Network appliance
First Claim
1. A network appliance, comprising:
- at least one platform service;
a load balancing process that performs load balancing on communications received by the network appliance; and
a service monitoring process that monitors a status of the at least one platform service using interprocess communications.
24 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A network appliance is described that can provide a variety of software services, including both platform services, such as access method services, and a load balancing service. A network may include a network appliance that both provides one or more platform services and acts as a load balancer. When two or more such appliances are used together, they can replace a substantial portion of a conventional network. For example, when a network appliance receives a client communication, its load balancer service can determine whether one of its own platform services will process the communication or forward the communication to another network appliance for processing. Moreover, if the load balancing service of a network appliance fails, another network appliance can provide load balancing. Similarly, if another service of a network appliance fails, then the network appliance may continue to provide load balancing but forward communications requiring the failed service to another network appliance for processing.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A network appliance, comprising:
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at least one platform service;
a load balancing process that performs load balancing on communications received by the network appliance; and
a service monitoring process that monitors a status of the at least one platform service using interprocess communications. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A network comprising:
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a first network appliance having at least one first platform service, a first load balancing process that performs load balancing on communications received by the first network appliance, and a service monitoring process that monitors a status of the at least one first platform service using interprocess communications; and
a second network appliance having at least one second platform service and a second load balancing process that performs load balancing on communications received by the second network appliance. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of processing client communications to a network, comprising:
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receiving a first client communication at a first network appliance;
employing a load balancing service hosted by the first network appliance to direct the first client communication to a first platform service also hosted by the first network appliance;
receiving a second client communication at the first network appliance; and
employing the load balancing service to direct the second client communication to a second platform service hosted by a second network appliance. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of routing a communication to a platform service, comprising:
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receiving a first message in a first communication;
sending an acknowledgement message to a source of the first communication in reply to the first message;
receiving a second message in the first communication containing payload data;
analyzing payload data contained in the second message to identify a platform service associated with the payload data;
sending a first message in a second communication to the platform service;
receiving an acknowledgement of the first message from the platform service;
sending a second message in the second communication to the platform service, such that the second message in the second communication includes the payload data contained in the second message of the first communication;
receiving a reply to the second message in the second communication from the platform service; and
relaying the reply from the platform service to the source of the first communication. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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Specification