SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MAINTAINING SESSION PERSISTENCE IN A CLUSTER SYSTEM

• US 20140304409A1
• Filed: 04/03/2014
• Published: 10/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Kamath, Sandeep, Arumugam, Mahesh, Menon, Anoop
• Granted Patent: US 9,888,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/04 for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1036 Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers

Abstract

The present application is directed towards systems and methods for managing ownership of one or more SSL sessions. A cluster of nodes intermediary between at least one client server may maintain a succession list for at least one session of a first client from the at least one client. The succession list may include a list of nodes within the cluster and an order of succession for the nodes to transfer ownership of the at least one session. A first node of the cluster may enter an operational state for managing one or more sessions between the at least one client and the at least one server. A second node of the cluster may initiate, based on the succession list and responsive to the first node entering the operational state, a transfer of ownership of the at least one session from the second node to the first node.

Claims

1. A method for managing ownership of one or more secure socket layer (SSL) sessions, the method comprising:

(a) maintaining, for a cluster of nodes intermediary between at least one client and at least one server, a succession list for at least one session of a first client from the at least one client, the succession list comprising a list of nodes within the cluster and an order of succession for the nodes in the list to transfer ownership of the at least one session;

(b) entering, by a first node of the cluster, an operational state for managing one or more sessions between the at least one client and the at least one server; and

(c) initiating, by a second node of the cluster based on the succession list and responsive to the first node entering the operational state, a transfer of ownership of the at least one session from the second node to the first node.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising specifying the succession list for one or more sessions associated with a first address.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising specifying the succession list for the at least one session, the at least one session from a first client of the at least one client.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising specifying the succession list based on a subset of nodes from the cluster.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises executing a packet engine in the first node of the cluster, the packet engine for managing the one or more sessions.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein (c) comprises determining that the first node has entered an operational state for managing one or more sessions.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the first node from a third node, a query on a first session of the at least one session.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending, by the third node, the query to the first node based on the succession list.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising responding, by the first node, to the query with information about the first session, if a transmission complete message has been received from the second node.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending, by the first node, a message to the third node to re-send the query at a later time, if a transmission complete message has not been received from the second node.

11. A system for managing ownership of one or more secure socket layer (SSL) sessions, the system comprising:

a cluster of nodes intermediary between at least one client and at least one server, the cluster configured to maintain a succession list for at least one session of a first client from the at least one client, the succession list comprising a list of nodes within the cluster and an order of succession for the nodes in the list to transfer ownership of the at least one session;

a first node of the cluster, the first node configured to enter an operational state for managing one or more sessions between the at least one client and the at least one server; and

a second node of the cluster, the second node configured to initiate, based on the succession list and responsive to the first node entering the operational state, a transfer of ownership of the at least one session from the second node to the first node.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the succession list is specified for one or more sessions associated with a first address.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the succession list is specified for the at least one session, the at least one session from a first client of the at least one client.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the succession list is specified based on a subset of nodes from the cluster.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the first node is configured to execute a packet engine for managing the one or more sessions.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the second node is configured to determine that the first node has entered an operational state for managing one or more sessions.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the first node is configured to receive from a third node a query on a first session of the at least one session.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the third node is configured to send the query to the first node based on the succession list.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the first node is configured to respond to the query with information about the first session if a transmission complete message has been received from the second node.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the first node is configured to send a message to the third node to re-send the query at a later time if a transmission complete message has not been received from the second node.