System and Method for Creating Global Sessions Across Converged Protocol Applications

• US 20080288644A1
• Filed: 05/16/2007
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gilfix, Michael A., Moore, Victor S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,870,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

A system and method for creating global sessions across different protocols and multiple converged protocol applications are provided. By creating a global session, state information for each of the individual protocol sessions may be communicated across protocols and utilized in performing operations across converged protocol applications. An edge server is used at the edge of a data network to correlate client interactions over different protocols and to associate them with a global session. The edge server acts as a session reference counter for individual client sessions that are part of a larger global session. The global session is created after the creation of the first protocol session and exists across the creation of future sessions on other protocols and other converged applications. Logical names and global session tokens are utilized to manage the various global sessions handled by the edge server.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, for correlating communications of multiple protocol sessions into a single global session, comprising:

receiving, from an external device of an external data network, a session request message using a first communication protocol;

generating a global session in response to receiving the session request message, the global session having a unique logical name and a unique global token associated with the global session;

correlating communications with the external device as part of the global session based on the unique logical name of the global session; and

correlating communications with internal devices of an internal data network of the data processing system as part of the global session based on the unique global token of the global session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the communications with the external device or the communications with the internal devices are communications using different communication protocols.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sharing state information between a first application running on the external device and at least one second application running on at least one internal device using the unique logical name and the unique global token of the global session, wherein the unique global token is associated with the unique logical name such that state information of the at least one second application is accessible by the first application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sharing state information between applications running on internal devices of the internal data network using the global session token.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein correlating communications with internal devices as part of the global session based on the unique global token of the global session comprises correlating communications of multiple converged protocol applications running on the internal devices by exchanging the global token of the global session as part of the communications.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the session request message is an initial session request message; and

generating a local session in response to determining that the session request message is an initial session request message.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether a global session exists for the session request message, wherein generating the global session is performed only if a global session does not already exist for the session request message.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

incrementing a global session count associated with the global session in response to determining that the global session exists for the session request message and the session request message is an initial session request message;

inserting the global token associated with the global session into the session request message; and

forwarding the session request message to at least one internal device of the internal data network.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

decrementing the global session count associated with the global session in response to tearing down of a local session associated with the global session; and

reclaiming resources of the global session in response to the global session count becoming zero by way of the decrementing.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a message from the external device, wherein the message is communicated to the data processing system using a logical name of a global session;

identifying the global session associated with the message based on the logical name;

identifying a global session global token associated with the identified global session;

inserting the global session global token into the received message to generate a modified message; and

sending the modified message to at least one internal device of the internal data network.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a message from an internal device, wherein the message includes the global token of the global session;

removing the global token from the received message to generate a modified message; and

sending the modified message to the external device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique logical name is one of a Directory Name Service (DNS) hostname, a virtual host name, an address, or a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the global session is one of a plurality of global sessions in the data processing system, and wherein each global session in the plurality of global sessions has a different unique logical name and a different unique global token.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

receive, from an external device of an external data network, a session request message using a first communication protocol;

generate a global session in response to receiving the session request message, the global session having a unique logical name and a unique global token associated with the global session;

correlate communications with the external device as part of the global session based on the unique logical name of the global session; and

correlate communications with internal devices of an internal data network of the data processing system as part of the global session based on the unique global token of the global session.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein at least one of the communications with the external device or the communications with the internal devices are communications using different communication protocols.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

share state information between a first application running on the external device and at least one second application running on at least one internal device using the unique logical name and the unique global token of the global session, wherein the unique global token is associated with the unique logical name such that state information of the at least one second application is accessible by the first application.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

share state information between applications running on internal devices of the internal data network using the global session token.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program causes the computing device to correlate communications with internal devices as part of the global session based on the unique global token of the global session by correlating communications of multiple converged protocol applications running on the internal devices by exchanging the global token of the global session as part of the communications.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

determine whether the session request message is an initial session request message; and

generate a local session in response to determining that the session request message is an initial session request message.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

determine whether a global session exists for the session request message, wherein the global session is generated only if a global session does not already exist for the session request message.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

increment a global session count associated with the global session in response to determining that the global session exists for the session request message and the session request message is an initial session request message;

insert the global token associated with the global session into the session request message; and

forward the session request message to at least one internal device of the internal data network.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

decrement the global session count associated with the global session in response to tearing down of a local session associated with the global session; and

reclaim resources of the global session in response to the global session count becoming zero by way of the decrementing.

23. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

receive a message from the external device, wherein the message is communicated to the data processing system using a logical name of a global session;

identify the global session associated with the message based on the logical name;

identify a global session global token associated with the identified global session;

insert the global session global token into the received message to generate a modified message; and

send the modified message to at least one internal device of the internal data network.

24. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

receive a message from an internal device, wherein the message includes the global token of the global session;

remove the global token from the received message to thereby generate a modified message; and

send the modified message to the external device.

25. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the unique logical name is one of a Directory Name Service (DNS) hostname, a virtual host name, an address, or a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).

26. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the global session is one of a plurality of global sessions in the data processing system, and wherein each global session in the plurality of global sessions has a different unique logical name and a different unique global token.

27. A data processing system, comprising:

a proxy device; and

at least one internal data processing device coupled to the proxy device via an internal data network, wherein the proxy device;

receives, from an external device of an external data network, a session request message using a first communication protocol; and

generates a global session in response to receiving the session request message, the global session having a unique logical name and a unique global token associated with the global session, and wherein;

communications with the external device are correlated with the global session based on the unique logical name of the global session, and

communications with the at least one internal data processing device are correlated with the global session based on the unique global token of the global session.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein at least one of the communications with the external device or the communications with the at least one internal data processing device are communications using different communication protocols.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein state information is shared between a first application running on the external device and at least one second application running on the at least one internal data processing device using the unique logical name and the unique global token of the global session, wherein the unique global token is associated with the unique logical name such that state information of the at least one second application is accessible by the first application.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein state information is shared between applications running on the at least one internal data processing device using the global session token.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein communications with the at least one internal data processing device are correlated with the global session based on the unique global token of the global session by correlating communications of multiple converged protocol applications running on the at least one internal data processing device by exchanging the global token of the global session as part of the communications.

32. The system of claim 27, wherein the proxy device:

determines whether the session request message is an initial session request message;

generates a local session in response to determining that the session request message is an initial session request message; and

determines whether a global session exists for the session request message, wherein generating the global session is performed only if a global session does not already exist for the session request message.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the proxy device:

increments a global session count associated with the global session in response to determining that the global session exists for the session request message and the session request message is an initial session request message;

inserts the global token associated with the global session into the session request message;

forwards the session request message to at least one internal device of the internal data network;

decrements the global session count associated with the global session in response to tearing down of a local session associated with the global session; and

reclaims resources of the global session in response to the global session count becoming zero by way of the decrementing.

34. The system of claim 27, wherein the proxy device:

receives a message from the external device, wherein the message is communicated to the data processing system using a logical name of a global session;

identifies the global session associated with the message based on the logical name;

identifies a global session global token associated with the identified global session;

inserts the global session global token into the received message to generate a modified message; and

sends the modified message to at least one internal device of the internal data network.

35. The system of claim 27, wherein the proxy device:

receives a message from an internal device, wherein the message includes the global token of the global session;

removes the global token from the received message to generate a modified message; and

sends the modified message to the external device.