SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AN IMPROVED HIGH AVAILABILITY COMPONENT IMPLEMENTATION

• US 20090138615A1
• Filed: 11/24/2008
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Moreels, Johan Marie Camiel, Janssens, Nico, Cristallo, Geoffrey
• Granted Patent: US 10,148,742 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2025 using centralised failover control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/548 Object oriented; Remote method invocation [RMI] non-remote method invocation G06F9/449
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1006 with static server selection, e.g. the same server being selected for a specific client
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1017 based on a round robin mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1019 Random or heuristic server selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• 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

The invention relates to a computer system and method for high availability processing through a session on a transport connection, for use in a cluster with at least two nodes. The system comprises a protocol component; a cluster with at least two nodes, said cluster being arranged for running the protocol component; and a server arranged for maintaining a protocol session on a transport connection with a node of the cluster. The cluster is arranged for maintaining on each of said at least two nodes one instance of the protocol component, so that at least two instances are active; the server is arranged for simultaneously maintaining a protocol session with each instance.

Claims

1. Computer system for high availability processing comprising:

a protocol component;

a cluster with at least two nodes, said cluster being arranged for running the protocol component; and

a server arranged for maintaining a protocol session on a transport connection with a node of the cluster, characterized in that

the cluster is arranged for maintaining on each of said at least two nodes one instance of the protocol component, so that at least two instances are active; and

that the server is arranged for simultaneously maintaining a protocol session with each instance.

2. Computer system according to claim 1, characterized in that the system is further arranged for re-assigning traffic sent on a protocol session with a failing instance of the at least two instances to a different protocol session maintained with another instance of the at least two instances.

3. Computer system according to claim 1, characterized in that the protocol sessions on the transport connection use one of the following protocols:

XMPP, DIAMETER, or any other signalling protocol suitable for use on a transport connection.

4. Computer system according to claim 1, characterized in that the server is provided with a module for assigning protocol packets alternatively to each of the plurality of instance according to a predetermined algorithm.

5. Computer system according to claim 4, characterized in that the module has access to a list of the active protocol sessions with the protocol component, and that the server is arranged for delivering protocol packets to the module.

6. Method for high availability processing through a session on a transport connection, for use in a cluster with at least two nodes, said cluster being arranged for running a protocol component;

characterized in that

a protocol component is distributed over at least two of the at least two nodes, one instance of the protocol component running on each node, and that

a server opens at least two protocol sessions on one or more transport connections to this protocol component.

7. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that protocol packets are assigned to the at least two protocol sessions based on a determined algorithm.

8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that the algorithm is one of the following algorithms:

a round-robin method, a hash method, a at random method, a fixed assignment method, a method based on the session identifier, or a combination of one or more of said methods.

9. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that the server measures the processing load on each instance of the protocol component, and that the assignment of the protocol packets is based in the processing load measurements.

10. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that protocol packets sent on a protocol session of the at least two protocol sessions to a failing instance of the at least two instances are re-assigned to a different protocol session of the at least two protocol sessions.