Systems, Methods and Computer Readable Media for Reporting Availability Status of Resources Associated with a Network

• US 20110138053A1
• Filed: 12/07/2009
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Qiu, Chaoxin, Khan, Arshad, Sheth, Niral
• Granted Patent: US 8,260,930 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for reporting an availability status of resources associated with a server in a network in a network are described. According to one aspect, a computer-implemented method of reporting an availability status of resources associated with a server in a network includes determining the availability status of resources associated with the server. The availability status of resources is then inserted into a resource availability status header of a message. The message including the availability status of resources associated with the server is then sent.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of reporting an availability status of resources associated with a server in a network, the computer-implemented method comprising:

determining the availability status of the resources associated with the server;

inserting the availability status of the resources into a resource availability status header of a message; and

sending the message including the availability status of the resources associated with the server.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein sending the message comprises sending a session initiation protocol message from a resource controller of the server.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the resource availability status header comprises an indication of a resource size for each resource type within the server.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the message at a client application associated with the server;

analyzing, at the client application, the resource availability status header of the message; and

upon analyzing the resource availability status header of the message, intelligently distributing, at the client application, traffic amongst a set of servers in the network.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising stripping the resource availability status header from the message prior to sending the message to an entity external to the client application.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein intelligently distributing, at the client application, traffic amongst the set of servers, comprises:

selecting a server from the set of servers as an active server;

selecting other servers from the set of servers as standby servers;

routing traffic to the active server;

upon routing traffic to the active server, determining the availability status of the resources associated with the active server;

upon determining the availability status of the resources associated with the active server, determining whether the availability status of the resources associated with the active server falls below a threshold resource availability limit; and

upon determining that the availability status of the resources falls below the threshold resource availability limit, redistributing traffic to at least one of the standby servers such that the availability status of the resources associated with the active server is no longer below the threshold resource availability limit.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein intelligently distributing, at the client application, traffic amongst a set of servers comprises intelligently distributing the traffic amongst the set of servers according to the available resources at each server in a load-shared configuration such that servers of the set of servers having more available resources are provided more of the traffic than servers of the set of servers having fewer available resources.

8. A system for reporting an availability status of resources associated with a server in a network, the system comprising:

a memory for storing a program containing code for reporting the availability status of resources; and

a processor functionally coupled to the memory, the processor being responsive to computer-executable instructions contained in the program and configured to;

determine the availability status of the resources associated with a server,

insert the availability status of the resources into a resource availability status header of a message, and

send the message including the availability status of the resources associated with the server.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the message comprises a session initiation protocol message from a resource controller of the server.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the resource availability status header comprises an indication of a resource size for each resource type within the server.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive the message at a client application associated with the server;

analyze, at the client application, the resource availability status header of the message; and

upon analyzing the resource availability status header of the message, intelligently distribute, at the client application, traffic amongst a set of servers in the network.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the client application comprises a call session control function (CSCF) configured to intelligently distribute traffic amongst the set of servers based on the resource availability status header of the message.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein intelligently distributing, at the client application, traffic amongst a set of servers in the network, further comprises:

selecting a server from the set of servers as an active server;

selecting other servers from the set of servers as standby servers;

routing traffic to the active server;

upon routing traffic to the active server, determining the availability status of the resources associated with the active server;

upon determining the availability status of the resources associated with the active server, determining whether the availability status of the resources associated with the active server falls below a threshold resource availability limit; and

upon determining that the availability status of the resources falls below the threshold resource availability limit, redistributing traffic to at least one of the standby servers such that the availability status of the resources associated with the active server is no longer below the threshold resource availability limit.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein intelligently distributing, at the client application, traffic amongst a set of servers further comprises intelligently distributing the traffic amongst the set of servers according to the available resources at each server in a load-shared configuration such that servers of the set of servers having more available resources are provided more of the traffic than servers of the set of servers having fewer available resources.

15. A computer-readable medium for reporting an availability status of resources associated with a server in a network, having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

determine the availability status of the resources associated with the server;

insert the availability status of the resources into a resource availability status header of a message; and

send the message including the availability status of the resources associated with the server.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the message comprises a session initiation protocol message from a resource controller of the server.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that cause the computer to:

receive the message at a client application associated with the server;

analyze, at the client application, the resource availability status header of the message; and

upon analyzing the resource availability status header of the message, intelligently distribute, at the client application, traffic amongst a set of servers.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that cause the computer to strip the resource availability status header from the message prior to sending the message to an entity external to the client application.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein intelligently distributing, at the client application, traffic amongst a set of servers comprises:

selecting a server as an active server;

selecting other servers as standby servers;

routing traffic to the active server;

upon routing traffic to the active server, determining the availability status of the resources associated with the active server;

upon determining the availability status of the resources associated with the active server, determining whether the availability status of the resources associated with the active server falls below a threshold resource availability limit; and

upon determining that the availability status of the resources falls below the threshold resource availability limit, redistributing traffic to at least one of the standby servers such that the availability status of the resources associated with the active server is no longer below the threshold resource availability limit.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein intelligently distributing, at the client application, traffic amongst the set of servers comprises intelligently distributing the traffic amongst the set of servers according to the available resources at each server in a load-shared configuration such that servers having more available resources are provided more of the traffic than servers having fewer available resources.