SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DIAMETER LOAD BALANCING

• US 20140304415A1
• Filed: 04/04/2014
• 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: Prakash, Devesh, Narayana, Raghav Somanahalli, Mylarappa, Mahesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,680,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1004 Server selection for load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed generally to systems and methods for Diameter load balancing. In some embodiments, an intermediary device may receive a diameter connection request from a client that includes a CER. The intermediary device may initiate a connection with a server of a plurality of servers and place the server protocol control block in a reuse pool. Responsive to opening the connection with the server, the intermediary device may forward the received CER. The intermediary device may then receive a CEA message from the server and establish an AVP-based persistent connection. The intermediary device may modify the received CEA message, and then forward the message to the client. When the intermediary device receives a diameter message from a client, the intermediary device may match an AVP of the message with an AVP associated with a persistent server connection, and forward the diameter message to the corresponding server.

Claims

1. A method of diameter load balancing via an intermediary device, comprising:

receiving, by a virtual server executing on a device intermediary to a client and a plurality of diameter servers, a message communicated from the client via a diameter protocol;

selecting, by the device, a diameter server of the plurality of diameter servers based on an attribute-value pair in the message; and

forwarding, by the device, the message to the selected diameter server of the plurality of diameter servers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the device, a second message from the client via the diameter protocol, the second message including a second attribute-value pair;

selecting, based on the second attribute-value pair matching the attribute-value pair, the diameter server of the plurality of diameter servers; and

forwarding the second message to the selected diameter server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the device, a plurality of messages communicated from the client via the diameter protocol; and

for each of the plurality of messages including a same attribute-value pair, selecting a same server of the plurality of diameter servers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the device, a second message from the client via the diameter protocol, the second message including a second attribute-value pair;

selecting, based on the second attribute-value pair being different than the attribute-value pair, a second diameter server of the plurality of diameter servers; and

forwarding the second message to the selected second diameter server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding, by the device, the request and a capabilities-exchange-request to at least one of the plurality of diameter servers; and

determining, by the at least one of the plurality of diameter servers, that the request was received directly from the client.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to receiving a handshake reply from the diameter server, modifying, by the device, the handshake reply message to include an identity of the device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing, by the device, a connection with each of the plurality of diameter servers.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding, by the device, a hop-by-hop number to forwarded request messages to maintain a transaction state.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the device, that a second message spans multiple packets;

accumulating, by the device, the multiple packets; and

responsive to determining that the accumulated packets include the second message, forwarding, by the device, the accumulated packets to the selected diameter server based on the second attribute-value pair of the second message.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the device, that a packet communicated via the diameter protocol includes a plurality of messages;

splitting, by the device, the packet to generate an individual packet for each of the plurality of messages; and

forwarding, by the device, the individual packets for each of the plurality of messages to one or more of the plurality of diameter servers based on an attribute-value pair of each of the plurality of messages.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the device is further configured to establish a connection with each of the plurality of diameter servers.

11. A system for diameter load balancing via an intermediary device, comprising:

a diameter agent executing on a device intermediary to a client and a plurality of diameter servers configured to receive a message communicated from the client via a diameter protocol;

a diameter load balancer executing on the device configured to select a diameter server of the plurality of diameter servers based on an attribute-value pair in a message communicated from the client via the diameter protocol, and forward the message to the selected diameter server of the plurality of diameter servers.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the diameter agent is further configured to receive a second message from the client via the diameter protocol, the second message including a second attribute-value pair; and

the diameter load balancer is further configured to select, based on the second attribute-value pair matching the attribute-value pair, the diameter server of the plurality of diameter servers, and forward the second message to the selected diameter server.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the diameter agent is further configured to receive a plurality of messages communicated from the client via the diameter protocol; and

the diameter load balancer is further configured to select a same server of the plurality of diameter servers for each of the plurality of messages including a same attribute-value pair.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the diameter agent is further configured to receive a second message from the client via the diameter protocol, the second message including a second attribute-value pair; and

the diameter load balancer is further configured to select, based on the second attribute-value pair being different than the attribute-value pair, a second diameter server of the plurality of diameter servers, and forward the second message to the selected second diameter server.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a handshake module configured to forward the request and a capabilities-exchange-request to at least one of the plurality of diameter servers, the request configured to indicate the source of the request as the client.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a handshake module executing on the device configured to modify a handshake reply message to include an identity of the device responsive to receiving the handshake reply from the server.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the device is further configured to add a hop-by-hop number to forwarded request messages to maintain a transaction state.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the device is further configured to:

determine that a second message spans multiple packets;

accumulate the multiple packets; and

responsive to determining that the accumulated packets include the second message, forward the accumulated packets to the selected diameter server based on the second attribute-value pair of the second message.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the device is further configured to:

determine that a packet communicated via the diameter protocol includes a plurality of messages;

split the packet to generate an individual packet for each of the plurality of messages; and

forward the individual packets for each of the plurality of messages to one or more of the plurality of diameter servers based on an attribute-value pair of each of the plurality of messages.