METHODS FOR INTELLIGENT DATA TRAFFIC STEERING
First Claim
1. A passive port method of intelligent data traffic steering performed by an adaptive load balancer, the adaptive load balancer being operatively coupled to a software defined network (SDN), the network having network ports to which a plurality of servers is connected, the network having an SDN controller which generates statistical information concerning the network, the adaptive load balancer defining a virtual service interface and including a memory having stored therein one or more of information relating to the configured parameters of the servers, information relating to the network, policy information and the statistical information generated by the SDN controller, the adaptive load balancer having a weighted round robin scheduler module which determines weights to be assigned to each server of the plurality of servers connected to the network, the passive port method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a user session request on the virtual service interface of the adaptive load balancer;
identifying by the adaptive load balancer the source of the user session request and potential servers of the plurality of servers to receive the session request based on the configured parameters of the servers;
periodically polling by the adaptive load balancer the SDN controller to obtain by the adaptive load balancer the network statistical information generated by the SDN controller, the statistical information relating to the network ports to which the plurality of servers is connected;
determining by the adaptive load balancer whether the SDN controller has responded to the polling directed thereat by the adaptive load balancer within a predetermined period of time;
if the SDN controller has responded to the polling within the predetermined period of time, then receiving and evaluating by the adaptive load balancer the statistical information generated by the SDN controller relating to each network port to determine whether a data traffic congestion condition exists thereat;
if a data traffic congestion condition exists at a respective network port, then changing by the adaptive load balancer the weight assigned to a server connected to the respective network port;
determining by the adaptive load balancer a server of the plurality of servers having the best weight assigned thereto; and
causing by the adaptive load balancer the forwarding of the session request through the network to the server having the best weight assigned thereto, thereby establishing a data path through the network on which the session request may flow.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Data traffic is intelligently steered by an adaptive load balancer through a software defined network (SDN) to which the load balancer is operatively coupled. The network has egress ports to which a plurality of servers is connected. The network has an SDN controller which generates statistical information concerning the network. Data traffic is steered through the SDN by the adaptive load balancer using a passive port method, a passive path, method, an active path method and an active path with quality of service (QoS) overlay method.
140 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A passive port method of intelligent data traffic steering performed by an adaptive load balancer, the adaptive load balancer being operatively coupled to a software defined network (SDN), the network having network ports to which a plurality of servers is connected, the network having an SDN controller which generates statistical information concerning the network, the adaptive load balancer defining a virtual service interface and including a memory having stored therein one or more of information relating to the configured parameters of the servers, information relating to the network, policy information and the statistical information generated by the SDN controller, the adaptive load balancer having a weighted round robin scheduler module which determines weights to be assigned to each server of the plurality of servers connected to the network, the passive port method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a user session request on the virtual service interface of the adaptive load balancer; identifying by the adaptive load balancer the source of the user session request and potential servers of the plurality of servers to receive the session request based on the configured parameters of the servers; periodically polling by the adaptive load balancer the SDN controller to obtain by the adaptive load balancer the network statistical information generated by the SDN controller, the statistical information relating to the network ports to which the plurality of servers is connected; determining by the adaptive load balancer whether the SDN controller has responded to the polling directed thereat by the adaptive load balancer within a predetermined period of time; if the SDN controller has responded to the polling within the predetermined period of time, then receiving and evaluating by the adaptive load balancer the statistical information generated by the SDN controller relating to each network port to determine whether a data traffic congestion condition exists thereat; if a data traffic congestion condition exists at a respective network port, then changing by the adaptive load balancer the weight assigned to a server connected to the respective network port; determining by the adaptive load balancer a server of the plurality of servers having the best weight assigned thereto; and causing by the adaptive load balancer the forwarding of the session request through the network to the server having the best weight assigned thereto, thereby establishing a data path through the network on which the session request may flow. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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2. A passive path method of intelligent data traffic steering performed by an adaptive load balancer, the adaptive load balancer being operatively coupled to a software defined network (SDN), the adaptive load balancer having a policy database which has stored therein the requirements of at least one application, a memory having stored therein a weight associated with each server connected to the network, and a weighted round robin scheduling module which determines the weights associated with the servers connected to the network, the network having a plurality of switches and defining a plurality of data paths through the switches, the switches of the plurality of switches having switch ports, a plurality of servers being connected to at least some of the switch ports of the network, the network further having an SDN controller which generates statistical information concerning the network, the SDN controller controlling the state of each switch of the plurality of switches and thereby controlling the data paths through the network, the adaptive load balancer defining a virtual service interface and including a memory having stored therein one or more of information relating to the configured parameters of the servers, information relating to the network, policy information and the statistical information generated by the SDN controller, the adaptive load balancer having a weighted round robin scheduler module which determines weights to be assigned to each server of the plurality of servers connected to the network, the passive path method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a user session request on the virtual service interface of the adaptive load balancer; identifying by the adaptive load balancer the source of the user session request and potential servers of the plurality of servers to receive the session request based on the configured parameters of the servers; periodically polling by the adaptive load balancer the SDN controller to obtain by the adaptive load balancer the statistical information generated by the SDN controller, the statistical information relating to each complete data path through the network to a respective server and information concerning the switch