DETERMINING ON DEMAND RIGHT SIZE BUFFERING WITHIN A SOCKET SERVER IMPLEMENTATION

• US 20080177973A1
• Filed: 03/27/2008
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bob Richard Cernohous, Jay Robert Weeks, John Charles Kasperski, Kent L. Hofer, Mark Linus Bauman, Steven John Simonson
• Original Assignee: Bob Richard Cernohous, Jay Robert Weeks, John Charles Kasperski, Kent L. Hofer, Mark Linus Bauman, Steven John Simonson
• Inventors: Cernohous, Bob Richard, Simonson, Steven John, Bauman, Mark Linus, Hofer, Kent L., Kasperski, John Charles, Weeks, Jay Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,822,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/171
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/162 involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms secure socket layer H04L63/168

Abstract

Method, apparatus and article of manufacture for acquiring a buffer after data from a remote sender (e.g., client) has been received by a local machine (e.g., server). Because the client data has already been received when the buffer is acquired, the buffer may be sized exactly to the size of the client data. In general, the buffer may be caller supplied or system supplied.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed by a computer, performs operations for processing messages, the operations comprising:

processing an input operation issued from a sockets server application to a sockets layer of the computer, wherein the input operation is configured with a buffer mode parameter indicating to the sockets layer a buffer acquisition method for acquiring a buffer for containing data received from a remote source via a network connection;

receiving the data from the remote source via the network connection;

subsequently, obtaining the buffer according to the buffer acquisition method, wherein the obtained buffer is sized exactly to the size of the data received from the remote source; and

allocating the obtained buffer, wherein allocating the obtained buffer is dependent on a value of the buffer mode parameter and comprises one of;

allocating the buffer from an application-supplied storage owned by the sockets server application when the buffer mode parameter has a first value; and

allocating the buffer from a system-supplied storage not owned by the sockets server application when the buffer mode parameter has a second value.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the messages are client-server messages.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the data is received over a sockets streaming protocol.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the input operation is further configured with a record definition specifying to the sockets layer a format of the data.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the allocation is performed by one of the sockets server application and the sockets layer.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the buffer is allocated from one of:

storage owned by the sockets server application; and

system-supplied storage not owned by the sockets server application.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein allocating the buffer comprises executing a callback function provided by the sockets server application with an instruction to allocate the buffer.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the allocating is performed in response to a buffer request made by the sockets layer.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising:

if the buffer is large enough to contain the data, copying the data into a previously allocated buffer provided to the sockets layer with the input operation; and

if the previously allocated buffer is not large enough to contain the data, requesting a larger buffer sufficient to contain the data in accordance with the buffer acquisition method.

10. A system in a distributed environment, comprising:

a network interface configured to support a network connection with at least one other computer in the distributed environment;

a memory comprising a sockets server application, a socket in communication with the sockets server application and a protocol stack in communication with the socket, wherein the protocol stack is configured to transport messages between the network interface and the socket;

a processor configured to perform operations for processing messages, the operations comprising;

processing an input operation issued from the sockets server application to the socket, wherein the input operation is configured with a buffer mode parameter indicating to the socket a buffer acquisition method for acquiring a buffer for containing data received from the at least one other computer; and

receiving the data;

subsequently, obtaining the buffer according to the buffer acquisition method, wherein the obtained buffer is sized exactly to the size of the data received from the remote source; and

allocating the obtained buffer; and

an application-supplied storage owned by the sockets server application and a system-supplied storage not owned by the sockets server application, and wherein allocating the obtained buffer is dependent on a value of the buffer mode parameter and comprises one of;

allocating the buffer from the application-supplied storage when the buffer mode parameter has a first value; and

allocating the buffer from the system-supplied storage when the buffer mode parameter has a second value.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the messages are client-server messages.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the protocol stack is configured for a sockets streaming protocol.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the memory comprises record definition specifying to the socket a format of the data.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the allocation is performed by one of the sockets server application and the socket.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein allocating the buffer comprises executing a callback function provided by the sockets server application with an instruction to allocate the buffer.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the allocating is performed in response to a buffer request made by the socket.