Method and appartatus for equalizing load of streaming media server

• US 20050027875A1
• Filed: 08/15/2002
• Published: 02/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Deng, Xuelai
• Granted Patent: US 7,707,301 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/231
• 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: H04N 21/23103 using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23116 involving data replication, e.g. over plural servers synchronization of replicated data G06F11/1658; error detection or correction by means of data replication G06F11/2053; replication in distributed file systems G06F16/10; replication in distributed file systems G06F16/27; replication or mirroring of data in data networks H04L67/1095

Abstract

The invention deals with a method and apparatus of realizing load equalizing on the steam media server. The load equalizer is placed in front of the steam media server and the servers are trusted by the load equalizer. Each server has its private IP address, and the load equalizer is in charge of its exoteric IP address, which comprises the processing module of the client port, the processing module of the server port, and the main control module. The processing module of the client port is set to recognize and transfer the data from the client. The processing module of the server port is set to recognize and transfer the data from the server. The main control module orderly matches the data required to be processed further to determine which actual server will process the data, and to establish the list of the stream rules between the processing module of the client port and the processing module of the server port.

Claims

1. A method of equalizing load on stream media servers, in which a load equalizer being disposed before the stream media servers, which are trusted by the load equalizer, each server having its private IP address, and the load equalizer being in charge of the exoteric IP address and comprising a processing module of the client port, a processing module of the server port, and a main control module, said method comprising the following steps:

the processing module of the client port being set to intercept TCP requests from the client with the first-class steam rule at the client port and to forward the requests to the main control module to obtain the address of actual destination server;

the main control module sending SYN packets from the client to the actual server;

the processing module of the server port being set to intercept response from the actual server with first-class steam rule at the server port and to forward the response to the main control module to accomplish SYN responses of actual server;

the main control module creating the second-class steam rule at the client port and the server port respectively according to the address and SYN information of the actual server so as to establish a RTSP control channel between the two ports;

the main control module creating the third-class rule at the client port and the server port respectively according to certain information of the control channel so as to establish a data channel between the two ports.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first-class stream rule at the client port and the first-class stream rule at the server port are default rules with low priority, respectively.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the second-class stream rule at the client port and the second-class stream rule at the server port are Real Time Stream Protocol (RTSP) classifying rules, i.e., classifying rules for the control channel.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the third-class steam rule at the client port and the third-class steam rule at the server port are Real-Time Transport Protocol/Real-Time Transport Control Protocol (RTP/RTCP) classifying rules, i.e., classifying rules for the data channel.

9. A method according to claim 2, wherein the third-class steam rule at the client port and the third-class steam rule at the server port are Real-Time Transport Protocol/Real-Time Transport Control Protocol (RTP/RTCP) classifying rules, i.e., classifying rules for the data channel.

5. A load equalizer for equalizing load on stream media servers, said load equalizer being disposed before the stream media servers, which are trusted by said load equalizer, each server having its private IP address, and said load equalizer being in charge of the exoteric IP address, the load equalizer comprising:

a processing module of the client port, which is set to recognize and forward the data from the client to the main control module of the load equalizer or directly to the actual server according to the actions defined in the matched rule list;

a processing module of the server port, which is set to recognize and forward the data from the server to the main control module of the load equalizer or directly to a client according to the actions defined in the matched rule list; and

a main control module, which is set to matches the data required to be processed further with rules to determine which actual server will process the data and to establish the list of the stream rules between the processing module of the client port and the processing module of the server port.

6. A method of equalizing load on stream media servers, the method comprising:

setting a processing module of a client port of a load equalizer to intercept TCP requests from a client with a first-class steam rule at the client port and to forward the requests to a main control module of the load equalizer to obtain an address of a destination server, wherein the load equalizer is disposed before the stream media servers, each server having a private IP address, and the load equalizer being in charge of an exoteric IP address;

the main control module sending SYN packets from the client to the destination server;

setting a processing module of a server port of the load equalizer to intercept a response from the destination server with a first-class steam rule at the server port and to forward the response to the main control module to accomplish SYN responses of the destination server;

the main control module creating a second-class steam rule at the client port and a second-class steam rule at the server port, according to an address and SYN information of the destination server, so as to establish a Real Time Stream Protocol (RTSP) control channel between the client port and the sever port; and

the main control module creating a third-class rule at the client port and a third-class rule at the server port, according to certain information of the RTSP control channel, so as to establish a data channel between the client port and the sever port.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the first-class stream rule at the client port and the first-class stream rule at the server port are default rules with low priority.

8. A method according to claim 6, wherein the second-class stream rule at the client port and the second-class stream rule at the server port are RTSP classifying rules, i.e., classifying rules for the control channel.

10. A load equalizer for equalizing load on stream media servers, each server having a private IP address, the load equalizer comprising:

a client port and a processing module of the client port;

a server port and a processing module of the server port; and

a main control module, wherein the processing module of the client port recognizes and forwards data from a client to the main control module or directly to one of the servers according to actions defined in a matched rule list at the client port, wherein the processing module of the server port recognizes and forwards data from one of the servers to the main control module or directly to the client according to actions defined in a matched rule list at the server port, wherein the main control module matches data required to be processed further with rules to determine which server will process the data and to establish a list of the stream rules between the processing module of the client port and the processing module of the server port, and wherein the load equalizer is disposed before the servers and is in charge of an exoteric IP address.