ports of the network switches; determining by the adaptive load balancer whether the SDN controller has responded to the polling directed thereat by the adaptive load balancer within a predetermined period of time; if the SDN controller has responded to the polling within the predetermined period of time, then comparing by the adaptive load balancer calculated values relating to pre-configured data paths of the network defined by the SDN controller based on the requirements of the at least one application stored in the policy database, the calculated values including the presence of data traffic congestion, the pre-configured data paths being paths programmed by the SDN controller to specify the flow of data in a first direction through the network and in a second direction through the network which is opposite to the first direction between the adaptive load balancer and a server on the network, and determining whether a data path congestion condition exists; if a data path traffic congestion condition exists at a respective data path of the network, then changing by the adaptive load balancer the weight assigned to a server connected to a switch port defining the respective data path, and updating the weight of the server stored in the memory of the adaptive load balancer; selecting by the weighted round robin scheduling module of the adaptive load balancer a particular server of the plurality of servers; and causing by the adaptive load balancer the forwarding of the session request through the network on a data path to the particular server selected by the weighted round robin scheduling module, thereby establishing a data path through the network on which the session request may flow. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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3. An active path method of intelligent data traffic steering performed by an adaptive load balancer, the adaptive load balancer being operatively coupled to a software defined network (SDN), the network having a plurality of switches and defining a plurality of data paths through the switches, the switches of the plurality of switches having switch ports, a plurality of servers being connected to at least some of the switch ports of the network, the network further having an SDN controller which generates statistical information concerning the network, the SDN controller controlling the state of each switch of the plurality of switches and thereby controlling the data paths through the network, the adaptive load balancer defining a virtual service interface and including a memory having stored therein one or more of information relating to the configured parameters of the servers, information relating to the network, policy information and the statistical information generated by the SDN controller, the adaptive load balancer having a weighted round robin scheduler module which determines weights to be assigned to each server of the plurality of servers connected to the network, the adaptive load balancer further having a policy database in which is stored policy parameters including the requirements of at least one application, the active path method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a user session request on the virtual service interface of the adaptive load balancer; identifying by the adaptive load balancer the source of the user session request and potential servers of the plurality of servers to receive the session request based on the configured parameters of the servers; periodically polling by the adaptive load balancer the SDN controller to obtain by the adaptive load balancer data path information and the statistical network information generated by the SDN controller and network topology information, the statistical network information including information relating to all possible data paths through the network and information concerning the switch ports in the data paths; determining by the adaptive load balancer whether the SDN controller has responded to the polling directed thereat by the adaptive load balancer within a predetermined period of time; if the SDN controller has responded to the polling within the predetermined period of time, then generating by the adaptive load balancer a set of possible data paths through the network, a possible data path being determined by the ability of the data path for data to flow through the network to a respective server; reducing by the adaptive load balancer the number of possible data paths in the set of possible data paths based on the requirements of the at least one application stored in the policy database and providing a reduced set of possible data paths; determining the adaptive load balancer an optimal data path through the network from the reduced set of possible data paths; sending by the adaptive load balancer a command to the SDN controller to program a data path through the network corresponding to the optimum data path determined by the adaptive load balancer; and causing by the adaptive load balancer the forwarding of the session request through the network on the data path programmed by the SDN controller to a server, thereby establishing a data path through the network on which the session request may flow. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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4. An active path with quality of service (QoS) overlay method of intelligent data traffic steering performed by an adaptive load balancer, the adaptive load balancer being operatively coupled to a software defined network (SDN), the network having a plurality of switches and defining a plurality of data paths through the switches, the switches of the plurality of switches having switch ports, a plurality of servers being connected to at least some of the switch ports of the network, the network further having an SDN controller which generates statistical information concerning the network, the SDN controller controlling the state of each switch of the plurality of switches and thereby controlling the data paths through the network, the load balancer defining a virtual service interface and including a memory having stored therein one or more of information relating to the configured parameters of the servers, information relating to the network, policy information and the statistical information generated by the SDN controller, the adaptive load balancer having a weighted round robin scheduler module which determines weights to be assigned to each server of the plurality of servers connected to the network, the adaptive load balancer further having a policy database in which is stored policy parameters including the requirements of at least one application, the active path with QoS overlay method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a user session request on the virtual service interface of the adaptive load balancer; identifying by the adaptive load balancer the source of the user session request and potential servers of the plurality of servers to receive the session request based on the configured parameters of the servers; consulting the policy database to detennine if there exists a specific QoS policy for the at least one application which should be applied to forward and return data paths through the network; if a specific QoS policy for the at least one application exists, then sending by the adaptive load balancer a command to the SDN controller to program attributes of the specific QoS policy on the network switches in the forward and return data paths through the network to at least one server connected to the network, the SDN controller utilizing a meter table to establish an appropriate QoS Service Level Agreement (SLA) through the network in accordance with the specific QoS policy; and causing by the adaptive load balancer the forwarding of the session request through the network on the data path programmed by the SDN controller to a server, thereby establishing a data path through the network on which the session request may flow. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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Specification