On-demand global server load balancing system and method of use

• US 20060224725A1
• Filed: 04/05/2005
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Greenlee, Gordan G., Weingarten, Richard E., Bali, Bahri B.
• Granted Patent: US 9,160,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• 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: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer

Abstract

A method and system for measuring performance and balancing workload of sites, virtual clusters and servers within the virtual clusters is provided. A monitor measures and computes performance metrics at each level. Servers e.g., LDAP servers, are individually measured for performance, e.g., response time, and based on average response time of servers that are members of a virtual cluster, a virtual cluster performance metric may also be computed. Further, the performance of a site may be profiled based on the virtual cluster metrics and/or server performance metrics. Based at least in part on these performance metrics, a domain oriented request may be resolved and routed based in part on the performance metrics at each level, i.e., site, virtual cluster and server. In this manner, a request may be directed to a destination server to achieve higher performance and efficiencies for the requesting client while at the same time balancing workload among possible servers available to service the request.

Claims

1. A method of processing queries in a network, comprising the steps of:

measuring performance of one or more servers;

computing a performance metric for each of the one or more servers; and

routing a request to one of the one or more servers based on the computed performance metric to balance a workload among the one or more servers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the performance metric on the one or more servers.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of computing a virtual cluster performance metric for one or more virtual clusters based on the computed performance metric for each of the one or more servers belonging to the one or more virtual clusters.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the virtual cluster performance metric includes an average of response times from member servers over a predetermined period of time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance metric is a response time metric and stored on the one or more servers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing a request step comprises basing the routing on a distance factor.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

routing the request to a site selector for selecting a site from a plurality of sites;

selecting the site for processing the request based on site performance metrics; and

routing the request to an address associated with the site for processing.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the address is an address of a network dispatcher.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing step comprises:

selecting one virtual cluster from one or more virtual clusters based on a virtual cluster performance metric; and

routing the request to the one of the one or more servers that is a member of the selected one virtual cluster.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the virtual cluster performance metric is an indication of performance of the one virtual cluster based on an average of response times of member servers of the one virtual cluster.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring one or more sites for performance;

computing site performance metrics for the one or more sites; and

storing the site performance metrics on at least one site selector for basing the routing.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the measuring performance step comprises sending a random request to each of the one or more servers and measuring the amount of time to reply.

13. A method of routing requests in a network, comprising:

computing a performance metric for at least any one of a site, a virtual cluster, and a server of a plurality of servers; and

routing a request to at least any one of the site, the virtual cluster and the server based on the performance metric for balancing workload among the plurality of servers,

wherein the performance metric includes a response time metric associated with the at least any one of a site, a virtual cluster, and a server of a plurality of servers.

14. A system for routing requests in a network, comprising at least one component to:

measure performance of one or more servers in one or more virtual clusters;

generate a performance metric for each of the one or more servers; and

route a request to one of the one or more servers based on the computed performance metric to balance a workload among the one or more servers.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising at least one component to store the performance metric on the one or more servers.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising at least one component to compute a virtual cluster performance metric for the one or more virtual clusters based on the computed performance metric for each of the one or more servers belonging to the one or more virtual clusters.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the virtual cluster performance metric includes an average of response times from member servers over a predetermined period of time.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the performance metric is at least any one of a response time metric, a processing metric, a memory metric, a connection count metric, which is stored on the one or more servers.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one component to route routes based on a distance factor.

20. The system of claim 14, further comprising at least one component to:

route the request to a site selector for selecting a site from a plurality of sites;

select the site for processing the request based on site performance metrics; and

route the request to an address associated with the site for processing.

21. A system for balancing workload, comprising:

means for collecting performance measurements for at least any one of a server, a virtual cluster and a site;

means for generating at least any one of a server performance metric, a virtual cluster metric and a site performance statistic based on the performance measurements; and

means for routing a request to the server based on at least any one of the server performance metric, the virtual cluster metric, the site performance statistic and any combination thereof.

22. A method to provide a service for establishing a computing infrastructure, comprising the steps of:

combining computer readable code with a computing platform;

computing a performance metric for at least any one of a site, a virtual cluster, and a server of a plurality of servers of the combined computing platform; and

routing a request to at least any one of the site, the virtual cluster and the server based on the performance metric for balancing workload among the plurality of servers,

wherein the performance metric includes a response time metric associated with the at least any one of a site, a virtual cluster and a server of the plurality of servers.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component to:

compute a performance metric for at least any one of a site, a virtual cluster, and a server of a plurality of servers; and

route a request to at least any one of the site, the virtual cluster and the server based on the performance metric for balancing workload among the plurality of servers,

wherein the performance metric includes a response time metric associated with the at least any one of a site, a virtual cluster, and a server of a plurality of servers.