System and method for optimizing sessions and network resources in a loadbalancing environment

• US 20060227705A1
• Filed: 04/08/2005
• Published: 10/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: O'Rourke, Chris, Chandwadkar, Ashish A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,340,744 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1027 Persistence of sessions during load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/143 Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/088 among core entities

Abstract

A method for loadbalancing in a network environment is provided that includes receiving a create request from an end user for a communications link provided by a network node and communicating a response to the end user in order to establish a communication session. The method further includes identifying a selected one of a plurality of network nodes to facilitate the communication session. The identification of the selected network node is achieved through binding of a session identifier associated with the end user to the selected network node.

Claims

1. An apparatus for loadbalancing in a network environment, comprising:

a loadbalancer operable to receive a create request from an end user for a communications link provided by a network node and to communicate a response to the end user in order to establish a communication session, the loadbalancer identifying a selected one of a plurality of network nodes to facilitate the communication session, wherein the identification of the selected network node is achieved through binding of a session identifier associated with the end user to the selected network node.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the loadbalancer is further operable to bind the session identifier associated with the end user to multiple flows associated with the end user.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the binding is executed based on information present in an access protocol being employed by the end user.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the binding is accomplished by parsing a GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP) control stream and building a persistent sticky object that can be accessed by the loadbalancer.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the loadbalancer includes a table operable to store the sticky object.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the session identifier comprises either an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) or a mobile subscriber ISDN number (MSISDN).

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network nodes comprise either gateway GPRS support nodes (GGSNs) or network access servers (NASs).

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the loadbalancer is further operable to receive a subsequent create request and to correlate it to the session identifier in order to forward the subsequent create request to the selected network node.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the loadbalancer is operable to receive feedback information from the selected network node that allows the loadbalancer to clean up resources associated with the end user.

10. A method for loadbalancing in a network environment, comprising:

receiving a create request from an end user for a communications link provided by a network node;

communicating a response to the end user in order to establish a communication session; and

identifying a selected one of a plurality of network nodes to facilitate the communication session, wherein the identification of the selected network node is achieved through binding of a session identifier associated with the end user to the selected network node.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

binding the session identifier associated with the end user to multiple flows associated with the end user.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the binding is executed based on information present in an access protocol being employed by the end user.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the binding is accomplished by parsing a GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP) control stream and building a persistent sticky object that can be accessed by the loadbalancer.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

accessing a table operable to store the sticky object.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a subsequent create request; and

correlating the subsequent create request to the session identifier in order to forward the subsequent create request to the selected network node.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving feedback information from the selected network node such that resources associated with the end user can be cleaned up.

17. A system for loadbalancing in a network environment, comprising:

means for receiving a create request from an end user for a communications link provided by a network node;

means for communicating a response to the end user in order to establish a communication session; and

means for identifying a selected one of a plurality of network nodes to facilitate the communication session, wherein the identification of the selected network node is achieved through binding of a session identifier associated with the end user to the selected network node.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

means for binding the session identifier associated with the end user to multiple flows associated with the end user.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the binding is executed based on information present in an access protocol being employed by the end user.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the binding is accomplished by parsing a GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP) control stream and building a persistent sticky object that can be accessed by the loadbalancer.

21. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

means for accessing a table operable to store the sticky object.

22. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

means for receiving a subsequent create request; and

means for correlating the subsequent create request to the session identifier in order to forward the subsequent create request to the selected network node.

23. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

means for receiving feedback information from the selected network node such that resources associated with the end user can be cleaned up.

24. Software for loadbalancing in a network environment, the software being embodied in a computer readable medium and including code operable to:

receive a create request from an end user for a communications link provided by a network node;

communicate a response to the end user in order to establish a communication session; and

identify a selected one of a plurality of network nodes to facilitate the communication session, wherein the identification of the selected network node is achieved through binding of a session identifier associated with the end user to the selected network node.

25. The medium of claim 24, wherein the code is further operable to:

bind the session identifier associated with the end user to multiple flows associated with the end user.

26. The medium of claim 24, wherein the binding is executed based on information present in an access protocol being employed by the end user.

27. The medium of claim 24, wherein the binding is accomplished by parsing a GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP) control stream and building a persistent sticky object that can be accessed by the loadbalancer.

28. The medium of claim 24, wherein the code is further operable to:

access a table operable to store the sticky object.

29. The medium of claim 24, wherein the code is further operable to:

receive a subsequent create request; and

correlate the subsequent create request to the session identifier in order to forward the subsequent create request to the selected network node.

30. The medium of claim 24, wherein the code is further operable to:

receive feedback information from the selected network node such that resources associated with the end user can be cleaned up.