Tagging for demultiplexing in a network traffic server

• US 6,535,509 B2
• Filed: 09/23/1999
• Issued: 03/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Array Networks Incorporated (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: InfoLibria, Inc. (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Amicangioli, Anthony D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Wellington
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAM, BRENDA H
• Application Number:
  US09/404,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20020071422A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• Field of Search: 370/389, 370/390, 370/392, 370/397, 370/396, 370/398, 370/399, 370/401, 370/402, 370/409, 370/536, 370/542, 370/465
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The present invention involves a method and apparatus for tagging messages to reduce redundant processing of data at two different, but linked, processing units. A first message processing unit assigns a tag to a message based upon its content, where the message and corresponding tag are passed along for further processing at a second network processing unit. The second processing unit decodes the message to identify the tag and, therefore, the process associated with a particular message. In this way, a stream of related messages are identified by the assigned tag, simplifying the process of directing the messages to the appropriate process at a is second processing unit.

Claims

1. In a network having at least two nodes, where messages are transferred between nodes on the network, a network apparatus comprising:

a message redirector interposed between nodes that intercepts and processes messages such that selected messages intended for other nodes on the network are marked with connection tags and are redirected to a traffic processor, where a connection corresponding with each connection tag is established for further communications between the node and traffic processor; and

a traffic processor linked to the message redirector, the traffic processor decoding received messages to identify connection tags and directing the message to the connection corresponding with the connection tag, thereby bypassing at least one network processing layer in the traffic processor.

2. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the connection tag is stored in a link layer of the message.

3. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the connection tag is stored in an Ethernet field of the message.

4. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the redirector creates a connection and assigns a connection tag based on a TCP and IP address in the message.

5. In a network having at least two nodes, where messages are transferred between nodes on the network, a network apparatus comprising:

message redirector interposed between nodes that intercepts and processes messages such that selected messages intended for other nodes on the network are marked with connection tags and are redirected to a traffic processor, where a connection corresponding with each connection tag is established for further communications between the node and traffic processor; and

a traffic processor linked to the message redirector, the traffic processor decoding received messages to identify connection tags and directing the message to the connection corresponding with the connection tag, thereby bypassing at least one network processing layer in the traffic processor, the message redirector maintaining a list of retrievable objects in the traffic processor and redirecting messages to the traffic processor if the object requested by a node is in the traffic processor.

6. An apparatus as in claim 5 wherein the redirector decodes a message to determine if a message pertains to an established connection and, if so, the redirector marking the message with the corresponding connection tag before redirecting the message to the traffic processor.

7. An apparatus as in claim 5 wherein the redirector decodes an address in the message and determines if a connection is open and, if so, the redirector retrieving the corresponding connection tag, marking the message with the connection tag and redirecting the message to the traffic processor.

8. An apparatus as in claim 5 wherein messages regarding HTTP requests get redirected to the traffic processor, the traffic processor copying a requested object into memory and relaying the object to the node requesting the object.

9. An apparatus as in claim 5 wherein the redirector decodes a message intended for a node on the network to determine if the message is an initial request for an object and, if so, the redirector establishing a connection between the traffic processor and node, marking a message with a connection tag corresponding with the connection and redirecting the message to the traffic processor.

10. An apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the redirector detects an initial request for an object by a node on the network based upon content of the message.

11. An apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the redirector detects an initial request for an object by a node based upon a SYN message in the message.

12. An apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the redirector closes a connection based upon content of the message transmitted by the traffic processor.

13. An apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the redirector closes a connection based upon a FIN message in a responding message transmitted by the traffic processor to a node.

14. An apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the traffic processor generates and transmits a message to the redirector indicating that a connection is to be closed.

15. An apparatus as in claim 14 wherein the redirector and traffic processor both maintain corresponding arrays to track connections.

16. An apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the redirector closes a connection after waiting a predetermined time period.

17. An apparatus as in claim 5 wherein an array of connections supports simultaneous transmissions of objects from the traffic processor to nodes on the network.

18. An apparatus as in claim 5 wherein a connection is closed and a connection tag is freed after a predetermined period of time due to inactivity of communication on a connection.

22. An apparatus as in claim 14 wherein the redirector directs a message to the network when there are no connections available in the array.

19. In a network having at least two nodes, where messages are transferred between nodes on the network, a network apparatus comprising:

a message redirector interposed between nodes that intercepts and processes messages such that selected messages intended for other nodes on the network are marked with connection tags and are redirected to a traffic processor, where a connection corresponding with each connection tag is established for further communications between the node and traffic processor;

a traffic processor linked to the message redirector, the traffic processor decoding received messages to identify connection tags and directing the message to the connection corresponding with the connection tag, thereby bypassing at least one network processing layer in the traffic processor; and

wherein the redirector decodes a message to determine if a message pertains to an established connection and, if so, the redirector marking the message with the corresponding connection tag before redirecting the message to the traffic processor.

20. An apparatus as in claim 19 wherein the redirector decodes an address in the message and determines if a connection is open and, if so, the redirector retrieving the corresponding connection tag, marking the message with the connection tag and redirecting the message to the traffic processor.

21. An apparatus as in claim 19 wherein an array of connections supports simultaneous transmissions of objects from the traffic processor to nodes on the network.

23. An apparatus as in claim 19 wherein a connection is closed and a connection tag is freed after a predetermined period of time due to inactivity of communication on a connection.

