METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING USER STATE FOR APPLICATIONS DEPLOYED ON PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (PAAS) CLOUDS

• US 20140149485A1
• Filed: 02/04/2013
• Published: 05/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Sharma, Vibhu Saujanya, Sengupta, Shubhashis, Mohamedrasheed, Annervaz Karukapadath
• Granted Patent: US 9,635,088 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms

Abstract

The REsilient LOosely Coupled (ReLoC) system and method implement a session-state management architecture for cloud computing that uses loosely-coupled services and platform agnostic scalable messaging technology to propagate and save session states. Maintaining the state of applications and user sessions is difficult in large scale web-based software systems, particularly in the context of cloud computing (e.g., platform as a service (PaaS) vendors, do not explicitly support state management infrastructure, such as clustering). In a PaaS environment, a user has little or no access and control over the server platform and session management layer. The platform tiers are generally loosely coupled and service-oriented, which make traditional session-state management techniques non-usable. The ReLoC system and method provides a high level of tolerance to failures of the platform tiers without corresponding disruptions in user sessions. In the context of PaaS Clouds, the ReLoC system provides greater scalability compared to traditional clustering environments.

Claims

1. A user session management system comprising:

a first memory coupled to a processor, the first memory comprising;

a handler agent comprising;

a user interface configured to;

receive a session object request that identifies a session object; and

communicate a session object response that identifies a response to the session object request; and

handler agent logic that;

communicates, via a message queue, with one or more application instances accessible through one or more application agents in communication with the handler agent;

determines one or more of the application agents to which to forward the session object request; and

forwards the message queue message to the determined one or more application agents;

a hash table agent comprising a second memory, where the hash table agent is configured to identify a hash-mapped key-value that identifies at least one location, including the first memory or the second memory or both, to store or retrieve a session object and state of the session object; and

application agents logic configured to;

receive the session object request from the handler agent;

communicate a request for session object state of the session object to the hash table agent;

receive the session object and the session object state from the hash table agent;

service the session object request, using the one or more application instances accessible through application agents, based on the requested session object state to obtain a session object request result;

communicate an updated session object state and the session object request result to the hash table agent; and

communicate the session object response to the handler agent based on the session object request result.

2. The system of claim 1, where the one or more application agents send to the hash table agent, via the message queue, a message queue message that identifies the session object;

and

the one or more application agents receive from the hash table agent a message with the session object.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the application agents logic is further configured to:

read the session object request, de-serialize the session object and read the session object value in order to update the session object state or the application context or both; and

the hash table agent mediates database reads and writes for storing and retrieving session objects.

4. The system of claim 1, where the session object request is for a HTTP request object, and where the session object response is for a HTTP response object.

5. The system of claim 1, where the one or more application agents communicate availability status of the application instances to the handler agent via another message queue message comprising the availability status.

6. The system of claim 1, where the handler agent, application agents, and hash table agent subscribe to the message queue.

7. The system of claim 1, where the hash table agent uses the session object request to generate a hash-mapped key-value that identifies the at least one location to store the session object in a Key-value store Hash Table, when the session object request is a request to store the session object.

8. The system of claim 1, where the hash table agent uses the session object request to generate another hash-mapped key-value that identifies the at least one location from which to retrieve the session object from a Key-value store Hash Table, when the session object request is a request to retrieve the session object.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the handler agent logic is further configured to:

receive from the application instances availability information for the application instances available to service the session object request, where the application agents communicate availability status of the application instances to the handler agent via another message queue message.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the handler agent logic is further configured to wrap the session object request in a message queue message, and serialize the session object using standard Java serialization.

11. A method to provide user session management comprising:

receiving, using a user interface provided by a handler agent, a session object request that identifies a session object;

storing in a first memory couple to a processor, the session object request;

communicating a session object response that identifies a response to the session object request;

communicating, via a message queue, with application instances accessible through application agents in communication with the handler agent, where the application agents are stored in the first memory;

determining one or more of the application agents to which to forward the session object request;

forwarding the message queue message to the determined one or more application agents;

identifying, using a hash table agent comprising a second memory, a hash-mapped key-value that identifies at least one location, including the first memory or the second memory or both, to store or retrieve a session object and state of the session object;

receiving the session object request from the handler agent;

communicating a request for session object state of the session object to the hash table agent;

receiving the session object and the session object state from the hash table agent;

servicing the session object request, using the application instances accessible through application agents, based on the requested session object state to obtain a session object request result;

communicating an updated session object state and the session object request result to the hash table agent; and

communicating the session object response to the handler agent based on the session object request result.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending, from the one or more application agents to the hash table agent via the message queue, a message queue message that identifies the session object to be retrieved;

receiving, by the one or more application agents, a message with the session object from the hash table agent.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

reading the session object request, de-serializing the session object and updating the session object state or the application context or both by reading the session object value; and

mediating, via the Hash Table Agent, database reads and writes for storing and retrieving session objects.

14. The method of claim 11, where the session object request is for a HTTP request object, and where the session object response is for a HTTP response object.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

communicating, via the application agents, availability status of the application instances to the handler agent via another message queue message comprising the availability status.

16. The method of claim 11, where the handler agent, application agents, and hash table agent subscribe to the message queue.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating, by the hash table agent using the session object request, a hash-mapped key-value that identifies at least one location to store the session object in a Key-value store Hash Table, when the session object request is a request to store the session object.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating, by the hash table agent using the session object request, another hash-mapped key-value that identifies at least one location from which to retrieve the session object from a Key-value store Hash Table, when the session object request is a request to retrieve the session object.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving from the application instances availability information for the application instances available to service the session object request, where the application agents communicate availability status of the application instances to the handler agent via another message queue message.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

wrapping the session object request in a message queue message, and serializing the session object using standard Java serialization.

21. A product comprising:

a first computer readable memory with processor executable instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive, using a user interface provided by a handler agent, a session object request that identifies a session object;

communicate a session object response that identifies a response to the session object request;

communicate, via a message queue, with application instances accessible through application agents in communication with the handler agent;

determine one or more of the application agents to which to forward the session object request;

forward the message queue message to the determined one or more application agents;

identify, using a hash table agent comprising a second memory, a hash-mapped key-value that identifies at least one location, including the first computer readable memory or the second memory or both, to store or retrieve a session object and state of the session object;

receive the session object request from the handler agent;

communicate a request for session object state of the session object to the hash table agent;

receive the session object and the session object state from the hash table agent;

service the session object request, using the application instances accessible through application agents, based on the requested session object state to obtain a session object request result;

communicate an updated session object state and the session object request result to the hash table agent; and

communicate the session object response to the handler agent based on the session object request result.