SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MONITORING COMPONENTS OF A REMOTE ACCESS SERVER FARM

• US 20090307351A1
• Filed: 08/24/2009
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Raja, Murali, Kamath, Sandeep
• Granted Patent: US 7,734,777 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data

Abstract

The present application is related methods to monitor a state of one or more components of a remote access server farm by an intermediary to distinguish between operating and functional components and improve farm availability for user application requests. The intermediary may be deployed between a client and the remote access server farm and forwards client requests to functional components of the remote access server farm.

Claims

1. A method to monitor a state of one or more components of a remote access server farm by an intermediary to distinguish between operating and functional components and improve farm availability for user application requests, the intermediary deployed between a client and the remote access server farm and forwarding client requests to functional components of the remote access server farm, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting, by one or more monitoring agents of an intermediary deployed between a client and a remote access server farm, a request for availability of a predetermined application to each of a plurality of interface services providing an enumerated list of published applications available via a server in the remote access server farm;

(b) receiving, by one monitoring agent of the one or more monitoring agents, a first response to the request from a first interface service, the first response comprising a host identifier of the server of the remote access server farm available for providing the predetermined application;

(c) identifying, by the intermediary from the first response, that the first interface service is operational and functional;

(d) receiving, by one monitoring agent of the one or more monitoring agents, a second response to the request from a second interface service, the second response not identifying a host of the remote access server farm for providing the predetermined application; and

(e) determining, by the intermediary from the second response, that the second interface service is operational and not functional.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises not receiving the second response from the second interface service, and step (e) comprises determining, by the intermediary, the second interface service is not operational.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the intermediary, exclusion of operational and not functional interface services in a load balancing rotation of interface services.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the intermediary, inclusion of operational and functional interface services in a load balancing rotation of interface services.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises receiving the first response providing the host identifier of the least loaded server in the remote access server farm.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(f) receiving, by the intermediary, a request from a client for an enumerated list of published applications available from the remote access server farm; and

(g) determining, by the intermediary, to distribute the client request to a functional and operational interface service of the plurality of interface services.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(f) receiving, by the intermediary, a third response from the second interface service, the third response comprising the host identifier of the server from the remote host server farm for providing the predetermined application; and

(g) determining, by the intermediary from the third response, the second interface service is operational and functional.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface service comprises an XML service providing the enumerated list of published applications available from a presentation server farm.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises transmitting the request to comprise an indication to not adjust a load of a server in the remote access server farmer based on the request.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises determining from the first response a host cache on the server providing the first interface service is valid.

11. A system to monitor a state of one or more components of a remote access server farm by an intermediary to distinguish between operating and functional components and improve farm availability for user application requests, the intermediary deployed between a client and the remote access server farm and forwarding client requests to functional components of the remote access server farm, the system:

an intermediary deployed between a client and a remote access server farm, the intermediary comprising one or more monitoring agents monitoring the state of one or more components of the remote access server farm;

a monitoring agent of the one or more monitoring agents transmits a request for availability of a predetermined application to each of a plurality of interface services providing an enumerated list of published applications available via a server in the remote access server farm and receives from a first interface service a first response to the request that comprises a host identifier of the server of the remote access server farm available for providing the predetermined application;

wherein the monitoring agent from a second interface service receives a second response to the request that does not identify a host of the remote access server farm for providing the predetermined application; and

wherein the intermediary determines from the first response that the first interface service is operational and functional and determines from the second response that the second interface service is operational and not functional.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the monitoring agent does not receive the second response from the second interface service, and the intermediary determines that the second interface service is not operational.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the intermediary excludes operational and not functional interface services in a load balancing rotation of interface services.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the intermediary includes operational and functional interface services in a load balancing rotation of interface services.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the monitoring agent receive the first response providing the host identifier of the least loaded server in the remote access server farm.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the intermediary receives a request from a client for an enumerated list of published applications available from the remote access server farm and determines to distribute the client request to a functional and operational interface service of the plurality of interface services.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the intermediary receives from the second interface service a third response comprising the host identifier of the server from the remote host server farm for providing the predetermined application and determines that the second interface service is operational and functional.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the interface service comprises an XML service providing the enumerated list of published applications available from a presentation server farm.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the monitoring transmits the request comprising an indication to not adjust a load of a server in the remote access server farmer based on the request.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the intermediary determines from the first response a host cache on the server providing the first interface service is valid.