SCALABLE SELF-HEALING ARCHITECTURE FOR CLIENT-SERVER OPERATIONS IN TRANSIENT CONNECTIVITY CONDITIONS

• US 20160248836A1
• Filed: 02/20/2015
• Published: 08/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Agarwal, Kanak B., Bohrer, Patrick J., Gheith, Ahmed, Kistler, Michael D., Rajamony, Ramakrishnan, White Eagle, Brian L.
• Granted Patent: US 10,609,155 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1027 Persistence of sessions during load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for scalable and self-healing architecture for client-server operations in transient connectivity conditions are provided in the illustrative embodiments. An application in a second system receives a request from a first system, the request requesting data from a type of service. A first response responds to the request. The request is queued in a service queue corresponding to the type of the service, to make the request available to a third system that provides the type of the service. A notification is received that a second response from the third data processing system has been posted into a session specific queue, the second response being responsive to the request. In response to another request received from the first system, a third response is sent to the first system, the third response including the data from the second response from the session specific queue.

Claims

1. A method for managing data requests in transient network conditions, the method comprising:

receiving a first request from a first data processing system, over a data network, at an application executing using a processor and a memory in a second data processing system, the first request requesting data from a type of service;

responding to the first request with a first response;

queuing the first request in a service queue corresponding to the type of the service, to make the first request available to a third data processing system that provides the type of the service;

receiving a notification that a second response from the third data processing system has been posted into a session specific queue, the second response being responsive to the first request; and

sending, in response to a second request received from the first data processing system, a third response, the third response including the data from the second response posted in the session specific queue.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that a fourth response has been posted in the session specific queue;

determining that the fourth response remained in the session specific queue for a message timeout period; and

purging the fourth response from the session specific queue.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying that the session specific queue exists for a session with the first data processing system;

determining that the application has not received a communication from the first data processing system for a queue timeout period; and

deleting the session specific queue.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing the second response from the session specific queue.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the second request from the first data processing system, wherein the second request opens a channel over which the third response can be transmitted to the first data processing system.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether the session specific exists;

creating, responsive to the session specific queue not existing, the session specific queue consequent to receiving the second request; and

subscribing to the session specific queue.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether the session specific exists;

subscribing, responsive to the session specific queue existing, to the session specific queue.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing, by the responding, the first data processing system to complete a request-response pair using the first request and the first response such that the first data processing system does not have to retransmit the first request even though the first data processing system has not received the data in the first response.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first response comprises an acknowledgement response to acknowledge receiving the first message at the application.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the responding to occur within a first time period from the first request, wherein the first time period is shorter than a second time period from the first request, the second time period being needed to provide the data requested in the first request, and wherein the data network is available during the first time period but the data network becomes unavailable during the second period.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, responsive to a handshake message from the first data processing system, from a second application to the first data processing system, a session identifier to establish a session with the first data processing system;

wherein the first request comprises a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request in the session and uses the session identifier,

wherein the second request comprises an HTTP Get request,

wherein the third response comprise a response to the HTTP Get request.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a second application receives the second request, and wherein the application and the second application are instances of an agent application operating in a load sharing configuration.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the queuing further comprises:

consulting a lookup service, the lookup service being a service specified as part of configuring a backend service; and

queuing the first request in a service queue corresponding to the backend service.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the lookup service performs the queuing of the first request in the service queue corresponding to the backend service.

15. A computer usable program product comprising a computer readable storage device including computer usable code for managing data requests in transient network conditions, the computer usable code comprising:

computer usable code for receiving a first request from a first data processing system, over a data network, at an application executing using a processor and a memory in a second data processing system, the first request requesting data from a type of service;

computer usable code for responding to the first request with a first response;

computer usable code for queuing the first request in a service queue corresponding to the type of the service, to make the first request available to a third data processing system that provides the type of the service;

computer usable code for receiving a notification that a second response from the third data processing system has been posted into a session specific queue, the second response being responsive to the first request; and

computer usable code for sending, in response to a second request received from the first data processing system, a third response, the third response including the data from the second response posted in the session specific queue.

16. The computer usable program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable code for detecting that a fourth response has been posted in the session specific queue;

computer usable code for determining that the fourth response remained in the session specific queue for a message timeout period; and

computer usable code for purging the fourth response from the session specific queue.

17. The computer usable program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable code for identifying that the session specific queue exists for a session with the first data processing system;

computer usable code for determining that the application has not received a communication from the first data processing system for a queue timeout period; and

computer usable code for deleting the session specific queue.

18. The computer usable program product of claim 15, wherein the computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is transferred over a network from a remote data processing system.

19. The computer usable program product of claim 15, wherein the computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a server data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is downloaded over a network to a remote data processing system for use in a computer readable storage device associated with the remote data processing system.

20. A data processing system for managing data requests in transient network conditions, the data processing system comprising:

a storage device, wherein the storage device stores computer usable program code; and

a processor, wherein the processor executes the computer usable program code, and wherein the computer usable program code comprises;

computer usable code for receiving a first request from a first data processing system, over a data network, at an application executing using a processor and a memory in a second data processing system, the first request requesting data from a type of service;

computer usable code for responding to the first request with a first response;

computer usable code for queuing the first request in a service queue corresponding to the type of the service, to make the first request available to a third data processing system that provides the type of the service;

computer usable code for receiving a notification that a second response from the third data processing system has been posted into a session specific queue, the second response being responsive to the first request; and

computer usable code for sending, in response to a second request received from the first data processing system, a third response, the third response including the data from the second response posted in the session specific queue.