Apparatus, method and system for improving application performance across a communications network

• US 20060265490A1
• Filed: 07/31/2006
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cimpress Schweiz GmbH (Cimpress Plc)
• Original Assignee: Freewebs Incorporated (Cimpress Plc)
• Inventors: Pishevar, Shervin, Bloch, Lewis, Morris, Drew, Savarese, Daniel F., Walsh, Kevin Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 7,711,845 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• 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 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

An apparatus, method and system to enable dynamic replication of Web servers across a wide area in response to access patterns by Web clients as well as in response to customer requests. The method for dynamically replicating one or more parent nodes on a network in response to a user request by a policy manager. The policy manager transmits the user request to an event module. The event module transmits the user request to a data consistency module, wherein the data consistency module maintains integrity of the data on the parent node. The event system communicates with a resource management module to ensure proper utilization of network resources, and transmits the routing request to a request routing module for appropriately balancing the network load. The request routing module is capable of providing optimal routing based on the network resources.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically replicating one or more parent nodes on a network in response to a user request, comprising:

receiving a user request by a policy manager, said user request for replicating the parent node;

transmitting the user request to an event module by the policy manager for replicating the parent node;

transmitting the user request to a data consistency module, wherein the data consistency module maintains integrity of the data on the parent node;

initiating replication of software on the parent node to a new child node;

communicating with a resource management module to ensure proper utilization of network resources; and

transmitting a routing request to a request routing module for appropriately balancing network load, wherein the request routing module provides optimal routing based on the network resources.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said request routing module communicates with a network monitoring module to initiate monitoring of the child node.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said network monitoring module communicates network changes to the policy manager, such that in response the policy manager adjusts future replication requests in accordance with availability of the network resources.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the resource management module communicates with a billing module, said billing module utilizing information communicated by said resource management module to bill customers for usage of the network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the policy manager is coupled to a customer configuration module, said customer configuration module enabling the customers to configure their usage criteria.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said application replication module is coupled to the configuration management module, the configuration management module providing appropriate values to the configuration files of the software being replicated.

7. A method of initiating a replication event on a computer network, comprising:

obtaining a user request message;

determining the fixed resource requirements for all existing applications on the network;

parsing the user request message;

comparing the user request to current setting for the user;

determining appropriate action in response to the user request; and

acting upon user request message.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the user request if for creation of a new application node.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

comparing the parsed user request to a resource usage list for determining availability of adequate resources;

determining the fixed resource requirement;

creating an installation bill of materials for the application node being added;

generating a user account;

copying files for the application in the installation bill of materials;

obtaining local replacement for tokens used in the bill of materials; and

reconfiguring files for local node.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein creating an installation bill of materials comprises:

determining the appropriate directory for installation;

obtaining the machine specifics;

parsing the file type;

noting and replacing machine specific entries with tokens; and

appending custom entries to the existing bill of materials.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the user request if for deletion of an existing application node.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining whether a process is running on the existing application node;

forcing an update in the data consistency module of the data to be deleted from the existing application node;

reporting unavailability of the existing application node being deleted;

deleting application files from the application node; and

reporting unavailability of data from the application node being deleted to all modules in the network.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the user request if for turning on of an existing application node that is off.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the user request if for turning off of an existing application node that is on.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the user request if for changing the priority levels of an existing application.