APPARATUS FOR SWITCHING BETWEEN MULTIPLE SERVERS IN A WEB-BASED SYSTEM

• US 20150113647A1
• Filed: 10/20/2014
• Published: 04/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Hi-Tech Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Hi-Tech Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: SAKAMAKI, HISASHI, HATTORI, KIYOYUKI, OKAMOTO, YOSHIFUMI, YOTSUYANAGI, TAKASHI, ARIMA, SUMIHIKO
• Granted Patent: US 9,516,042 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/23
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A main server and a mirror server hold the same content. A server switching apparatus sets only one of the web servers to be active. In the case where the mirror server has not been attacked in an immediately-previous operating period, the server switching apparatus switches from the main server to the mirror server. Upon receiving a request from a client computer, the server switching apparatus transfers the request to the active web server. The active web server then sends the requested content.

Claims

1. A web system comprising:

a first web server configured to hold content;

a second web server configured to hold the same content as the content held in the first web server; and

a server switching apparatus configured to a web server providing the content to a user when a predetermined server switching condition is met,

wherein the server switching apparatus includes;

an attack detection unit configured to detect whether or not the web server, of the first web server and the second web server, that is not active in order to provide the content to the user, has been attacked in the past;

a switching unit configured to switch from the web server that is active to the web server that is not active in the case where a condition that the web server that is not active has not been attacked in the past, serving as one server switching condition, is met; and

a transfer unit configured to, when a request is received from the user, transfer the request to the web server, of the first web server and the second web server, that has been activated by the switching unit, and

wherein the web server further configured to, of the first web server and the second web server, that has been activated by the switching unit, send content requested by the request to the user.

2. The web system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a recording unit configured to record session information for the user,

wherein the same session information is shared between the first web server and the second web server by the recording unit, and the content is provided in accordance with the shared session information even in the case where the web server is switched.

3. The web system according to claim 2,

wherein the first web server includes a first storage unit configured to store session information;

the second web server includes a second storage unit configured to store session information; and

the recording unit configured to copy the session information between the first storage unit and the second storage unit.

4. The web system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a copying unit configured to copy the content held in the first web server into the second web server,

wherein the copying unit further configured to ensure that the same content is held in the first web server and in the second web server.

5. The web system according to claim 1,

wherein the server switching apparatus further includes a timer unit configured to measure a set period of time,

wherein the switching unit is configured to switch from the web server that is active in order to provide the content to the web server that is not active in the case where the set period of time has been measured by the timer unit and the attack detection unit has not detected an attack.

6. The web system according to claim 1,

wherein the switching unit is configured to switch from the web server that is active in order to provide the content to the web server that is not active in the case where a predetermined time has been reached and the attack detection unit has not detected an attack.

7. The web system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a holding unit configured to hold an access log for each user; and

a specifying unit configured to, when the attack detection unit has detected an attack, specify a user that carried out the attack by referring to the access log.

8. The web system according to claim 7, further comprising:

a determination unit configured to, based on the access log, determine a user that accessed a web server in which an attack has been detected by the attack detection unit when that web server was active; and

an alert unit configured to send an alert to the user determined by the determination unit.

9. The web system according to claim 1,

wherein the attack detection unit has a virus detection unit configured to detect a computer virus.

10. The web system according to claim 1,

wherein the attack detection unit has a tampering detection unit configured to detect that the content has been tampered with.

11. The web system according to claim 1,

wherein the transfer unit is configured to transfer the content provided by the web server that is active to the user.

12. The web system according to claim 1,

wherein when active, the first web server and the second web server send the content requested by the user directly to the user without passing through the server switching apparatus.

13. The web system according to claim 1,

wherein the switching unit is configured to switch the web server every predetermined period, and in the case where the attack detection unit detects that an attack has been carried out on the web server that is active, the web server is switched to the web server that is not active and has not been attacked even in the case where the predetermined period has not elapsed.

14. The web system according to claim 1,

wherein at least one of the first web server and the second web server is a multifunction peripheral, a printer, or a network scanner.

15. The web system according to claim 1,

wherein at least one of the first web server and the second web server is connected to a multifunction peripheral, a printer, or a network scanner.

16. The web system according to claim 4,

wherein the copying unit is configured to examine whether or not there is an abnormality in content, of the content held in the first web server, that is to be copied, and copies the content to the second web server in the case where there is no abnormality.

17. The web system according to claim 16,

wherein the copying unit is configured to preferentially examine and copy content, of the content held in the first web server, that is accessed frequently.

18. A server switching apparatus, connected to a first web server configured to hold content and a second web server that holds the same content as the content held in the first web server, configured to switch a web server providing the content to a user when a predetermined server switching condition is met, the apparatus comprising:

an attack detection unit configured to detect whether or not the web server, of the first web server and the second web server, that is not active in order to provide the content to the user, has been attacked in the past;

a switching unit configured to switch from the web server that is active in order to provide the content to the user to the web server that is not active in the case where a condition that the web server that is not active has not been attacked, serving as one server switching condition, is met; and

a transfer unit configured to, when a request is received from the user, transfer the request to the web server, of the first web server and the second web server, that has been activated by the switching unit.

19. A program stored in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for causing a computer, the computer being connected to a first web server that holds content and a second web server that holds the same content as the content held in the first web server, to function as:

an attack detection unit configured to detect whether or not the web server, of the first web server and the second web server, that is not active in order to provide the content to the user, has been attacked in the past;

a switching unit configured to switch from the web server that is active in order to provide the content to the user to the web server that is not active in the case where a condition that the web server that is not active has not been attacked, serving as one server switching condition, is met; and

a transfer unit configured to, when a request is received from the user, transfer the request to the web server, of the first web server and the second web server, that has been activated by the switching unit.

20. A server switching method, for a server switching apparatus connected to a first web server that holds content and a second web server that holds the same content as the content held in the first web server, that switches a web server providing the content to a user when a predetermined server switching condition is met, the method comprising:

an attack step of detecting whether or not the web server, of the first web server and the second web server, that is not active in order to provide the content to the user, has been attacked in the past;

a switching step of switching from the web server that is active in order to provide the content to the user to the web server that is not active in the case where a condition that the web server that is not active has not been attacked, serving as one server switching condition, is met;

a transfer step of, when a request is received from the user, transferring the request to the web server, of the first web server and the second web server, that has been activated by the switching step; and

a sending step of the web server, of the first web server and the second web server, that has been activated by the switching step, sending content requested by the request to the user.