System and method of dynamically providing priority for network communications

• US 20050190755A1
• Filed: 02/26/2004
• Published: 09/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Singh, Veshaal, Xie, Nan, Singh, Vebhhav
• Granted Patent: US 7,636,362 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

Systems, methodologies, media, and other embodiments associated with prioritizing network traffic are described. One exemplary method embodiment includes receiving a notice from a computer component to prioritize network traffic associated with a selected service. Network communications are inspected to identify priority network traffic associated with the selected service. Priority settings can then be dynamically reconfigured in the priority network traffic.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a priority logic configured to be in a communication channel between a computer component and a network device where network communications to and from the computer component are processed by at least the network device, the priority logic comprising;

a notice handler configured to receive a notification event from the computer component where the notification event includes identification data associated with network communications that are to be prioritized;

inspection logic configured to identify network communications in the communication channel that match the identification data; and

reconfiguration logic configured to dynamically reconfigure priority settings in the network communications that are identified.

2. The system of claim 1 where the network communications are embodied as data packets, and where the inspection logic is configured to:

examine header information from a received data packet; and

if the header information includes a match with the identification data, the reconfiguration logic being configured to reconfigure the priority settings in the header information.

3. The system of claim 2 where the priority settings include one or more bits associated with a Type of Service (ToS) field or a Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) field.

4. The system of claim 1 where the reconfiguration logic is configured to cause the network device to process the network communications with a different priority after reconfiguring the priority settings of the network communications.

5. The system of claim 1 where the identification data includes data that identifies network communications associated with the application server at a service-level to differentiate between different services processed by the application server.

6. The system of claim 1 where the notification event identifies at least a source port value associated to a socket that is opened for a selected service associated with an application server.

7. The system of claim 1 where the system is embodied in a network card configured to be operably connected to a computer system.

8. The system of claim 1 where the system is a computer system.

9. The system of claim 1 where the system is embodied as an independent device configured to be in communication between the computer component and the network device.

10. The system of claim 1 where the system includes the network device and where the system and the network device are configured to process network data packets.

11. The system of claim 10 where the network device includes at least one of, a router, a network traffic shaper, and a node.

12. The system of claim 10 where the system is embodied within the network device.

13. A system, comprising:

an application server configured to process software including one or more services;

a service identification logic configured to monitor the software being processed and to identify a priority service being processed, the service identification logic being further configured to transmit a priority notice to a priority logic, the priority notice including identification data that identifies network traffic associated with the priority service;

a priority logic configured to inspect network communications being transmitted from the application server and to identify network traffic associated with the priority service using the identification data, the priority logic further being configured to reconfigure priority settings within the identified network traffic; and

a network device operably connected to the priority logic, the network device being configured to process network communications from the application server and to process the identified network traffic using the reconfigured priority settings.

14. The system of claim 13 where the priority logic is internal to the network device.

15. The system of claim 13 where the priority logic is operably connected in a communication channel between the application server and the network device.

16. The system of claim 13 where the network communication include data packets, and the priority logic is configured to reconfigure the priority settings associated with header information of a data packet.

17. The system of claim 13 where the network device includes at least one of:

a router, a traffic shaper, a network node.

18. A method of prioritizing network traffic at a service-level, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving identification data including at least a source port value that is associated with a selected service that is to receive priority processing, the selected service being a service that is processed as part of a software application;

inspecting network communications to identify network data that is associated with the selected service using the identification data; and

in response to a network data being identified, dynamically reconfiguring priority settings in the network data to cause the network data to be processed with a different priority by a network device.

19. The method of claim 18 where the identification data further includes at least an IP address associated with network communications generated by the selected service.

20. The method of claim 18 where the reconfiguring priority settings step includes changing one or more bits in data packet headers.

21. The method of claim 20 where the one or more bits are within one of:

a Type of Service field or a Differentiated Services Code Point field.

22. The method of claim 18 where the identification data is received in a priority notice, the priority notice being received prior to the network data from the selected service being transmitted.

23. A method, comprising:

receiving a notice from a computer component to prioritize network traffic associated with a selected service;

inspecting network communications to identify priority network traffic associated with the selected service; and

dynamically reconfiguring priority settings in the priority network traffic.

24. The method of claim 23 where the notice is received before the priority network traffic is transmitted from the computer component.

25. The method of claim 23 where inspecting step includes comparing header information from the network communications to identification data associated with the priority network traffic.

26. The method of claim 23 where the dynamically reconfiguring includes reconfiguring one or more bits in data packet headers of the priority network traffic.

27. The method of claim 26 where the one or more bits are associated with one of:

a Type of Service field or a Differentiated Services Code Point field.

28. The method of claim 23 further including transmitting an acknowledgment signal to the computer component in response to receiving the notice.

29. The method of claim 23 where the notice includes a source port value associated with a socket assigned to the selected service.

30. The method of claim 23 further including sending a notice to one or more network devices that the network communications associated with the web service should receive priority processing.

31. A computer-readable medium configured to provide executable instructions operable to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a notice from a computer component to prioritize network traffic associated with a selected service;

inspecting network communications to identify priority network traffic associated with the selected service; and

dynamically reconfiguring priority settings in the priority network traffic.

32. A system, comprising:

means for receiving a priority notice that identifies selected network traffic; and

means for reconfiguring priority settings within the selected network traffic in response to identifying the selected network traffic along a network communication path.