METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING LOAD BALANCING FOR VIRTUALIZED APPLICATION WORKSPACES

• US 20080147787A1
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Propero Ltd. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hayward, Patrick W., Wilkinson, Anthony J., Benson, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,317,333 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/282 Hierarchical databases, e.g. IMS, LDAP data stores or Lotus Notes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• 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 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing load balancing are provided. Example embodiments provide a Application Workspace System “AWS” which enables users to access remote server-based applications using the same interface that they use to access local applications, without needing to know where the application is being accessed. In one embodiment, a load balancing message bus is provided that performs load balancing and resource discovery within the AWS. For example, the AWS may use a broadcast message-bus based load balancing to determine which servers to use to launch remote application access requests or to perform session management. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for providing load balancing for remote application sessions to be executed on one or more of a plurality of servers, comprising:

providing a message bus mechanism configured such that code on the one or more servers can subscribe to an event that corresponds to a session related request;

broadcasting a message to the message bus to request an available session for executing the remote application;

receiving a response from one or more of the plurality of servers that indicate that the corresponding servers are presently available to execute the remote application; and

determining from the one or more responses at least one status value for performing a load balancing algorithm to choose one of the responding one or more servers to service the request.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the message bus is a JMS compliant message bus.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the session related request is for a connection.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the load balancing algorithm is based upon an amount of sessions currently being processed by each of the responding one or more servers.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the load balancing algorithm is based upon a percentage of memory utilization by each of the responding one or more servers.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the load balancing algorithm is based upon a percentage of processor time utilization by each of the responding one or more servers.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one status value further comprises at least one of a number of sessions being processed, a percentage of memory utilization, or a percentage or processor utilization time.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of servers comprise Terminal Servers.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of servers comprise at least one of a streaming data service, a hosted virtual operating environment, or a terminal service.

10. A computer-readable medium containing content that, when executed, controls a computing system to perform a method comprising:

broadcasting a message to a message bus mechanism to request an available session for executing a remote application, the message bus mechanism configured such that code on one or more server computing systems can subscribe to an event that corresponds to a session related request;

receiving a response from one or more of the server computing systems that indicate that the corresponding server computing systems are presently available to execute the remote application; and

determining from the one or more responses at least one status value for performing a load balancing algorithm to choose one of the responding one or more server computing systems to service the request.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the computer-readable medium is at least one of a memory in a computing device or a data transmission medium transmitting a generated signal containing the contents.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the content is instructions that, when executed, cause the computing system to perform the method.

13. A computing network environment comprising:

a plurality of servers each configured to be able to execute an application on behalf of a remote process;

a message bus and associated protocol configured to receive one or more messages to be distributed to the plurality of servers registered to receive the message; and

a requesting process configured to, when executed, send a session related message to the message bus, receive one or more responses from one or more of the plurality of servers, the responses including status data, and select a server to process the session by applying load balancing techniques to the received status data.

14. The network environment of claim 13 wherein the message bus is a JMS compliant message bus.

15. The network environment of claim 13 wherein the session related message is a request for a connection to a session.

16. The network environment of claim 13 wherein the received status data comprises at least one of an amount of current sessions, an indicator of memory utilization, or an indicator of processor time utilization.

17. The network environment of claim 13 wherein at least one of the servers is provides terminal services.

18. The network environment of claim 13 wherein at least one of the servers is provides Citrix services.

19. The network environment of claim 13 wherein at least one of the servers is provides a hosted virtual operating environment.