METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DATA TRAFFIC DISTRIBUTION AMONG INDEPENDENT PROCESSING CENTERS

• US 20140143423A1
• Filed: 11/20/2012
• Published: 05/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DIRECTV, LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lam, Thai, Arya, Vishal, Ali, Shahzad, Cugno, Christopher J., Makhijani, Michael A., Singh, Vaibhav
• Granted Patent: US 9,191,336 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for assigning processing requests is disclosed. The method is typically used in a processing system comprising a first processing center and one or more second processing centers remote from the first processing center, a. A method of assigning a processing request may comprise the steps of: determining at a traffic distribution controller a capacity of each of the processing centers to process the processing request, accepting a processing request in the first processing center, and assigning the processing request to at least one of the second processing centers according to the determined current capacity of each of the processing centers. The processing request is initially addressed to a first global address of the first processing center, then the processing request is readdressed to a second global address of one of the second processing centers.

Claims

1. In a processing system comprising a first processing center and one or more second processing centers remote from the first processing center, a method of assigning a processing request, comprising the steps of:

determining, at a traffic distribution controller a capacity of each of the processing centers to process the processing request;

receiving a processing request in the first processing center; and

assigning the processing request to at least one of the second processing centers according to the determined current capacity of each of the processing centers;

wherein the processing request is addressed to a first global address and the step of assigning the processing request comprises the step of readdressing the processing request from the first global address to a second global address of one of the second processing centers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first global address is a first canonical name (CNAME) of a domain; and

the second global address is a domain name of the one of the second processing centers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the current capacity of each of the processing centers comprises the steps of:

determining, in a load determining agent (LDA) executing at each of the processing centers, the processing load of each of the processing centers, wherein the load comprises a set of one or more measured values respectively associated with one or more processing parameters;

reporting the load of each of the processing centers from each respective load determining agent to the traffic distribution controller;

determining, in the traffic distribution controller, a limit comprising a set of one or more threshold values corresponding to the one or more processing parameters; and

determining, in the traffic distribution controller, the current capacity of each of the processing centers to process the processing request based on a comparison of the limit and the reported load of each of the processing centers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each second processing center assigns processing tasks to at least one processing center processor according to processor assignment information stored at the second processing center;

the step of determining a current capacity of each of the processing centers to process the request disposed at the first processing center comprises the step of determining the current capacity of each processing center processor to process the processing request;

the method further comprises commanding a modification of the processor assignment information of at least one of the second processing centers according to the determined capacity of each of the processing centers to process the processing request; and

the processing request is assigned the at least one of the second processing centers for processing by one of the processing center processors according to the modified processor assignment information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the modification of the processor assignment information is commanded by the traffic distribution controller.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the processor assignment information comprises at least one processor domain name; and

the processor assignment information is modified to remove or add the at least one processor domain name according to the current capacity of each processing center processor.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the processing parameters include:

a number of clients currently serviced by the processing center;

bandwidth utilization of the processing center;

memory utilization of the processing center; and

processing utilization of the processing center.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein:

each of the processing centers are executing one or more applications; and

the processing parameters include a response latency of at least one of the one or more executing applications.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the measured values of the processing parameters are determined by performing steps comprising:

polling the executing applications in each of the processing centers; and

generating the processing load of each of the processing centers from the polled executing applications.

10. The method of claim 8:

wherein the response latency is measured by performing steps comprising;

transmitting a test request to the at least one of the one or more executing applications;

measuring a time required for the at least one of the one or more executing applications to respond to the transmitted test request;

wherein the number of connections is measured by performing steps comprising;

establishing a secure remote login to the processing center; and

reading the number of clients currently serviced by the processing center;

wherein the processing center includes network devices, and the bandwidth utilization of the processing center is measured by performing steps comprising;

monitoring network equipment used at processing center;

wherein the memory utilization of the processing center is measured by performing steps comprising;

establishing a secure remote login to the processing center; and

reading memory utilization of the processing center;

wherein processing utilization of the processing center is measured by performing steps comprising;

establishing a secure remote login to the processing center; and

reading the processing utilization of the processing center.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of second processing centers are third-party vendor point of presence (POP) processing centers commercially distinct from the first processing center and contracted to accept and process processing requests for the first processing center.

12. A processing system comprising:

a first processing center, for accepting a processing request;

one or more second processing centers remote from the first processing center;

a traffic distribution controller, disposed external to the one or more second processing centers, for determining, a capacity of each of the processing centers to process the processing request and for assigning the processing request to at least one of the second processing centers according to the determined current capacity of each of the processing centers;

wherein the processing request is addressed to a first global address and the traffic distribution controller assigns the processing request by readdressing the request from the first global address to a second global address of one of the second processing centers.

13. The processing system of claim 12, wherein:

the first global address is a first canonical name (CNAME) of a domain; and

the second global address is a domain name of the one of the second processing centers.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein:

the processing system further comprises a load determining agent, executing at each of the processing centers, for determining the processing load of each of the processing centers, wherein the load comprises a plurality of measured values of respective processing parameters, and for reporting the load of each of the processing centers from the associated load determining agent to the traffic distribution controller; and

the traffic distribution controller further determines a limit set comprising threshold values for each of the processing parameters and determines the current capacity of each of the processing centers to process the processing request from the limit set and the reported load for each of the processing centers.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein:

each second processing center comprises a load balancer for assigning processing tasks to at least one processing center processor according to processor assignment information stored at the respective second processing center;

the current capacity of each of the processing centers to process the request disposed at the first processing center includes a current capacity of each processing center processor to process the request;

the traffic distribution controller further commands a modification of the processor assignment information of at least one of the second processing centers according to the determined capacity of each processing center processor to process the request;

the processing request is assigned to the at least one of the second processing centers for processing by one of the processing center processors according to the modified processor assignment information.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

the processor assignment information comprises at least one processor domain name, and processor assignment information is modified to remove or add the at least one processor domain name of according to the current capacity of each processing center processor.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing parameters include:

a number of clients currently serviced by the processing center;

bandwidth utilization of the processing center;

memory utilization of the processing center; and

processing utilization of the processing center.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

each of the processing centers are executing one or more applications; and

the processing parameters include a response latency of at least one of the one or more executing applications.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the load determining agent comprises a module for determining at least one of the measured values of the processing parameters, the module including:

a monitoring module for polling the executing applications in each of the processing centers; and

a processing load module for generating the processing load of each of the processing centers from the polled executing applications.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein:

the monitoring module transmits a test request to the at least one of the one or more executing applications; and

the processing load module measures a time required for the at least one of the one or more executing applications to respond to the transmitted test request.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the monitoring module establishes a secure remote login to the processing center and reads the number of clients currently serviced by the processing center.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the monitoring module monitors a network device used at the processing center.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the monitoring module establishes a secure remote login to the processing center and reads memory utilization of the processing center.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the monitoring module establishes a secure remote login to the processing center and reads the processing utilization of the processing center;

25. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of second processing centers are third-party vendor point of presence (POP) processing centers commercially distinct from the first processing center and contracted to accept and process processing requests for the first processing center.