MULTIPLE CLIENT SIMULATOR FOR PUSH ENGINE

• US 20130103376A1
• Filed: 10/25/2011
• Published: 04/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Gaddam, Venkat, Ahmed, Shahid, Shanmugam, Sankar, Kisuule, Peter Kyagaba
• Granted Patent: US 9,015,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

A single computer may be configured to function as a multiple client simulator that tests a push engine by simultaneously simulating multiple clients. The multiple client simulator may be configured to open and simultaneously maintain a large number of connections with the push engine. To facilitate this, a virtual interface module may be used to multiply the effective number of IP addresses of the single computer. The default number of ports that are available for each IP address may also be increased, along with the available number of file descriptors.

Claims

1. A multiple client simulator for testing a push engine, the push engine being configured to open and simultaneously maintain long-term connections with multiple clients and to push multiple instances of data to clients through the connections, the multiple client simulator comprising:

a network interface system configured to receive the multiple instances of data from the push engine through the connections; and

a data processing system configured to;

open and simultaneously maintain each of the long-term connections with the push engine through the network interface system, thereby simulating each of the multiple clients to the push engine; and

log when each instance of data is received by the network interface system, along with the identity of the connection through which the instance of data was received.

2. The multiple client simulator of claim 1 wherein:

the push engine is configured in relation to each connection to;

receive instances of data from a back-end server, the instances of data designated to be forwarded over the connection to the client that is part of the connection;

forward each received instance of data to the client over the connection; and

generate and send a unique instance of data to the client over the connection, the unique instance of data representative of a heartbeat when no instance of data is received from the back-end server for a pre-determined period of time; and

the data processing system is configured to include information in the log indicative of whether a received instance of data is a heartbeat.

3. The multiple client simulator of claim 1 wherein the data processing system is configured to cause the network interface system to send an acknowledgement to the push engine in response to the receipt of each instance of data through the connection through which the instance of data was received.

4. The multiple client simulator of claim 1 wherein each connection is assigned a unique combination of an IP address and a port.

5. The multiple client simulator of claim 4 wherein the network interface system includes a virtual interface module configured to simulate multiple IP addresses from only a single host computer.

6. The multiple client simulator of claim 5 wherein the virtual interface module is configured to simulate at least 256 IP addresses from only a single host computer.

7. The multiple client simulator of claim 5 wherein:

the multiple client simulator includes an operating system that provides a default number of ports that are available for use by application programs for communications through each IP address; and

the available number of ports has been increased beyond the default number.

8. The multiple client simulator of claim 7 wherein:

the default number of available ports is less than 35,000; and

the available number of ports has been increased beyond 50,000.

9. The multiple client simulator of claim 7 wherein the data processing system is configured to:

monitor which simulated IP addresses are being used for a connection; and

to select an unused simulated IP address when opening a new connection when there are no more ports available for opening a connection with a simulated IP address that is in use;

10. The multiple client simulator of claim 1 wherein:

each connection is assigned a unique file descriptor;

the multiple client simulator includes an operating system that provides a default number of file descriptors that are available for assignment; and

the available number of file descriptors has been increased beyond the default number.

11. The multiple client simulator of claim 10 wherein:

the default number of file descriptors is less than 10,000; and

the available number of file descriptors has been increased beyond the default number to more than 3000000.

12. The multiple client simulator of claim 1 wherein each connection is a TCP/IP connection.

13. The multiple client simulator of claim 12 wherein each connection is an HTTP or HTTPS connection and wherein each connection has a transfer coding that is set to chunked.

14. The multiple client simulator of claim 1 wherein the data processing system is configured to:

test whether each connection has been successfully established; and

,

log when an attempted connection has not been successfully established.

15. The multiple client simulator of claim 1 wherein the data processing system is configured when opening each connection to cause authentication information to be delivered to the push engine, the authentication information indicative of the authenticity of the client that the multiple client simulator is simulating.

16. The multiple client simulator of claim 15 wherein the authentication information includes a unique mobile device number (MDN) for the client that the multiple client simulator is simulating.

17. The multiple client simulator of claim 15 wherein the authentication information includes an IP address of the client that the multiple client simulator is simulating.

18. The multiple client simulator of claim 1 wherein the data processing system is configured to compute statistical information about the performance of the push engine based on an aggregate of information that is logged therein.

19. The multiple client simulator of claim 18 wherein the statistical information includes information about the number of connections that the push engine can simultaneously maintain.

20. The multiple client simulator of claim 18 wherein the statistical information includes information about a bandwidth of the push engine.