Stateless distributed computer architecture with server-oriented state-caching objects maintained on network or client

• US 20050108251A1
• Filed: 12/24/2004
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hunt, Galen C.
• Application Number:
  US11/023,101
• Publication Number:
  US 20050108251A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

A stateless distributed computer architecture allows state-caching objects, which hold server state information, to be maintained on a client or network rather than on a server. In one implementation, the computer architecture implements object-oriented program modules according to a distributed component object model (DCOM). Using an object-oriented network protocol (e.g., remote procedure call), a client-side application calls through an application program interface (API) to a program object residing at a server computer. The program object, responsive to the call, creates a state caching object that contains state information pertaining to the client connection. The server inserts the state-caching object into a local thread context and processes the request to generate a reply. The server subsequently attaches the state-caching object to the reply and returns them both to the client. The client stores the state-caching object for later communication with the server. When the client subsequently calls the program object at the server, the client submits the state-caching object along with the request packet. The server uses the state information in the state-caching object to quickly restore state for the client reconnection. In this manner, the server can offload its state information to other computing devices in the distributed architecture, thereby improving scalability. In another implementation, the network itself caches the server-oriented state-caching object.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

routing a request from a first computer to a second computer via a network;

routing a reply from the second computer back to the first computer via the network, the reply carrying state information of the second computer that pertains to the request; and

maintaining the state information within the network.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the server state information is embodied as a data object.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the network comprises one or more network components and the maintaining comprises storing the state information of the second computer on one of the network components.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the network comprises multiple network components and the maintaining comprises continually passing the state information among the network components.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the network supports remote procedure call protocol and the routing a request comprises passing the request as part of a call to a program object located on the second computer.

6. A method comprising:

performing request/reply exchanges among multiple computers organized in a computer cluster;

generating state-caching objects that contain state information of corresponding computers as part of the request/reply exchanges;

storing the state-caching objects on one or more different computers within the computer cluster to maintain the state information remotely from the corresponding computers from which the state-caching objects originated and preserve the state information in an event that one of the corresponding computers fails.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the performing request/reply exchanges comprises conducting remote procedure calls to remote program objects on another computer.

8. A method as recited in claim 6, further comprising, in an event that one of the corresponding computers fails, using the state-caching object associated with the failed computer to at least partially restore state information for the failed computer during recovery.

9. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein each state-caching object contains a service ID field to identify a service as represented by one or more computers that created the state-caching object and a data field.