Redirection techniques in a communication network

• US 20090019143A1
• Filed: 09/14/2007
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: UBS Business Solutions AG (UBS Ag)
• Original Assignee: UBS Ag
• Inventors: Frutiger, Stefan
• Granted Patent: US 8,127,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for redirecting a client device to a network service in a communication network is described. In one implementation, the communication network includes at least a first and a second service provisioning environment each capable of providing the network service. The service provisioning environments are addressable under a common first domain name that is resolvable into a dedicated first network address of each service provisioning environment. In accordance with an exemplary method, the following steps are carried out in the first service provisioning environment: receiving a first client request at a first network address of the first service provisioning environment, responding to the first client request with a redirection to a dedicated second domain name of the first service provisioning environment, the second domain name being resolvable into a second network address of the first service provisioning environment, receiving a second client request at the second network address, and initiating the establishment of a session with the requesting client device over the second network address to provide the network service.

Claims

1. A method of redirecting a client device to a network service in a communication network, wherein the communication network includes at least a first and a second service provisioning environment each capable of providing the network service, the first and second service provisioning environments being addressable under a common first domain name resolvable into a first network address of each service provisioning environment, the method comprising the following steps that are carried out in the first service provisioning environment:

receiving a first client request at the first network address of the first service provisioning environment;

responding to the first client request with a redirection to a dedicated second domain name of the first service provisioning environment, the second domain name being resolvable into a second network address of the first service provisioning environment;

receiving a second client request at the second network address of the first service provisioning environment; and

initiating the establishment of a session with the requesting client device to provide the network service.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining state information associating the requesting client device with the first service provisioning environment.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein,

maintaining the state information comprises setting a cookie at the requesting client device, the cookie referencing the first service provisioning environment.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein,

maintaining the state information comprises appending the state information to the dedicated second domain name of the first service provisioning environment transmitted to the client device.

5. The method of claims 3, further comprising:

receiving at least one of the cookie and the appended state information together with the second client request and, based thereon, determining if the client device provides cookie support.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising the following steps that are performed in the second service provisioning environment:

receiving an initial client request at a second network address of the second service provisioning environment, the second network address being resolvable from a dedicated second domain name of the second service provisioning environment;

evaluating, if available, the state information associating the requesting client device with one of the service provisioning environments; and

handling the initial client request depending on the evaluation.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining, during the evaluating, that no state information is available, and redirecting the client device during the handling to the common first domain name of the first and second service provisioning environments.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining, during the evaluating, that the client device is associated with the first service provisioning environment, and redirecting the client device during the handling to the dedicated second domain name of the first service provisioning environment.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising the following steps that are performed in the second service provisioning environment:

receiving an initial client request at the first network address of the second service provisioning environment;

determining from the state information that the requesting client device is associated with the first service provisioning environment; and

responding to the initial client request with a redirection to the dedicated second domain name of the first service provisioning environment.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a domain name resolution mechanism associating the domain names and the network addresses of the first and second service provisioning environments.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

blocking a redirection to the first or the second service provisioning environment by excluding the first network address of the corresponding service provisioning environment from domain name resolution.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

blocking a redirection to the first or the second service provisioning environment by replacing the second network address of the corresponding service provisioning environment with a third network address of a service provisioning environment not blocked from redirection.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein,

the third network address belongs to a mechanism that deletes, in response to a client request of a client device having or requesting a session in the service provisioning environment blocked from redirection, state information associating the requesting client device with this service provisioning environment.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein,

the third network address belongs to a mechanism that redirects, in response to a client request of a client device having or requesting a session in the service provisioning environment blocked from redirection, the requesting client device to the common first domain name of the service provisioning environments.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein,

the first client request is received in response to the redirection to the common first domain name.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein,

each service provisioning environment includes a service provisioning cluster of two or more servers each capable of providing the requested service.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein,

each service provisioning environment includes a local load balancing mechanism for performing load balancing among two or more servers of a service provisioning cluster.

18. A method of redirecting a client device to a network service in a communication network, wherein the communication network includes at least a first and a second service provisioning environment each capable of providing the network service, the first and second service provisioning environments being addressable under a common first domain name resolvable into a first network address of each service provisioning environment, the method comprising the following steps that are carried out by the client device:

transmitting a first client request to the first network address of the first service provisioning environment;

receiving a redirection to a dedicated second domain name of the first service provisioning environment, the second domain name being resolvable into a second network address of the first service provisioning environment;

obtaining the second network address of the first service provisioning environment; and

transmitting a second client request to the second network address to establish a session within the first service provisioning environment for obtaining the network service.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein,

the first network address of the first service provisioning environment is selected in accordance with a global load balancing strategy distributing workload among the service provisioning environments.

20. A method of directing a client device to a network service in a communication network, wherein the communication network includes at least a first and a second service provisioning environment each capable of providing the network service, the first and second service provisioning environments being addressable under a common first domain name resolvable into a first network address of each service provisioning environment and each service provisioning environment being directly addressable under a dedicated second domain name resolvable into a second network address of the respective service provisioning environment, the method comprising the steps of:

maintaining a domain name resolution mechanism associating the domain names and network addresses of the first and second service pro-visioning environments; and

disabling a direction to the first or the second service provisioning environment by excluding the first network address of the corresponding service provisioning environment from domain name resolution.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein,

the domain name resolution mechanism directs each incoming resolution request for the common first domain name to the first network address of a single service provisioning environment that has been selected according to a global load balancing strategy.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein,

the domain name resolution mechanism responds to each incoming resolution re-quest for the common first domain name with a list of the first network addresses for enabling a selection of the first network address of a single service provisioning environment by a global load balancing strategy on a client side.

23. A network device for redirecting a client device to a network service in a communication network, wherein the communication network includes at least a first and a second service provisioning environment each capable of providing the network service, the first and second service provisioning environments being addressable under a common first domain name resolvable into a first network address of each service provisioning environment, the network device operating on behalf of the first service provisioning environment and comprising:

a first interface adapted to receive a first client request at the first network address of the first service provisioning environment;

a responder adapted to respond to the first client request with a redirection to a dedicated second domain name of the first service provisioning environment, the second domain name being resolvable into a second network address of the first service provisioning environment;

a second interface adapted to receive a second client request at the second network address of the first service provisioning environment; and

a session initiator adapted to initiate the establishment of a session with the requesting client device to provide the network service.

24. A system including a client device capable of being redirected to a network service in a communication network, wherein the communication network includes at least a first and a second service provisioning environment each capable of providing the network service, the first and second service provisioning environments being addressable under a common first domain name resolvable into a first network address of each service provisioning environment, the client device comprising:

a transmitter adapted to transmit a first client request to the first network address of the first service provisioning environment;

an interface adapted to receive a redirection to a dedicated second domain name of the first service provisioning environment, the second domain name being resolvable into a second network address of the first service provisioning environment; and

an address fetcher adapted to obtain the second network address of the first service provisioning environment and to initiate transmission of a second client request to the second network address to establish a session within the first service provisioning environment for obtaining the network service.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising:

a domain name resolution device,

wherein the domain name resolution device comprises,

a domain name resolution mechanism associating the domain names and network addresses of the first and second service provisioning environments; and

a disabler adapted to disable a direction to the first or the second service provisioning environment by excluding the first network address of the corresponding service provisioning environment from domain name resolution.