Systems and Methods For Application Fluency Policies

• US 20100121975A1
• Filed: 11/12/2009
• Published: 05/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Orlando, Salvatore, Laribi, Youcef, Gupta, Minoo, Garg, Sovit, Sinha, Rajiv, Gupta, Sanjay, Khemani, Prakash, Goyal, Raghu
• Granted Patent: US 8,812,714 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• 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 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1027 Persistence of sessions during load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• 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 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

The present solution is directed towards embodiments of a feature generally referred to as Application Templates or AppTemplates, which allows a administrator of an intermediary, such as an appliance, to configure and manage settings per application on a basis of a subset of application network traffic. Once configured, the application settings can be exported in a file called the Application Template, and imported into other intermediary systems. The Application Template includes the settings for the application as configured via the intermediary.

Claims

1. A method for applying policies to application network traffic, then method comprising:

(a) intercepting, by an intermediary device between a plurality of clients and a plurality of servers, a stream of application network traffic, the application network traffic comprising a plurality of requests for one or more applications;

(b) determining, by the intermediary device, that a portion of the application network traffic matches an application unit of a plurality of application units, each of the plurality of application units comprising a rule that identifies a pattern of requests that an application service may receive; and

(c) applying, by the intermediary device, to the portion of matching application network traffic a set of policies corresponding to the application unit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the intermediary device, an application service corresponding to the application unit.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the intermediary device, a plurality of application services corresponding to the application unit.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises comparing, by the intermediary device, the application network traffic to the rule of each of the plurality of application units until a match is determined.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises determining, by the intermediary device, the application network traffic only matches a default application unit.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises comparing, by the intermediary device, the application network traffic to the rule of each of the plurality of application units, wherein the application network traffic is matched with a plurality of application units.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the application unit, a pattern of requests that corresponds to a pre-determined functional area of the application service

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the application unit, a pattern of requests that corresponds to a pre-determined type of content identical to the content of the application service.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises applying, by the intermediary device, to the matching application network traffic a set of a prioritized list of policies corresponding to the application unit.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising prioritizing, by the intermediary device, the plurality of application units.

11. A system for applying policies to application network traffic, the system comprising:

an intermediary device between a plurality of clients and a plurality of servers intercepting a stream of application network traffic, the application network traffic comprising a plurality of requests for one or more applications;

a packet engine of the intermediary device determining that a portion of the application network traffic matches an application unit of a plurality of application units, each of the plurality of application units comprising a rule that identifies a pattern of requests that an application service may receive; and

a policy engine of the intermediary device applying to the matching application network traffic a set of policies corresponding to the application unit.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the intermediary device identifies an application service corresponding to the application unit.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the intermediary device identifies a plurality of application services corresponding to the application unit.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the packet engine compares the application network traffic to the rule of each of the plurality of application units until a match is determined.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the packet engine determines that the application network traffic only matches a default application unit.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the packet engine compares the application network traffic to the rule of each of the plurality of application units, wherein the application network traffic is matched with a plurality of application units.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the application unit defines a pattern of requests that corresponds to a pre-determined functional area of the application service

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the application unit defines a pattern of requests that corresponds to a pre-determined type of content identical to the content of the application service.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the policy engine applies to the matching application network traffic a set of a prioritized list of policies corresponding to the application unit.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the policy engine prioritizes the plurality of application units.