Optimizing Server Resources Using Multiple Retry For High Traffic Websites

• US 20120209945A1
• Filed: 02/16/2011
• Published: 08/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Padmanabhan, Prasanna, Chandrasekhar, Jayadev, Su, David, Zakas, Nicholas, Alper, Okan
• Granted Patent: US 9,009,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method for optimizing resources on a web server is provided. A web page may include areas for displaying content that is time consuming to retrieve. The content may be geographically far away or the content server itself may be slow. A caching proxy between the web server and the content server responds to requests for data immediately, with or without the data requested from the cache. On a cache miss, the caching proxy asynchronously retrieves data so that the next time the same content is requested, the data should be available in the cache. Asynchronous retrieval means that no valuable resources are tied up on the web server while waiting for the content to be provided from the content server. The initial web page sent from the web server to the web browser includes retry logic. The data may be retrieved from the cache during one of the retries.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

in response to a request for a web page, a web server generating web page source statements that include executable statements, which when executed by a web browser, cause the web browser to perform steps comprising;

generating a first data request to return data to be displayed within the web page;

sending the first data request to the web server;

determining whether the requested data was returned to the web browser; and

in response to determining that the requested data was not returned to the web browser, generating a second data request to return the data; and

sending the second data request to the web server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the executable statements are executed in response to a user requesting data to be returned and displayed by selecting an area on the web page;

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the executable statements are executed automatically by a web browser without waiting for a user select a region displayed on the web page.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the executable statements, which when executed by the web browser, wait a certain time interval between determining that the requested data was not returned to the web browser and when the second data request is sent to the web server;

and

wherein the executable statements continue to send data requests to the web server for a certain number of retries.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the certain time interval is based on a location of the computer running the service that returns the requested data.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the certain time interval is based on an amount of time to retrieve data from the service over recent history.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the executable statements further include executable statements, which when executed by the web browser cause the web browser to perform steps comprising:

in response to determining that the requested data was not returned to the web browser in response to the second data request, generating a third data request to return the data;

sending the third data request to the web server;

wherein a time interval between the first data request and the second data request is different than the time interval between the second data request and the third data request.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the web server receiving the first data request from the web browser, wherein the first data request identifies a user and a service from which to request the data;

forwarding the first data request to the service through a web caching proxy;

returning an indication that the requested data is not stored in a cache;

forwarding the first data request to the service;

receiving the requested data from the service;

storing the requested data in the cache;

receiving the second data request from the web browser;

retrieving the requested data from the cache; and

forwarding the requested data to the web browser.

9. A system comprising:

a web server configured to receive a request for a web page and generate web page source statements that include executable statements, which when executed, generate a request for data to be displayed within the web page;

wherein the requested data is requested for a particular user and provided by a particular service;

the web server further configured to receive the request for data to be displayed with the web page and forward the request for data to a web caching proxy;

the web caching proxy comprising a cache and configured to;

receive the request for data;

in response to determining that the requested data is not in the cache, return an indication that the requested data is not in the cache and send the request for data to the particular service;

receive the requested data from the particular service and storing the requested data in the cache;

receive a subsequent request for the requested data; and

return the requested data from the cache.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a traffic server that is configured to:

receive the requested data from the particular service in an HTTP response;

remove one or more headers from the HTTP response;

forward the HTTP response to the web caching proxy;

in response to the one or more headers being removed, the web caching proxy enabled to cache the requested data from the HTTP response in the cache.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more headers includes a “

Cache-Control;

private”

header.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the request for data is an HTTP request that includes a POST method and the requested data is returned from the particular service in an HTTP response;

the system further comprising a traffic server configured to modify the HTTP response to replace the POST method with a GET method; and

the web caching proxy caching data from the HTTP response.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform:

in response to a request for a web page, a web server generating web page source statements that include executable statements, which when executed by a web browser, cause the web browser to perform steps comprising;

generating a first data request to return data to be displayed within the web page;

sending the first data request to the web server;

determining whether the requested data was returned to the web browser; and

in response to determining that the requested data was not returned to the web browser, generating a second data request to return the data; and

sending the second data request to the web server.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the executable statements are executed in response to a user requesting data to be returned and displayed by selecting an area on the web page.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the executable statements are executed automatically by a web browser without waiting for a user select a region displayed on the web page.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the executable statements, which when executed by the web browser, wait a certain time interval between determining that the requested data was not returned to the web browser and when the second data request is sent to the web server;

and

wherein the executable statements continue to send data requests to the web server for a certain number of retries.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the certain time interval is based on a location of the computer running the service that returns the requested data.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the certain time interval is based on an amount of time to retrieve data from the service over recent history.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the executable statements further include executable statements, which when executed by the web browser cause the web browser to perform steps comprising:

in response to determining that the requested data was not returned to the web browser in response to the second data request, generating a third data request to return the data;

sending the third data request to the web server;

wherein a time interval between the first data request and the second data request is different than the time interval between the second data request and the third data request.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, said instructions further comprising instructions that cause the one or more processors to perform:

the web server receiving the first data request from the web browser, wherein the first data request identifies a user and a service from which to request the data;

forwarding the first data request to the service through a web caching proxy;

returning an indication that the requested data is not stored in a cache;

forwarding the first data request to the service;

receiving the requested data from the service;

storing the requested data in the cache;

receiving the second data request from the web browser;

retrieving the requested data from the cache; and

forwarding the requested data to the web browser.