Verifying and maintaining connection liveliness in a reliable messaging for web services environment

• US 20060123119A1
• Filed: 12/08/2004
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Batres, Stefan R., Cohen, Shy, Limprecht, Rodney T., Moroney, Michael J., Hill, Richard D., Lye, Margaret Jin Mei
• Granted Patent: US 7,899,921 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/145 avoiding end of session, e.g. keep-alive, heartbeats, resumption message or wake-up for inactive or interrupted session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests

Abstract

The present invention monitors the receipt of messages between two endpoints on established sequence session in accordance with a Reliable Messaging protocol for Web Services (RM-WS protocol). The messages received may be application or infrastructure messages (e.g., acknowledgement messages in accordance with the RM-WS protocol). Further, the present invention defines a time period known as the inactivity timeout, which is an upper limit to the time that may pass without receiving a message (either application or infrastructure) on the sequence session. Based on this inactivity timeout period, the present invention calculates time periods for sending idempotent infrastructure messages in accordance with the RM-WS protocol for verifying and maintaining connection liveliness.

Claims

1. At an initiator computer system in a Web Services (WS) environment, a method of maintaining connection liveliness for a sequence session between endpoints by utilizing Reliable Messaging protocol for WS (RM-WS protocol), the method comprising acts of:

establishing a sequence session, identified by a unique sequence identifier, at an application layer between two endpoint applications in accordance with a RM-WS protocol;

identifying an inactivity timeout period for the sequence session, the inactivity timeout period representing an upper limit to the time that may pass without receiving a message for the sequence session;

calculating a keep-alive expiration timeout in accordance with an algorithm that is based on the inactivity timeout period;

based on the calculated keep-alive expiration timeout, sending a message that includes the unique sequence identifier;

receiving a message that includes the unique sequence identifier before the inactivity timeout period, which maintains the connection liveliness; and

based on the received message, resetting an inactivity timer for the inactivity timeout period such that the sequence session is kept alive.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an application-level message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the application-level message includes acknowledgment responses for one or more sequence sessions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sent message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an acknowledgment request message, which is an infrastructure idempotent message defined by the RM-WS protocol, and wherein the received message is an infrastructure acknowledgment message in response to the acknowledgement request message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the acknowledgment request message corresponds to one or more messages that have already been acknowledged as received from the acceptor.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the acknowledgment request message includes acknowledgement requests for a plurality of sequence sessions, and wherein the received message includes a plurality of acknowledgment responses for the plurality of sequence sessions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiator is un-addressable and the initiator communicates with the accepter through SOAP over HTTP.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sent message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an acknowledgment request message, which is an infrastructure idempotent message defined by the RM-WS protocol, and wherein application messages to be sent to the acceptor are blocked, but the acknowledgment request message is sent anyway.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the algorithm for calculating the keep-alive expiration timeout is further based on some fraction of the inactivity timeout period.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sent message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an acknowledgment request message, which is an infrastructure idempotent message defined by the RM-WS protocol, and wherein the fraction of the inactivity timeout period used for calculating the keep-alive expiration timeout is one-half the inactivity timeout period, such that the acknowledgment request message is sent when the inactivity timer reaches one-half the inactivity timeout period.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising acts of:

identifying a maximum retry count, which is a maximum number of times that application and infrastructure messages will be sent; and

calculating a keep-alive interval based on the maximum retry count, the keep-alive interval representing a period of time for sending messages; and

sending one or more messages that include the unique sequence identifier based on the calculated keep-alive interval, wherein the one or more messages sent include at least one of an application-level message or an acknowledgment request message.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the inactivity timeout period is tunable to allow for latency imposed by the communication medium.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the RM-WS protocol is WSReliableMessaging.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the sent message is an application-level message.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein an acknowledgment request message is sent with the application-level message, the acknowledgement request message being an infrastructure idempotent message defined by the RM-WS protocol and used to expedite an acknowledgment response from the acceptor.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein no application or infrastructure messages are received after the expiration of the inactivity timeout period and the sequence session is abandoned.

17. At a computer system in a Web Services (WS) environment, a method of verifying connection liveliness for a sequence session between endpoint applications by utilizing Reliable Messaging protocol for WS (RM-WS protocol), the method comprising acts of:

establishing a sequence session, identified by a unique sequence identifier, at an application layer between two endpoint applications in accordance with a RM-WS protocol;

identifying an inactivity timeout period, the inactivity timeout period representing an upper limit to the time that may pass without exchanging a message between the two endpoints for the sequence session;

before the inactivity timeout period expires, receiving a message for verifying the connection liveliness, the message including a unique sequence identifier corresponding to the sequence session; and

based on the received message, resetting an inactivity timer for the inactivity timeout period such that the sequence session is kept alive.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the received message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an application message.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the application message includes acknowledgment responses for one or more sequence sessions including the sequence session corresponding to the unique sequence identifier.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the received message is received by an initiator of the sequence session, and wherein the received message is an infrastructure acknowledgment message in response to an acknowledgement request message previously sent by the initiator.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the infrastructure acknowledgment message includes acknowledgments for a plurality sequence sessions between the initiator and the acceptor.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the initiator is un-addressable and the initiator communicates with the accepter through SOAP over HTTP.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the received message is received by an acceptor of the sequence session, and wherein the received message is a sequence acknowledgment request.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the inactivity timeout period is tunable to allow for latency imposed by the communication medium.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein after resetting the inactivity timer, no application or infrastructure messages are received after the expiration of the inactivity timeout period and the sequence session is abandoned.

