SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING TIMER AFFINITY THROUGH NOTIFICATIONS WITHIN A SESSION-BASED SERVER DEPLOYMENT

• US 20100106842A1
• Filed: 10/29/2008
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Larson, Johan Gustav, Cosmadopoulos, Ioannis, Kulkarni, Mihir Arvind
• Granted Patent: US 9,723,048 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols

Abstract

The session-based server deployment can be comprised of an engine tier that is designed for high throughput processing of communications and a state tier that maintains state information for access by the engine tier. The engine tier can include a plurality of engine nodes that process incoming messages. The state nodes can contain call state, including various timers. When processing a call, an engine can set various timers in the state tier. Upon expiration of a timer, the state node can transmit a notification assigning the timer to the corresponding engine node which handled previous communications for the call. This affinity between the timer and its respective engine can provide numerous benefits, such as reduced latency and more localized data access.

Claims

1. A telecommunication system that provides timer affinity through notifications, said telecommunication system comprising:

one or more engine nodes that process incoming communications, each communication being associated with a session between multiple participants; and

one or more timer objects associated with the session and accessible by the engine nodes, said timer objects being maintained remotely with respect to the engine nodes, wherein said timer objects, once initiated, gradually reduce a specified time period until the timer objects fire;

wherein once a particular timer object fires, a notification is transmitted to an engine node that processed the last communication for the session associated with said particular timer object; and

wherein said engine node that processed said last communication is assigned the particular timer object for processing.

2. The telecommunication system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more state nodes that maintain the timer objects, wherein an engine node, prior to processing an incoming communication, initiates a timer object on the state node.

3. The telecommunication system of claim 2, wherein the state node transmits the notification to the engine node that set the timer object once said timer object fires.

4. The telecommunication system of claim 2, wherein the state node determines which engine node initiated the particular timer object by assigning a unique identifier to each engine node.

5. The telecommunication system of claim 1, further comprising:

a local near-cache located at the engine node, wherein the local near-cache maintains call state information associated with the session, said call state information including the timer objects.

6. The telecommunication system of claim 5, wherein processing the timer on the engine that processed the last incoming communication associated with the session increases a probability that the call state information is available in the local near-cache at said engine node.

7. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the engine tier further includes:

a hot standby deployment of two or more engine nodes, wherein at least one but not all of said two or more engine nodes is redundant and does not process any messages.

8. The telecommunication system of claim 1, further comprising:

a partition client residing on the state node, said partition client monitoring health information of the engine nodes, wherein the partition client determines that an engine node has failed and reassigns the timer to a different engine node.

9. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the engine node that processed the last communication for the session receives the notification and processes the particular timer object by performing a corrective action.

10. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein engine tier and the state tier comprise a session initiation protocol (SIP) application server.

11. A method for providing timer affinity within a session-based server deployment, said method comprising:

processing incoming communications by one or more engine nodes, each communication being associated with a session between multiple participants;

initiating at least one timer object that is accessible by the engine nodes, said timer object being maintained remotely with respect to the engine nodes, wherein the timer object is associated with a particular session;

continuously reducing a time period specified by said timer object until said time period expires;

transmitting a notification to an engine node that processed the last communication for the particular session associated with said timer object; and

executing the timer object by the engine node that processed the last communication for the particular session.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

maintaining one or more state nodes that maintain the timer objects wherein an engine node, prior to processing an incoming communication, initiates a timer object on the state nodes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the state node transmits the notification to the engine node that set the timer object once said timer object fires.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the state node determines which engine node initiated the particular timer object by assigning a unique identifier to each engine node.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

maintaining a local near-cache located at the engine node, wherein the local near-cache maintains call state information associated with the session, said call state information including the timer objects.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein processing the timer on the engine that processed the last incoming communication associated with the session increases a probability that the call state information is available in the local near-cache at said engine node.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the engine nodes further include:

a hot standby deployment of two or more engine nodes, wherein at least one but not all of said two or more engine nodes is redundant and does not process any messages.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

a partition client residing on the state node, said partition client monitoring health information of the engine nodes, wherein the partition client determines that an engine node has failed and reassigns the timer object to a different engine node.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the engine node that processed the last communication for the session receives the notification and processes the particular timer object by performing a corrective action.

20. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for providing timer affinity in a session-based server deployment, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

processing incoming communications by one or more engine nodes, each communication being associated with a session between multiple participants;

initiating at least one timer object that is accessible by the engine nodes, said timer object being maintained remotely with respect to the engine nodes, wherein the timer object is associated with a particular session;

continuously reducing a time period specified by said timer object until said time period expires;

transmitting a notification to an engine node that processed the last communication for the particular session associated with said timer object; and

executing the timer object by the engine node that processed the last communication for the particular session.