an RPC request, the client system will periodically make secondary requests to the server to determine if the server is still actively processing the primary RPC request. If the secondary request is processed successfully and the server indicates that the primary request is still in progress, the client will continue to wait until either the primary request completes or enough time elapses to warrant another secondary request. The success of the secondary request hinges on finding a match of identification for the primary and secondary requests. If the secondary request fails, this failure is treated as a sign that there is either a network or a server problem, and the client is triggered into taking appropriate corrective action. To provide for a reasonably graceful failure mechanism, this polling protocol can be modified to require a predetermined number of successive secondary poll failures before signaling a failure of the primary RPC request.

Claims

1. A method to handle a timeout condition comprising:

establishing a first connection between a client and a server;

sending a request for a transaction to the server using the first connection;

establishing a second connection between the client and the server;

sending a poll request to the server using the second connection to determine whether the timeout condition exists; and

receiving a poll response from the server.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprises repeatedly waiting for a predetermined time when the poll response indicates that no timeout condition exists wherein the request is still being processed by the server.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprises terminating the transaction to the server in response to the timeout condition as indicated by the poll response.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprises establishing an identification for the transaction wherein the identification includes:

a unique Internet Protocol address for the client;

a unique Internet Protocol address for the server;

a Transmission Control Protocol port number associated with the connection; and

a unique transaction identification number.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 wherein the unique transaction identification number comprises a 32-bit identification number managed and issued by the client for each occurrence of transactions.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of determining the timeout condition comprises:

at the server, posting an identification for the transaction to an entry list;

at the server, matching the poll request identification with the entry list;

in response to a match, receiving a success code at the client; and

in response to a non-match, receiving the timeout condition at the client.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of the first connection and the second connection includes a remote procedure call.

24. The computer program product as recited in claim 4 wherein the unique transaction identification number comprises a 32-bit identification number managed and issued by the client for each occurrence of transactions.

8. A method to handle a timeout condition comprising:

receiving a request for a transaction;

posting an identification for a transaction between the client and a server to a tracking list to record that the request is being processed;

receiving a poll request with identification; and

matching the identification from the poll request to the identification for the transaction on the tracking list for the timeout condition.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 further comprises:

in response to unmatched identifications, indicating the timeout condition; and

in response to matched identifications, indicating that the request is being processed.

10. The method as recited in claim 8 wherein the identifications includes:

a unique Internet Protocol address for the client;

a unique Internet Protocol address for the server;

a Transmission Control Protocol port number associated with the connection; and

a unique transaction identification number.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the unique transaction identification number comprises a 32-bit identification number managed and issued by the client for each occurrence of transactions.

12. The method as recited in claim 8 wherein at least one of the first connection and the second connection includes a remote procedure call.

13. A method to handle a timeout condition comprising:

establishing an identification for a transaction between a client and a server;

requesting a transaction to the server wherein the request is terminated in response to the timeout condition;

at the server, posting the identification for the transaction between the client and a server to a tracking list to record that the request is being processed;

sending a poll request to the server to determine whether the timeout condition exists; and

at the server, matching the identification from the poll request to the identification for the transaction on the tracking list for the timeout condition.

14. The method as recited in claim 13 further comprises repeatedly waiting for a predetermined time when a poll response indicates that no timeout condition exists wherein the request is still being processed by the server.

15. The method as recited in claim 13 further comprises terminating the transaction to the server in response to the timeout condition as indicated by the poll response

16. The method as recited in claim 13 wherein the identification for the transaction includes:

a unique Internet Protocol address for the client;

a unique Internet Protocol address for the server;

a Transmission Control Protocol port number associated with the connection; and

a unique transaction identification number.

17. The method as recited in claim 16 wherein the unique transaction identification number comprises a 32-bit identification number managed and issued by the client for each occurrence of transactions.

18. The method as recited in claim 13 wherein the step of determining the timeout condition comprises:

at the server, posting the identification for the transaction to an entry list;

at the server, matching the poll request identification with the entry list;

in response to a match, receiving a success code at the client; and

in response to a non-match, receiving the timeout condition at the client.

19. The method as recited in claim 13 wherein at least one of the first connection and the second connection includes a remote procedure call.

