MITIGATING CONNECTION IDENTIFIER COLLISIONS IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK

• US 20120066399A1
• Filed: 09/10/2010
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Marquardt, David R., Paranjape, Prashant A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,706,889 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/162 involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms secure socket layer H04L63/168

Abstract

A new instance of a connection that is in the wait state can be established while mitigating connection identifier collisions. Based on a connection identifier in a connection request received at a server from a client, it is determined that a previous instance of a connection represented by the connection identifier is in a wait state. An acknowledgement message comprising wait state parameters associated with the connection identifier and original connection parameters associated with the previous instance of the connection in the wait state is provided from the server to the client. In response, the server receives a compliance message comprising updated wait state parameters and updated connection parameters from the client. The new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection is established based, at least in part, on the updated wait state parameters and the updated connection parameters.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining based on a connection identifier in a connection request received at a server from a client, that a previous instance of a connection represented by the connection identifier is in a wait state;

determining wait state parameters associated with the connection identifier and original connection parameters associated with the previous instance of the connection in the wait state;

providing an acknowledgement message from the server to the client that comprises the wait state parameters and the original connection parameters;

receiving, in response to the acknowledgement message, a compliance message at the server from the client that comprises updated wait state parameters and updated connection parameters; and

establishing, with the client, a new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection based, at least in part, on the updated wait state parameters and the updated connection parameters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection identifier identifies a port of the client that represents a first end point of the connection that is represented by the connection identifier, a port of the server that represents a second end point of the connection that is represented by the connection identifier, an address of the client, an address of the server, and a connection protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the wait state parameters comprise a wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier, and a flag that indicates whether the previous instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier is in the wait state.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated wait state parameters comprise a wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier, and a flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier is in the wait state.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the original connection parameters and the updated connection parameters comprise at least one of a sequence number parameter and a timestamp parameter associated with the connection.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the updated connection parameters are greater than the original connection parameters;

accepting the updated connection parameters for said establishing the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection in response to determining that the updated connection parameters are greater than the original connection parameters; and

rejecting the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier in response to determining that the updated connection parameters are not greater than the original connection parameters.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, at the server, whether the updated wait state parameters comprise a wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier and a flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state;

accepting the updated connection parameters for said establishing the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection in response to determining that the updated wait state parameters comprise the wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier the flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state; and

rejecting the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier in response to determining that the updated wait state parameters do not comprise the wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier and the flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the previous instance of the connection, between the server and the client, represented by the connection identifier is to be terminated;

maintaining, at the server, the previous instance of the connection in the wait state; and

generating a wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated wait state parameters indicate whether the client acknowledged that the previous instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier is in the wait state.

10. A method comprising:

receiving an acknowledgement message at a client from a server in response to a connection request transmitted by the client to establish a new instance of a connection represented by a connection identifier with the server;

determining, from the received acknowledgement message, wait state parameters and original connection parameters associated with a previous instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier;

determining, based on the wait state parameters, that the previous instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier is in a wait state at the server;

updating the wait state parameters to acknowledge that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state;

updating the connection parameters to yield updated connection parameters that are associated with the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier; and

transmitting, in a compliance message, the updated wait state parameters and the updated connection parameters from the client to the server to attempt to establish the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said updating the connection parameters to yield updated connection parameters that are associated with the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier comprises:

generating, at the client, the updated connection parameters that are greater than the original connection parameters.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the updated connection parameters comprise at least one of an initial sequence number and a timestamp associated with the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier.

13. A computer program product for mitigating connection identifier collisions, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to,

determine based on a connection identifier in a connection request received from a client, that a previous instance of a connection represented by the connection identifier is in a wait state;

determine wait state parameters associated with the connection identifier and original connection parameters associated with the previous instance of the connection in the wait state;

provide, to the client, an acknowledgement message that comprises the wait state parameters and the original connection parameters;

receive, in response to the acknowledgement message, a compliance message from the client that comprises updated wait state parameters and updated connection parameters; and

establish, with the client, a new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection based, at least in part, on the updated wait state parameters and the updated connection parameters.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the connection identifier identifies a port of the client that represents a first end point of the connection that is represented by the connection identifier, a port of a server that represents a second end point of the connection that is represented by the connection identifier, an address of the client, an address of the server, and a connection protocol.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the original connection parameters and the updated connection parameters comprise at least one of a sequence number parameter and a timestamp parameter associated with the connection.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program code is further configured to:

determine whether the updated connection parameters are greater than the original connection parameters;

accept the updated connection parameters for establishing the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection in response to the computer readable program code determining that the updated connection parameters are greater than the original connection parameters; and

reject the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier in response to the computer readable program code determining that the updated connection parameters are not greater than the original connection parameters.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program code is further configured to:

determine whether the updated wait state parameters comprise a wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier and a flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state;

accept the updated connection parameters for establishing the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection in response to the computer usable program code determining that the updated wait state parameters comprise the wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier and the flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state; and

reject the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier in response to the computer usable program code determining that the updated wait state parameters do not comprise the wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier and the flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state.

18. A communication network device comprising:

a processor;

a network interface coupled with the processor; and

a connection unit coupled with the processor and with the network interface, the connection unit operable to,

determine based on a connection identifier in a connection request received at the communication network device from a second communication network device, that a previous instance of a connection represented by the connection identifier is in a wait state;

determine wait state parameters associated with the connection identifier and original connection parameters associated with the previous instance of the connection in the wait state;

provide an acknowledgement message that comprises the wait state parameters and the original connection parameters from the communication network device to the second communication network device;

receive, in response to the acknowledgement message, a compliance message at the communication network device from the second communication network device that comprises updated wait state parameters and updated connection parameters; and

establishing, with the second communication network device, a new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection based, at least in part, on the updated wait state parameters and the updated connection parameters.

19. The communication network device of claim 18, wherein the connection unit is further operable to:

determine whether the updated connection parameters are greater than the original connection parameters;

accept the updated connection parameters for establishing the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection in response to the connection unit determining that the updated connection parameters are greater than the original connection parameters; and

reject the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier in response to the connection unit determining that the updated connection parameters are not greater than the original connection parameters.

20. The communication network device of claim 18, wherein the connection unit is further operable to:

determine whether the updated wait state parameters comprise a wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier and a flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state;

accept the updated connection parameters for establishing the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection in response to the connection unit determining that the updated wait state parameters comprise the wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier and the flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state; and

reject the new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier in response to the connection unit determining that the updated wait state parameters do not comprise the wait state connection identifier that is indicative of the connection identifier and the flag that indicates acknowledgement that the previous instance of the connection is in the wait state.