System and method for reducing latencies while translating internet host name-address bindings

• US 6,262,987 B1
• Filed: 03/26/1998
• Issued: 07/17/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Compaq Information Technologies Group LP (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Mogul, Jeffrey C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Olms, Douglas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pizarro, Ricardo M.
• Application Number:
  US09/048,650
• Time in Patent Office: 1,209 Days
• Field of Search: 370/400, 370/401, 370/405, 370/475, 370/466, 370/389, 370/392, 370/409, 709/245, 709/249, 709/227, 709/203, 395/200.56, 395/200.59, 395/651, 395/200.3, 395/200.68, 395/200.65
• US Class Current: 370/400
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping

Abstract

In a distributed network of host computers, a system and method are provided for translating names and addresses of the host computers. The names of a substantial number of all of the host computers of the network are collected by probing the network from a collecting site. The names are stored in a table. Name-address bindings, which may include time-to-live information, are obtained for each of the collected names. The name-address bindings can be compressed and transferred to a cache memory of a recipient computer, such as, for example, a proxy server. The recipient computer receives translation requests for any of the name-address bindings stored in the memory. These translation requests can include first translation requests for the any of the name-address bindings stored in the memory. In response to the requests, including the first requests, the recipient computer replies the name-address bindings to reduce response latencies.

Claims

1. In a distributed network of host computers, a computer implemented method for translating names and addresses of the host computers, comprising the steps of:

collecting the names of substantially all of the host computers by probing the network from a collecting site;

obtaining a name-address binding for each of the collected names;

storing the name-address bindings in a memory;

receiving translation requests for any of the name-address bindings stored in the memory, the translation requests including first translate requests for any of the name-address bindings stored in the memory; and

replying the name-address bindings in response to the translation requests including the first translation requests to avoid compulsory misses.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the collecting site is a search engine that includes a means of discovering a plurality of Web sites on the network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the collecting site is an electronic mail server computer including mail server logs storing the names of the host computers.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the name-address bindings are obtained prior to receiving the translation requests.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the name-address bindings are obtained after receiving the translation requests.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

compressing the name-address bindings in the memory.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

obtaining a time-to-live value for each of the name-address bindings.

8. The method of claim 7 including a recipient computer including a cache memory for storing the name-address bindings.

9. The method of claim 8 including transferring the name address bindings from the collecting site to the cache memory of the proxy server computer.

10. The method of claim 9 including compressing the name-address bindings prior to transferring.

11. The method of claim 7 including a plurality of recipient computers, each recipient computer including a cache memory for storing a copy of the name-address bindings.

12. The method of claim 11 including transferring a copy of the name address bindings from the collecting site to each cache memory of each recipient computer.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the copies of the name-address bindings are transferred from the collecting site to each cache memory of each server computer over the network in a multi-cast mode.

14. The method of claim 13 including encrypting each copy of the name-address bindings prior to transferring.

15. The method of claim 13 including compressing each copy of the name-address bindings prior to transferring.

16. The method of claim 7 wherein the name-address bindings are obtained from a distributed name system connected to the network.

17. The method of claim 7 including incrementally updating the name address bindings after collecting the names.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein each name-address binding includes a time-to-live value, and replying the name-address bindings for a particular translation request only if the time-to-live value is valid.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the time-to-live values are incrementally updated after collecting the names to avoid time-out misses.

20. The method of claim 19 including only updating time-to-live values that are less than or equal to actual time-to-live values.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the updating of the time-to-live values includes a bit vector, there being one bit for each time-to-live value, each bit indicating whether the corresponding time-to-live value is valid for a predetermined amount of time.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the collecting site is distributed over a plurality of computers.

23. In a distributed network of host computers, a system for translating names and addresses of the host computers, comprising:

a collecting site probing the network for names of substantially all of the host computers;

a distributed name system connected to the network for obtaining name-address bindings for the collected names;

a recipient computer connected to the network, the proxy server computer including a memory for storing the name-address bindings;

means for receiving translation requests for any of the name-address bindings stored in the memory, the translation requests including first translation requests for any of the name-address bindings stored in the memory; and

means for replying the name-address bindings in response to the translation requests including the first request translation requests to reduce response latencies.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the distributed name system obtains a time-to-live value for each of the name-address bindings.

25. In a distributed network of host computers, a computer implemented method for translating names and addresses of the host computers, comprising the steps of:

collecting names of host computers by probing the network from a collecting site;

obtaining a name-address binding for each of the collected names;

storing a copy of the name-address bindings in a cache memory of each of a plurality of recipient computers;

receiving translation requests for any of the name-address bindings stored in the memory, the translation requests including first translate requests for any of the name-address bindings stored in the memory;

replying the name-address bindings in response to the translation requests including the first translation requests to avoid compulsory misses.

26. In a distributed network of host computers, a computer implemented method for translating names and addresses of the host computers, comprising:

collecting names of host computers by probing the network from a collecting site;

storing a table containing the collected names;

transferring the table to recipient computers each of which having a cache memory;

loading the table into the cache memory of each of the recipient computers;

obtaining and including in the table a name-address binding with an associated time-to-live value for each of the collected names;

storing a copy of the table containing the name-address bindings and associated time-to-live value in the cache memory of each of the recipient computers;

receiving translation requests including first translation requests for any of the name-address bindings; and

replying the name-address bindings in response to the translation requests including the first translation requests to avoid compulsory misses.

27. The computer implemented method of claim 26 further comprising:

compressing the table; and

after transferring the table to the recipient computers, decompressing the table.

28. The computer implemented method wherein of claim 26 the collecting site sends the table to the recipient computers as a multicast.

29. The computer implemented method wherein of claim 26 the obtaining and including in the table of the name-address binding with the associated time-to-live value can be accomplished in the collecting site or the recipient computers.