System And Method For Application Acceleration On A Distributed Computer Network

• US 20090292824A1
• Filed: 01/23/2006
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Internap Network Services Corporation
• Original Assignee: Internap Network Services Corporation
• Inventors: Klinker, James Eric, Marashi, Ali
• Application Number:
  US11/814,351
• Publication Number:
  US 20090292824A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/247
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2521 Translation architectures other than single NAT servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54

Abstract

Application acceleration is provided across a widely deployed network. In one embodiment a number of servers throughout the network provide address translation, acceleration, and performance measurements and are organized as service deliver points (SDPs). Collectively the SDPs form an application service network provider (ASNP) located between the client and the application server Traffic is routed from the client to a client SDP, which includes an accelerator, from the client SDP to a server SDP, which includes a matching accelerator, and from the server SDP to the application server. Return traffic follows a similar, but revere path.

Claims

1. A method for routing data between a client that is requesting access to an application and an application server, comprising:

determining an acceleration technique based on the application;

identifying a client service delivery point (SDP) based on the acceleration technique, availability of SDP resources for a plurality of candidate client SDPs, and performance measurements between the client and the candidate client SDPs;

routing the data from the client to the client SDP;

applying the acceleration technique to the data;

identifying a server SDP based on the acceleration technique, availability of SDP resources for a plurality of candidate server SDPs, and performance measurements between the candidate server SDPs and the client SDP;

routing the accelerated data to the server SDP;

applying the acceleration technique to the accelerated data to restore the data; and

routing the data to the application server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the acceleration technique is selected from the group consisting of:

TCP acceleration, application layer acceleration, compression/data referencing and data caching.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein routing the data from the client to the client SDP comprises using domain name system (DNS) to resolve network addressing.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein routing the data from the client to the client SDP comprises:

routing the data from the client to a predetermined address; and

routing the data from the predetermined address to the client SDP.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

routing return data from the application server to the server SDP;

applying the acceleration technique to the return data;

routing the accelerated return data to the client SDP;

applying the acceleration technique to the accelerated return data to restore the return data; and

routing the return data to the client.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a client SDP comprises:

receiving an address resolution request for the client SDP at a candidate client SDP;

determining availability of resources at the candidate client SDP;

determining acceleration techniques available at the candidate client SDP;

determining performance measurements for traffic between the candidate client SDP and the client; and

based on the determinations, identifying the candidate client SDP as the client SDP.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a server SDP comprises:

receiving information at the client SDP regarding availability of resources at a candidate server SDP;

receiving information at the client SDP regarding performance measurements for traffic between the client SDP and the candidate server SDP; and

based on the determinations, identifying the candidate server SDP as the server SDP.

8. A method for routing data between a client that is requesting access to an application and an application server, comprising:

identifying a service delivery point (SDP) from a plurality of candidate SDPs based on availability of an acceleration technique suitable for the application at the candidate SDP, availability of SDP resources at the candidate SDPs, and performance measurements for the candidate SDPs;

routing the data from the client to the SDP;

applying the acceleration technique to the data; and

routing the data to the application server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the client is associated with an accelerator and wherein routing the data from the client to the SDP comprises routing the accelerated data to the SDP and applying the acceleration technique to the data comprises applying the acceleration technique to restore the data.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the application server is associated with an accelerator and wherein routing the data to the application server comprises routing accelerated data to the application server.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the application server is associated with an accelerator, further comprising:

routing accelerated return data from the application server to the SDP;

applying the acceleration technique to the accelerated return data to restore the return data; and

routing the return data to the client.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying an SDP comprises:

receiving information regarding availability of resources at a first candidate SDP;

receiving information regarding performance measurements for traffic between the first candidate SDP and the client; and

based on the determinations, identifying the first candidate SDP as the SDP.

13. A system for routing data between a client that has requested access to an application and an application server, comprising:

a plurality of service delivery points (SDPs), wherein each service delivery point includes a gateway server that provides address translation, an accelerator that provides application acceleration, a measurement server that collects performance measurements, and an address resolution server,

wherein one of the SDPs is identified as a client SDP and another one of the SDPs is identified as a server SDP, the client SDP and the server SDP provide a selected acceleration technique, the data is routed from the client to the application server through the client SDP and the server SDP, and the data is accelerated at the client SDP and restored at the server SDP.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the address resolution server is a domain name system (DNS) server.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the gateway server at the client SDP performs an address translation to route the data from the client SDP to the server SDP.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the gateway server at the server SDP performs an address translation to route the data from the server SDP to the application server.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the acceleration technique is selected from the group consisting of:

TCP acceleration, application layer acceleration, compression/data referencing and data caching.