Short-cut response for distributed services

• US 20040143648A1
• Filed: 01/20/2003
• Published: 07/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Koning, G. P., Long, Paula, Hayden, Peter C., Gillum, Kirtley C., Suman, Daniel E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,627,650 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1027 Persistence of sessions during load balancing
• 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 67/1038 Load balancing arrangements to avoid a single path through a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The systems and methods described herein include methods for providing resources over a data network. The methods may be embodied as processes operating on a computer server, wherein that server comprises a plurality of server platforms, each of which are truly equivalent in that each provides a functionally equivalent interface to a client. In one practice of the invention, a method responds to client requests by detecting a request from a client for access to a resource and by establishing a connection for communicating with the client. The method then identifies a server available for servicing the detected request, and determines whether state information is associated with the connection. The method then, grants the identified server with access to the state information and allows the identified server to create and transmit a response to the client, also allowing the identified server to update the state information.

Claims

1. A method for providing services over a data network, comprising

detecting a request from a client for access to a resource and establishing a connection for communicating with the client,

identifying a server for servicing the detected request,

determining whether state information is associated with the connection,

granting the identified server with access to the state information and allowing the identified server to create and transmit a response to the client, and

allowing the identified server to update the state information.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising storing the state information in memory.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising providing a file write process for allowing the identified server to update the state information.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising providing an interlock process for controlling access to a file containing the state information.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the communication connection follows a communication protocol selected from the group consisting of HTTP, FTP, iSCSI, NFS, CIFS.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the state information includes information selected from the group consisting of IP addresses, TCP sequence numbers, and iSCSI sequence numbers.

7. A system for providing services over a data network, comprising:

a process for detecting a request from a client for access to a resource and for establishing a communication connection with the client,

a server identification process for identifying a server associated with the requested resource,

a request router for forwarding the detected request to an identified server, and

a socket server for allowing distributed access to state information associated with the communication connection, whereby the identified server may access the state information for responding to the client.

8. A system according to claim 7, wherein the socket server includes a file write process for allowing the identified server to update the state information.

9. A system according to claim 7, wherein the socket server includes an interlock process for controlling access to a file containing the state information.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the interlock process limits access to the file containing the state information to one server at a time.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein the interlock process includes a listening thread for detecting requests from a client.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the listening thread detects requests from a client for access to a distributed service.

13. A system according to claim 7, wherein the communication connection follows a communication protocol selected from the group consisting of HTTP, FTP, iSCSI, NFS, CIFS.

14. A system according to claim 7, wherein the state information includes information selected from the group consisting of IP addresses, TCP sequence numbers, and iSCSI sequence numbers.

15. A server for access to a distributed service over a data network, comprising:

a listening thread for detecting a request from a client for access to a service and for establishing a communication connection with the client, the communication connection having state information associated therewith,

a resource management process for maintaining a list of available servers capable of servicing the detected request,

a request router for forwarding the detected request to an identified server, and

a connection data server for allowing distributed access to state information associated with the communication connection, whereby the identified server may access the state information for responding to the client.

16. A socket server for allowing a plurality of servers supporting a partitioned resource to respond to a detected request from a client, comprising:

a file process, responsive to the detected request, for creating a data file associated with a communication channel opened for communicating with the client and for maintaining state information,

a control process for detecting requests from the plurality of servers to access the data file and for controlling access to the data file to grant at least one of the plurality of servers with access to the state information, and

a file write process for allowing one of the plurality of servers to update the state information stored in the created file.

17. A socket server according to claim 16, wherein the control process includes an interlock process for controlling access to the created file.

18. A socket server according to claim 16, wherein the control process includes a listening process for responding to requests from the plurality of servers to access to the created file.

19. A socket server according to claim 16, wherein the file process includes a process for identifying state information associated with layers in a network stack.

20. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for:

detecting a request from a client for access to a service and establishing a connection for communicating with the client,

identifying a server available for servicing the detected request,

determining whether state information is associated with the connection,

granting the identified server with access to the state information and allowing the identified server to create and transmit a response to the client, and

allowing the identified server to update the state information.