26. At an initiator computer system in a Web Services (WS) environment, a computer program product for implementing a method of maintaining connection liveliness for a sequence session between endpoints by utilizing Reliable Messaging protocol for WS (RM-WS protocol), the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, can cause the messaging system to perform the following:

establish a sequence session, identified by a unique sequence identifier, at an application layer between two endpoint applications in accordance with a RM-WS protocol;

identify an inactivity timeout period for the sequence session, the inactivity timeout period representing an upper limit to the time that may pass without receiving a message for the sequence session;

calculate a keep-alive expiration timeout in accordance with an algorithm that is based on the inactivity timeout period;

based on the calculated keep-alive expiration timeout, send a message that includes the unique sequence identifier;

receive a message that includes the unique sequence identifier before the inactivity timeout period, which maintains the connection liveliness; and

based on the received message, reset an inactivity timer for the inactivity timeout period such that the sequence session is kept alive.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the received message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an application-level message.

28. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the send message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an acknowledgment request message, which is an infrastructure idempotent message defined by the RM-WS protocol, and wherein the received message is an infrastructure acknowledgment message in response to the acknowledgement request message.

29. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the acknowledgment request message corresponds to one or more messages that have already been acknowledged as received from the acceptor.

30. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the initiator is un-addressable and the initiator communicates with the accepter through SOAP over HTTP.

31. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the sent message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an acknowledgment request message, which is an infrastructure idempotent message defined by the RM-WS protocol, and wherein application messages to be sent to the acceptor are blocked, but the acknowledgment request message is sent anyway.

32. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the algorithm for calculating the keep-alive expiration timeout is further based on some fraction of the inactivity timeout period.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the sent message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an acknowledgment request message, which is an infrastructure idempotent message defined by the RM-WS protocol, and wherein the fraction of the inactivity timeout period used for calculating the keep-alive expiration timeout is one-half the inactivity timeout period, such that the acknowledgment request message is sent when the inactivity timer reaches one-half the inactivity timeout period.

34. The computer program product of claim 32, further comprising computer executable instructions that can cause the messaging system to perform the following:

identify a maximum retry count, which is a maximum number of times that application and infrastructure messages will be sent; and

calculate a keep-alive interval based on the maximum retry count, the keep-alive interval representing a period of time for sending messages; and

send one or more messages that include the unique sequence identifier based on the calculated keep-alive interval, wherein the one or more messages sent include at least one of an application-level message or an acknowledgment request message.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the inactivity timeout period is tunable to allow for latency imposed by the communication medium.

36. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the RM-WS protocol is WSReliableMessaging.

37. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein no application or infrastructure messages are received after the expiration of the inactivity timeout period and the sequence session is abandoned.

38. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the sent message is an application-level message.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein an acknowledgment request message is sent with the application-level message, the acknowledgement request message being an infrastructure idempotent message defined by the RM-WS protocol and used to expedite an acknowledgment response from the acceptor.

40. At a computer system in a Web Services (WS) environment, a computer program product for implementing a method of verifying connection liveliness for a sequence session between endpoint applications by utilizing Reliable Messaging protocol for WS (RM-WS protocol), the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, can cause the messaging system to perform the following:

establish a sequence session, identified by a unique sequence identifier, at an application layer between two endpoint applications in accordance with a RM-WS protocol;

identify an inactivity timeout period, the inactivity timeout period representing an upper limit to the time that may pass without exchanging a message between the two endpoints for the sequence session;

before the inactivity timeout period expires, receive a message for verifying the connection liveliness, the message including a unique sequence identifier corresponding to the sequence session; and

based on the received message, reset an inactivity timer for the inactivity timeout period such that the sequence session is kept alive.

41. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the received message that includes the unique sequence identifier is an application message.

42. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the received message is received by an initiator of the sequence session, and wherein the received message is an infrastructure acknowledgment message in response to an acknowledgement request message previously sent by the initiator.

43. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the initiator is un-addressable and the initiator communicates with the accepter through SOAP over HTTP.

44. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the received message is received by an acceptor of the sequence session, and wherein the received message is a sequence acknowledgment request.

45. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the inactivity timeout period is tunable to allow for latency imposed by the communication medium k.

46. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein after resetting the inactivity timer, no application or infrastructure messages are received after the expiration of the inactivity timeout period and the sequence session is abandoned.