Distributed networking using logical processes

• US 6,272,523 B1
• Filed: 12/20/1996
• Issued: 08/07/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ascom Timeplex Trading AG, International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Factor, Michael Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barot, Bharat
• Application Number:
  US08/772,663
• Time in Patent Office: 1,691 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.31, 395/200.33, 395/200.36, 395/200-7-2, 395/200.59, 395/200.75, 395/670-675, 707/1-5, 707/9-10, 707/100-104, 707/501, 707/513, 707/531, 709/102-105, 709/201-203, 709/26, 709/217-219, 709/227-229, 709/238-239, 709/245, 713/200, 713/201, 713/202
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

Disclosed is a system and method for load balancing on a computer network that utilizes two levels of addressing abstraction—logical and physical. Logical processes are mapped to physical processes using a logical interface and may be done in a one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-one fashion. The mapping is dynamic in the sense that mapping decisions may include selection functions that can be changed on the fly so that servers can be added or removed in a manner that is relatively transparent to the client. The system and method are also applied to the World Wide Web so that web sites can also dynamically distribute processes over a plurality of servers.

Claims

1. A distributed network for use by the world wide web, said distributed network comprising:

a web browser residing on a client system wherein said web browser includes a system for selecting a logical process and a mapping system for mapping said logical process to one of a plurality of physical processes, said mapping system including a programmable selection function for automatically selecting one of said plurality of physical processes to service the selected logical process, wherein the logical process has a unique logical address; and

a single web site associated with the unique logical address, the single web site utilizing a plurality of servers, wherein said plurality of physical processes are distributed among the plurality of servers and wherein each physical process has its own unique physical address.

2. The distributed network of claim 1 wherein said programmable selection function is downloadable into said client system.

3. The distributed network of claim 1 wherein said programmable selection function is downloaded as a Java applet.

4. A program product, said program product comprising:

a recordable media; and

a web browser stored on said recordable media wherein said web browser selects a logical process and maps said logical process to one of a plurality of physical processes, said browser further including a programmable selection function for automatically selecting one of said plurality of physical processes to service the selected logical process.

5. The program product of claim 4 wherein said selection function is downloadable into said client system.

6. The program product of claim 4 wherein said plurality of physical processes comprise web pages.

7. The program product of claim 4 wherein said programmable selection function is downloaded as a Java applet.

8. A distributed computing system comprising:

a plurality of client systems, wherein each of said client systems includes a mechanism for selecting a logical process that has a logical address and wherein each of said client systems includes a mapping system for mapping said logical process to one of a plurality of physical processes;

a plurality of physical server systems, said plurality of server systems each including at least one of said physical processes, each of said physical processes further having a physical address.

9. The distributed computing system of claim 8 wherein said mapping system includes a first selection mechanism for returning the location of a page of a distributed shared memory.

10. The distributed computing system of claim 9 wherein said distributed shared memory is partitioned over a plurality of physical server systems.

11. The distributed computing system of claim 8 wherein said mapping system includes a second selection mechanism that selects one of a subset of physical processes wherein each of said physical processes within said subset are functionally equivalent.

12. The distributed computing system of claim 8 wherein said mapping system includes a third selection mechanism that maps a plurality of logical processes to a single predetermined physical process.

13. The distributed computing system of claim 8 wherein said mapping system includes a caching system.

14. The distributed computing system of claim 8 wherein said logical process includes a universally unique and persistent identifier.

15. A mapping interface system for mapping logical processes to physical processes, said system comprising:

a first mapping process for mapping a first class of logical processes to one of a plurality of physical processes wherein each of said plurality of physical processes are functionally equivalent but reside at different physical addresses;

a second mapping process for mapping a second class of logical processes, said process including means for returning a location of a page of distributed shared memory; and

a third mapping process for mapping a third class of logical processes to a single physical process.

16. A method of handling distributed processes on a world wide web system that includes web sites having a plurality of physical server addresses, said method including the steps of:

initiating a logical process from a web browser;

checking a cache associated with said web browser to determine if a mapping function for said logical process exists therein;

for the case where said mapping function for said logical process exists in said cache, using said mapping function to ascertain a physical process address of a selected web site;

for the case where said mapping function for said logical process does not exist in said cache, performing the steps of;

downloading said mapping function from a mapping server to said cache; and

using said mapping function to ascertain a physical process address of a selected web site; and

contacting said web site with the physical process address obtained from said mapping function.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said mapping server is located proximate said web site.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein said mapping function is downloaded into a cache in the form of a Java applet.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein said mapping function includes a predefined selection process for selecting physical processes.