Method and System for Preventing Service Disruption of Internet Protocol (IP) Based Services Due To Domain Name Resolution Failures

• US 20090019181A1
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Nguyen, Nhut, Fang, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 7,979,734 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/58 Caching of addresses or names
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A method for preventing service disruption for a device in a network is provided. The method includes populating a filter list with an IP address declared to be valid for a server in the network and populating a rainy day list with an IP address discovered to be valid for the server. The method also includes requesting a DNS server to resolve a server domain name to a server IP address. When no response to the request is received, an IP address on the rainy day list is used to attempt to contact the server. When a response is received, the received IP address is compared to an IP address on the filter list or the rainy day list. When the received IP address matches an IP addresses on the filter list or the rainy day list, the received IP address is used to contact the server.

Claims

1. A method for preventing disruption of a service for a device in a network due to a domain name resolution failure, comprising:

populating a filter list with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) address declared to be valid for a server in the network;

populating a rainy day list with at least one IP address discovered to be valid for the server;

requesting a Domain Name System (DNS) server to resolve a domain name associated with the server to a server IP address;

upon not receiving a response to the request from the DNS server, using at least one of the IP addresses on the rainy day list to attempt to contact the server; and

upon receiving a response to the request from the DNS server, comparing a received IP address to at least one of the IP addresses on at least one of the filter list and the rainy day list, and when the received IP address matches at least one of the IP addresses on at least one of the filter list and the rainy day list, using the received IP address to contact the server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein populating the filter list comprises:

upon initialization of the device, requesting the DNS server to resolve the domain name;

the device using the received IP address to contact the server;

the server sending the device the at least one IP address declared to be valid; and

the device populating the filter list with the at least one IP address declared to be valid.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one IP address declared to be valid comprises at least one IP address specified by an entity that manages the network to be a legitimate IP address for the server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein populating the rainy day list comprises:

upon successfully receiving the service, placing the IP address used to contact the server in a first position in the rainy day list when the IP address used to contact the server is not already present in the rainy day list; and

when a different IP address for the server is already present in the rainy day list, moving the different IP address already present in the rainy day list to a next lower position in the rainy day list.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein using at least one of the IP addresses on the rainy day list to attempt to contact the server comprises:

using a first IP address on the rainy day list to attempt to contact the server;

when an attempt to use the first IP address on the rainy day list is unsuccessful, continuing to attempt to contact the server using subsequent IP addresses for the server on the rainy day list; and

when none of the continued attempts using subsequent IP addresses on the rainy day list is successful, generating an indication of an error.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein comparing the received IP address to at least one of the IP addresses on at least one of the filter list and the rainy day list comprises:

determining whether the received IP address is present on the filter list;

when the received IP address is present on the filter list, using the received IP address to contact the server and adding the received IP address to the rainy day list;

when the received IP address is not present on the filter list, comparing the received IP address to a first IP address on the rainy day list;

when the received IP address and the first IP address on the rainy day list match, using the received IP address to contact the server;

when the received IP address and the first IP address on the rainy day list do not match, comparing the received IP address to subsequent IP addresses on the rainy day list;

when one of the subsequent IP addresses matches the received IP address, using the received IP address to contact the server; and

when none of the subsequent IP addresses matches the received IP address, generating an indication of an error.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein determining whether the received IP address is present on the filter list comprises at least one of:

comparing the received IP address to a single IP address on the filter list;

comparing the received IP address to a single subnet address on the filter list;

determining whether the received IP address lies within a range of IP addresses on the filter list; and

determining whether the received IP address lies within a range of subnet addresses on the filter list.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the domain name is preprogrammed into the device.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the server sending the device an IP address of at least one additional server and the device using the IP address of the at least one additional server to contact the at least one additional server and request the service.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the device is at least one of:

a device that facilitates an Internet connection; and

a device that facilitates a connection with a telecommunications network.

11. A system for preventing disruption of a service for a device in a network due to a domain name resolution failure comprising:

a filter list in the device populated with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) address declared to be valid for a server in the network;

a rainy day list in the device populated with at least one IP address discovered to be valid for the server, wherein, when the device requests a Domain Name System (DNS) server to resolve a domain name associated with the server to a server IP address and when the device does not receive a response from the DNS server, the device uses at least one of the IP addresses on the rainy day list to attempt to contact the server, and wherein, when the device requests the DNS server to resolve the domain name to the server IP address and when the device receives a response IP address from the DNS server, the device compares the response IP address to at least one of the IP addresses on at least one of the filter list and the rainy day list, and when the response IP address matches at least one of the IP addresses on at least one of the filter list and the rainy day list, the device uses the response IP address to contact the server.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the filter list is populated by the device requesting the DNS server to resolve the domain name when the device is initially started, and the device using the response IP address to contact the server, and the server sending the device the at least one IP address declared to be valid, and the device populating the filter list with the at least one IP address declared to be valid.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one IP address declared to be valid comprises at least one IP address specified by an entity that manages the network to be a legitimate IP address for the server.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the rainy day list is populated by the device placing the IP address used to contact the server in a first position in the rainy day list when the device successfully receives the service and when the IP address used to contact the server is not already present in the rainy day list, and, when at least one IP address is already present in the rainy day list, the device moving the IP address already present in the rainy day list to a subordinate position in the rainy day list.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the server sends the device an IP address of at least one additional server and the device uses the IP address of the at least one additional server to contact the at least one additional server and request the service.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the device is at least one of:

a device that facilitates an Internet connection; and

a device that facilitates a connection with a telecommunications network.

17. A system for accessing a service accessible via a server in a network, comprising:

receiving a request for the service;

requesting a Domain Name System (DNS) server to resolve a domain name associated with the server to a server Internet Protocol (IP) address; and

using a first list and a second list including IP addresses to verify the authenticity of the server IP address.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the first list includes IP addresses provided by a network component, and wherein the second list includes IP addresses verified based on prior network connection.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein, when a response to the request is not received from the DNS server, at least one of the IP addresses on the second list is used to attempt to contact the server, and when a response to the request is received from the DNS server, a received IP address is compared to at least one of the IP addresses on at least one of the first list and the second list, and when the received IP address matches at least one of the IP addresses on at least one of the first list and the second list, the received IP address is used to contact the server.