SINGLE DATA TRANSMISSION USING A DATA MANAGEMENT SERVER

• US 20170118310A1
• Filed: 10/27/2015
• Published: 04/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: GILLIARD, Christopher, TSIAO, James Chi-Shun, BAY, Konstantin Anatolyevich, LI, Yang, COMPEAU, Aram, LI, Xiangfang
• Granted Patent: US 11,190,577 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Techniques for processing application data are described. The techniques include transmitting packets of application data to a data management server. The data management server maintains rules that dictate where the packets go as well as what actions are taken in response to the packets. Based on the rules, the data management server transmits the packets to destinations that may perform various actions. The actions performed by destinations may include logging data received from the applications, or performing other actions such as notifying an administrator or other entity of a particular event, or the like. The described architecture decouples functions such as logging, notification, and the like from the applications for which they are performed, which provides benefits such as improved scalability, as well as removing the need for application developers to build such functionality directly into the applications. This reduces application development time and improves the robustness of application functionality.

Claims

1. A method for processing application data, comprising:

receiving a first packet of data from a first packet emitter associated with a first application providing the application data;

identifying a first emitter ID associated with the first packet emitter;

identifying a first application data processing destination based on the first emitter ID;

transmitting the first packet of data to the first application data processing destination; and

processing the first packet of data according to a first rule associated with the emitter ID and associated with the first application data processing destination, the first rule comprising an indication that the first data processing destination is to process the first packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first rule comprises:

an indication that the first application data processing destination is to perform a first action based on the first packet due to the first packet including the emitter ID that is associated with the first application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

examining the first rule to determine that an indication of the first destination is included within the first rule; and

transmitting the first rule to the first application data processing destination responsive to examining the first rule to determine that the indication of the first application data processing destination is included in the first rule.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein transmitting the first rule to the first application data processing destination comprises:

transmitting the first rule to a messaging bus that stores a queue associated with the first application data processing destination;

determining that the first application data processing destination is subscribed to the queue; and

transmitting the first rule to the first application data processing application responsive to determining that the first application processing destination is subscribed to the queue.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first rule comprises:

a trigger that specifies a condition that, when satisfied by data included in the first packet, causes the first application data processing destination to perform a first action specified in the first rule.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the first application data processing destination comprises a log server, and

the first action comprises logging data included within the first packet to storage.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the first application data processing destination comprises an event server, and

the first action comprises transmitting a notification via a notification transmission protocol.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second packet of data from a second packet emitter associated with a second application;

determining that no rules exist that specify that any destination processes packets received from the second packet emitter; and

responsive to determining that no rules exist that specify that any destination processes packets received from the second packet emitter, discarding the second packet of data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the first packet of data to the first application data processing destination comprises:

transmitting the first packet of data to a messaging bus that stores a queue associated with the first packet emitter;

determining that the first application data processing destination is subscribed to the queue; and

transmitting the first packet of data to the first application data processing application responsive to determining that the first application processing destination is subscribed to the queue.

10. A system for processing application data, comprising:

a data management server configured to;

receive a first packet of data from a first packet emitter associated with a first application providing the application data,

identify a first emitter ID associated with the first packet emitter,

identify a first application data processing destination based on the first emitter ID, and

transmit the first packet of data to the first application data processing destination; and

the first application data processing destination, configured to process the first packet of data according to a first rule associated with the emitter ID and associated with the first application data processing destination, the first rule comprising an indication that the first data processing destination is to process the first packet.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first rule comprises:

an indication that the first application data processing destination is to perform a first action based on the first packet due to the first packet including the emitter ID that is associated with the first application.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the data management server is further configured to:

examine the first rule to determine that an indication of the first destination is included within the first rule; and

transmit the first rule to the first application data processing destination responsive to examining the first rule to determine that the indication of the first application data processing destination is included in the first rule.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data management server is configured to transmit the first rule to the first application data processing destination by:

transmitting the first rule to a messaging bus that stores a queue associated with the first application data processing destination;

determining that the first application data processing destination is subscribed to the queue; and

transmitting the first rule to the first application data processing application responsive to determining that the first application processing destination is subscribed to the queue.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the first rule comprises:

a trigger that specifies a condition that, when satisfied by data included in the first packet, causes the first application data processing destination to perform a first action specified in the first rule.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the first application data processing destination comprises a log server, and

the first action comprises logging data included within the first packet to storage.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the first application data processing destination comprises an event server, and

the first action comprises transmitting a notification via a notification transmission protocol.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the data management server is further configured to:

receive a second packet of data from a second packet emitter associated with a second application;

determine that no rules exist that specify that any destination processes packets received from the second packet emitter; and

responsive to determining that no rules exist that specify that any destination processes packets received from the second packet emitter, discard the second packet of data.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the data management server is configured to transmit the first packet of data to the first application data processing destination by:

transmitting the first packet of data to a messaging bus that stores a queue associated with the first packet emitter;

determining that the first application data processing destination is subscribed to the queue; and

transmitting the first packet of data to the first application data processing application responsive to determining that the first application processing destination is subscribed to the queue.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a first packet of data from a first packet emitter associated with a first application providing the application data;

identifying a first emitter ID associated with the first packet emitter;

identifying a first application data processing destination based on the first emitter ID;

transmitting the first packet of data to the first application data processing destination; and

processing the first packet of data according to a first rule associated with the emitter ID and associated with the first application data processing destination, the first rule comprising an indication that the first data processing destination is to process the first packet.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the first rule comprises:

an indication that the first application data processing destination is to perform a first action based on the first packet due to the first packet including the emitter ID that is associated with the first application.