SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING DATA IN HIGH LATENCY FIREWALLED NETWORKS

• US 20090182846A1
• Filed: 03/18/2009
• Published: 07/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signiant Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Signiant Incorporated
• Inventors: BOWLER, Ken
• Granted Patent: US 8,667,145 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols

Abstract

A system and method are provided for establishing multiple parallel connections between a client and a server on a single server port. Data may be transferred on the multiple parallel connections between the server and the client through an opening in a network firewall that corresponds to the single server port. A control process may accept N connection requests from a client then transfer each accepted connection to a relay process that manages that connection. Each relay process may relay data between the server and the client via the single server port. A single collective data transfer may be executed on the N parallel connections, thereby increasing throughput and data transfer rates. If the data transfer rate is primarily limited by network latency, using N parallel connections provides the advantage of increasing the data transfer rate by approximately a factor of N.

Claims

1. A networked server device that transfers data at increased data transfer rates, comprising:

a communication port; and

a control process component configured to;

listen for a plurality of connection requests at the communication port,

receive the plurality of connection requests at the communication port,

in response to the plurality of connection requests, establish a plurality of connections on the communication port to the networked server device, wherein each connection respectively corresponds to a connection request, and

cause data to be transferred using the plurality of connections on the communication port.

2. The networked server device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of connection requests are received by the control process component from at least two clients requesting the plurality of connections on the communication port.

3. The networked server device of claim 2, wherein the transferred data is transferred from the networked server device to the at least two clients.

4. The networked server device of claim 2, wherein the transferred data is transferred from the at least two clients to the networked server device.

5. The networked server device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of connection requests are received by the control process component from a first client requesting the plurality of connections on the communication port.

6. The networked server device of claim 5, wherein the transferred data is transferred from the networked server device to the first client.

7. The networked server device of claim 5, wherein the transferred data is transferred from the first client to the networked server device.

8. The networked server device of claim 5, wherein the control process component is further configured to receive a first request from the first client to establish at least one connection to at least one target.

9. The networked server device of claim 8, wherein the at least one target is a server.

10. The networked server device of claim 8, wherein the at least one target is at least one server process.

11. The networked server device of claim 10, wherein the at least one server process is an existing server process.

12. The networked server device of claim 10, wherein the at least one server process is created in response to the first request.

13. The networked server device of claim 8, wherein the first request is a request to establish a number of connections to the at least one target, and wherein the control process component is further configured to:

transmit the requested number of connections to the at least one target;

receive a target response from the at least one target regarding the requested number of connections; and

transmit the target response from the at least one target to the first client.

14. The networked server device of claim 13, wherein the target response comprises an indication of one or more ports available to establish connection with the at least one target.

15. The networked server device of claim 14, wherein at least one request among the plurality of connection requests from the first client is a request to establish a connection on the one or more ports that were indicated by the target response, and wherein at least one connection among the plurality of connections is established in response to the at least one request.

16. The networked server device of claim 8, further comprising:

a relay component configured to;

receive an active connection to the first client from the control process component on the communication port, wherein the active connection is established between the relay component and the first client on the communication port;

establish a local connection to the at least one target on one or more ports associated with the at least one target, wherein the local connection establishes a connection between the at least one target and the relay component on the one or more ports; and

cause data to be transferred between the at least one target and the first client using the local connection on the one or more ports and the active connection on the communication port.

17. The networked server device of claim 1, wherein the networked server device is protected by a firewall, and wherein the transferred data using the plurality of connections is transferred through an existing opening in the firewall for the communication port.

18. A control process device for increasing data transfer rates, comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

receive a plurality of connection requests at a communication port;

in response to the plurality of connection requests, establish a plurality of connections on the communication port to the networked server device, wherein each connection respectively corresponds to a connection request; and

cause data to be transferred using the plurality of connections on the communication port.

19. A system for increasing data transfer rates in a network comprising:

a networked server device protected by a firewall and having a plurality of communication ports, wherein the plurality of communication ports comprise a communication port that receives connection requests through an existing opening in the firewall, the networked server device comprising;

a control process component configured to;

(a) listen for the connection requests on the communication port,

(b) in response to a first connection request from a first client via the communication port, establish a first connection to the first client on the communication port,

(c) in response to a second connection request from the first client via the communication port, establish a second connection to the first client on the communication port, and

(d) cause data to be transmitted using the first connection on the communication port and the second connection on the communication port.

20. A computer-implemented method for transferring data at increased data transfer rates from a networked server device, comprising:

listening, by a control process component of the networked server device, for a plurality of connection requests at a communication port of the networked server device;

receiving, by the control process component, the plurality of connection requests at the communication port;

in response to the plurality of connection requests, establishing, by the control process component, a plurality of connections on the communication port to the networked server device, wherein each connection respectively corresponds to a connection request; and

causing, by the control process component, data to be transferred using the plurality of connections on the communication port.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the plurality of connection requests are received by the control process component from at least two clients requesting the plurality of connections on the communication port.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

causing the transferred data to be transferred from the networked server device to the at least two clients.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

causing the transferred data to be transferred from the at least two clients to the networked server device.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the plurality of connection requests are received by the control process component from a first client requesting the plurality of connections on the communication port.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, further comprising:

causing the transferred data to be transferred from the networked server device to the first client.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, further comprising:

causing the transferred data to be transferred from the first client to the networked server device.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, further comprising:

receiving, by the control process component, a first request from the first client to establish at least one connection to at least one target.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, wherein the at least one target is a server.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, wherein the at least one target is at least one server process.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the at least one server process is an existing server process.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the at least one server process is created in response to the first request.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving, by a relay component of the networked server device, an active connection to the first client from the control process component on the communication port, wherein the active connection is established between the relay component and the first client on the communication port;

establishing, by the relay component, a local connection to the at least one target on one or more ports associated with the at least one target, wherein the local connection establishes a connection between the at least one target and the relay component on the one or more ports; and

causing, by the relay component, data to be transferred between the at least one target and the first client using the local connection on the one or more ports and the active connection on the communication port.

32. The computer-implemented method of 27, wherein the first request is a request to establish a number of connections to the at least one target, the computer-implemented method further comprising:

transmitting the requested number of connections to the at least one target;

receiving a target response from the at least one target regarding the requested number of connections; and

transmitting the target response from the at least one target to the first client.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein the target response comprises an indication of one or more ports available to establish connection with the at least one target.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 33, wherein at least one request among the plurality of connection requests from the first client is a request to establish a connection to the one or more ports that were indicated by the target response, and wherein at least one connection among the plurality of connections is established in response to the at least one request.

36. A computer-implemented method for increasing data transfer rates from a networked server device protected by a firewall and having a plurality of communication ports, wherein the plurality of communication ports comprise a communication port that receives connection requests through an existing opening in the firewall, the computer-implemented method comprising:

(a) listening, by a control process component of the networked server device, for the connection requests on the communication port;

(b) in response to a first connection request from a first client via the communication port, establishing, by the control process component, a first connection to the first client on the communication port;

(c) in response to a second connection request from the first client via the communication port, establishing, by the control process component, a second connection to the first client on the communication port; and

(d) causing, by the control process component, data to be transmitted using the first connection on the communication port and the second connection on the communication port.