20. A computer program product to handle a timeout condition comprising:

first instructions for establishing an identification for a transaction between a client and a server;

second instructions for requesting a transaction to the server wherein the request is terminated in response to the timeout condition;

third instructions for, at the server, posting the identification for the transaction between the client and a server to a tracking list to record that the request is being processed;

fourth instructions for sending a poll request to the server to determine whether the timeout condition exists; and

fifth instructions for, at the server, matching the identification from the poll request to the identification for the transaction on the tracking list for the timeout condition.

21. The computer program product as recited in claim 20 further comprises instructions for repeatedly waiting for a predetermined time when a poll response indicates that no timeout condition exists wherein the request is still being processed by the server.

22. The computer program product as recited in claim 20 further comprises instructions for terminating the transaction to the server in response to the timeout condition as indicated by the poll response.

23. The computer program product as recited in claim 20 wherein the identification for the transaction includes:

a unique Internet Protocol address for the client;

a unique Internet Protocol address for the server;

a Transmission Control Protocol port number associated with the connection; and

a unique transaction identification number.

25. The computer program product as recited in claim 20 wherein instructions for sending a poll request to the server to determine whether the timeout condition exists includes:

instructions for, at the server, posting the identification for the transaction to an entry list;

instructions for, at the server, matching the poll request identification with the entry list;

instructions for, in response to a match, receiving a success code at the client; and

instructions for, in response to a non-match, receiving the timeout condition at the client.

26. The computer program product as recited in claim 20 wherein at least one of the first connection and the second connection includes a remote procedure call.

27. An apparatus for handling a timeout condition comprising:

means for establishing a first connection between a client and a server;

means for sending a request for a transaction to the server using the first connection;

means for establishing a second connection between the client and the server;

means for sending a poll request to the server using the second connection to determine whether the timeout condition exists; and

means for receiving a poll response from the server.

28. The apparatus as recited in claim 27 further comprises means for repeatedly waiting for a to predetermined time when the poll response indicates that no timeout condition exists wherein the request is still being processed by the server.

29. The apparatus as recited in claim 27 further comprises means for terminating the transaction to the server in response to a timeout condition as indicated by the poll response.

30. The apparatus as recited in claim 27 further comprises means for establishing an identification for the transaction wherein the identification includes:

a unique Internet Protocol address for the client;

a unique Internet Protocol address for the server;

a Transmission Control Protocol port number associated with the connection; and

a unique transaction identification number.

31. The apparatus as recited in claim 30 wherein the unique transaction identification number comprises a 32-bit identification number managed and issued by the client for each occurrence of transactions.

32. The apparatus as recited in claim 27 wherein the means for determining the timeout condition comprises:

at the server, means for posting the identification for the transaction to an entry list;

at the server, means for matching the poll request identification with the entry list;

in response to a match, means for receiving a success code at the client; and

in response to a non-match, means for receiving the timeout condition at the client.

33. The apparatus as recited in claim 27 wherein at least one of the first connection and the second connection includes a remote procedure call.

34. An apparatus for handling a timeout condition comprising:

means for receiving a request for a transaction;

means for posting an identification for a transaction between the client and a server to a tracking list to record that the request is being processed;

means for receiving a poll request with identification; and

means for matching the identification from the poll request to an identification for the transaction on the tracking list for the timeout condition.

35. The apparatus as recited in claim 34 further comprises:

in response to unmatched identifications, means for indicating the timeout condition; and

in response to matched identifications, means for indicating that the request is being processed.

36. The apparatus as recited in claim 34 wherein the identifications includes:

a unique Internet Protocol address for the client;

a unique Internet Protocol address for the server;

a Transmission Control Protocol port number associated with the connection; and

a unique transaction identification number.

37. The apparatus as recited in claim 36 wherein the transaction unique identification number comprises a 32-bit identification number managed and issued by the client for each occurrence of transactions.

38. The apparatus as recited in claim 34 wherein at least one of the first connection and the second connection includes a remote procedure call.

39. A computer system comprising:

a first computer;

a second computer;

wherein the first and second computer establish a first connection using remote procedure call for sending a request;

wherein the first and second computer establish a second connection using remote procedure call for sending the poll request wherein the poll request determines whether a timeout condition exists.