DISTRIBUTED GLOBAL LOAD-BALANCING SYSTEM FOR SOFTWARE-DEFINED DATA CENTERS

• US 20150106523A1
• Filed: 10/15/2013
• Published: 04/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cui, Liang, Xu, Hailing, Chen, Dong Ping
• Granted Patent: US 9,998,530 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• 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 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• 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 disclosure herein describes a system for providing distributed global server load balancing (GSLB) over resources across multiple data centers. The system includes a directory group comprising one or more directory nodes and a plurality of GSLB nodes registered to the directory group. A respective GSLB node is configured to provide GSLB services over a respective portion of the resources. A directory node includes a domain name system (DNS) query-receiving module configured to receive a DNS query from a client, a node-selecting module configured to select from the plurality of GSLB nodes a first GSLB node based at least on the DNS query, and a DNS query-responding module configured to respond to the DNS query to the client using an address of the selected first GSLB node, thereby facilitating the selected first GSLB node in performing GSLB while resolving the DNS query.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing distributed global server load balancing (GSLB) over resources across multiple data centers, comprising:

registering, at a directory node, a plurality of GSLB nodes, wherein a respective GSLB node is configured to provide GSLB services over a respective portion of the resources;

receiving, at a directory node, a domain name system (DNS) query from a client;

selecting, from the plurality of GSLB nodes, a first GSLB node based at least on the DNS query; and

responding to the DNS query to the client using an address of the selected first GSLB node, thereby facilitating the selected first GSLB node in performing GSLB while resolving the DNS query.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein registering the respective GSLB node comprises receiving, at the directory node, metadata associated with the respective GSLB node, and wherein the metadata comprises one or more of:

a node ID;

an Internet Protocol (IP) address;

a location; and

one or more domain names supported by the respective GSLB node.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the first GSLB node comprises looking up a mapping between the registered GSLB nodes and domain names supported by the registered GSLB nodes.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the first GSLB node further comprises:

determining a location of the client;

determining locations of the plurality of GSLB nodes; and

determining health status of the plurality of GSLB nodes.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data centers include:

physical data centers; and

software-defined data centers.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, from the directory node, a replica command to the respective GSLB node, wherein the replica command prompts the respective GSLB node to send replica data to one or more different GSLB nodes, wherein the replica data includes GSLB configurations and runtime data associated with the respective GSLB nodes, thereby enabling failover to the one or more different GSLB nodes when the respective GSLB node fails.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the directory node belongs to a directory group comprising multiple state-synchronized directory nodes, and wherein the multiple directory nodes are placed at different data centers.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for providing distributed global server load balancing (GSLB) over resources across multiple data centers, the method comprising:

registering, at a directory node, a plurality of GSLB nodes, wherein a respective GSLB node is configured to provide GSLB services over a respective portion of the resources;

receiving, at a directory node, a domain name system (DNS) query from a client;

selecting, from the plurality of GSLB nodes, a first GSLB node based at least on the DNS query; and

responding to the DNS query to the client using an address of the selected first GSLB node, thereby facilitating the selected first GSLB node in performing GSLB while resolving the DNS query.

9. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein registering the respective GSLB node comprises receiving, at the directory node, metadata associated with the respective GSLB node, and wherein the metadata comprises one or more of:

a node ID;

an Internet Protocol (IP) address;

a location; and

one or more domain names supported by the respective GSLB node.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein selecting the first GSLB node comprises looking up a mapping between the registered GSLB nodes and domain names supported by the registered GSLB nodes.

11. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein selecting the first GSLB node further comprises:

determining a location of the client;

determining locations of the plurality of GSLB nodes; and

determining health status of the plurality of GSLB nodes.

12. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the data centers include:

physical data centers; and

software-defined data centers.

13. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises sending, from the directory node, a replica command to the respective GSLB node, wherein the replica command prompts the respective GSLB node to send replica data to one or more different GSLB nodes, wherein the replica data includes GSLB configurations and runtime data associated with the respective GSLB nodes, thereby enabling failover to the one or more different GSLB nodes when the respective GSLB node fails.

14. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the directory node belongs to a directory group comprising multiple state-synchronized directory nodes.

15. A system for providing distributed global server load balancing (GSLB) over resources across multiple data centers, comprising:

a directory group comprising one or more directory nodes; and

a plurality of GSLB nodes registered to the directory group, wherein a respective GSLB node is configured to provide GSLB services over a respective portion of the resources;

wherein a directory node comprises;

a domain name system (DNS) query-receiving module configured to receive a DNS query from a client;

a node-selecting module configured to select, from the plurality of GSLB nodes, a first GSLB node based at least on the DNS query; and

a DNS query-responding module configured to respond the DNS query to the client using an address of the selected first GSLB node, thereby facilitating the selected first GSLB node in performing GSLB while resolving the DNS query.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the directory node further comprises a directory database configured to store metadata associated with the plurality of GSLB nodes, wherein the metadata includes a mapping between the plurality of GSLB nodes and domain names supported by the plurality of GSLB nodes.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the metadata further comprises individual entries corresponding to individual GSLB nodes, wherein a respective entry corresponding to the respective GSLB node includes one or more of:

a node ID;

an Internet Protocol (IP) address;

a location; and

health status.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein while selecting the first GSLB node, the node-selecting module is further configured to:

determine a location of the client;

determine locations of the plurality of nodes; and

determine health status of the registered GSLB nodes.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the data centers include:

physical data centers; and

software-defined data centers.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the respective GSLB node further comprises a replica module configured to:

receive, from the directory node, a replica command; and

in response to receiving the replica command, send replica data to one or more different GSLB nodes, wherein the replica data includes GSLB configurations and runtime data associated with the respective GSLB nodes, thereby enabling failover to the one or more different GSLB nodes when the respective GSLB node fails.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more directory nodes are state synchronized.