24. An apparatus as in claim 19 wherein messages regarding HTTP requests get redirected to the traffic processor, the traffic processor copying a requested object into memory and relaying the object to the node requesting the object.

25. In a network having at least two nodes, where messages are transferred between nodes on the network, a network apparatus comprising:

a message redirector interposed between nodes that intercepts and processes messages such that selected messages intended for other nodes on the network are marked with connection tags and are redirected to a traffic processor, where a connection corresponding with each connection tag is established for further communications between the node and traffic processor;

a traffic processor linked to the message redirector, the traffic processor decoding received messages to identify connection tags and directing the message to the connection corresponding with the connection tag, thereby bypassing at least one network processing layer in the traffic processor; and

wherein the redirector decodes a message intended for a node on the network to determine if the message is an initial request for an object and, if so, the redirector establishing a connection between the traffic processor and node, marking a message with a connection tag corresponding with the connection and redirecting the message to the traffic processor.

26. An apparatus as in claim 25 wherein the redirector detects an initial request for an object by a node on the network based upon content of the message.

27. An apparatus as in claim 25 wherein the redirector detects an initial request for an object by a node based upon a SYN message in the message.

28. An apparatus as in claim 25 wherein the redirector closes a connection based upon content of the message transmitted by the traffic processor.

29. An apparatus as in claim 25 wherein the redirector closes a connection based upon a FIN message in a responding message transmitted by the traffic processor to a node.

30. An apparatus as in claim 25 wherein the traffic processor generates and transmits a message to the redirector indicating that a connection is to be closed.

31. An apparatus as in claim 30 wherein the redirector and traffic processor both maintain corresponding arrays to track connections.

32. An apparatus as in claim 25 wherein the redirector closes a connection after waiting a predetermined time period.

33. In a network having at least two nodes, where communications in the form of messages are transmitted between nodes on the network, a network apparatus comprising:

a first message processor interposed between nodes that intercepts and processes messages transmitted from a first node to a second node, wherein the first message processor marks each message of a related stream of messages with a tag; and

a second message processor linked to the first message processor that receives messages intended for the second node but which are redirected by the first message processor to the second message processor, the second message processor decoding the tag marking each message received from the first message processor to identify the related stream of messages.

34. An apparatus as in claim 33 wherein the first message processor decodes an address in the message and determines if a message corresponds to a related stream of messages and, if so, the first message processor retrieving the tag corresponding to the related stream of messages, marking the message with the tag and redirecting the message to the second message processor.

35. An apparatus as in claim 33 wherein the first message processor decodes a message intended for a node on the network to determine if the message is an initial request for an object and, if so, the first message processor establishing a connection between the second message processor and node, marking the message with a tag corresponding to the related stream of data and redirecting the message to the second message processor.

36. An apparatus as in claim 35 wherein the first message processor detects an initial request for an object by a node on the network based upon content of the message.

37. An apparatus as in claim 35 wherein the first message processor detects an initial request for an object by a node based upon a SYN message.

38. An apparatus as in claim 35 wherein the first message processor closes a connection based upon content of the message transmitted by the second message processor.

39. An apparatus as in claim 33 wherein the first message processor directs a message to the network when there are no resources available in the second message processor to process a related stream of messages.

40. An apparatus as in claim 33 wherein the tag is stored in a link layer of the message.

41. An apparatus as in claim 33 wherein the tag is stored in an Ethernet field of the message.

42. In a network having at least two nodes, where communications in the form of messages are transmitted between nodes on the network, a network apparatus comprising:

a first message processor interposed between nodes that intercepts and processes messages, wherein the first message processor marks each message of a related stream of messages with a tag; and

a second message processor linked to the first message processor, the second message processor decoding the tag marking each message received from the first message processor to identify the related stream of messages; and

wherein the first message processor decodes an address in the message and determines if a message corresponds to a related stream of messages and, if so, the first message processor retrieving the tag corresponding to the related stream of messages, marking the message with the tag and redirecting the message to the second message processor.

43. In a network having at least two nodes, where communications in the form of messages are transmitted between nodes on the network, a network apparatus comprising:

a first message processor interposed between nodes that intercepts and processes messages, wherein the first message processor marks each message of a related stream of messages with a tag;

a second message processor linked to the first message processor, the second message processor decoding the tag marking each message received from the first message processor to identify the related stream of messages; and

wherein the first message processor decodes a message intended for a node on the network to determine if the message is an initial request for an object and, if so, the first message processor establishing a connection between the second message processor and node, marking the message with a tag corresponding to the related stream of data and redirecting the message to the second message processor.

44. An apparatus as in claim 43 wherein the first message processor detects an initial request for an object by a node on the network based upon content of the message.

45. An apparatus as in claim 43 wherein the first message processor detects an initial request for an object by a node based upon a SYN message.

46. An apparatus as in claim 43 wherein the first message processor closes a connection based upon content of the message transmitted by the second message processor.

47. In a network having at least two nodes, where communications in the form of messages are transmitted between nodes on the network, a network apparatus comprising:

a first message processor interposed between nodes that intercepts and processes messages, wherein the first message processor marks each message of a related stream of messages with a tag;

a second message processor linked to the first message processor, the second message processor decoding the tag marking each message received from the first message processor to identify the related stream of messages; and

wherein the first message processor directs a message to the network when there are no resources available in the second message processor to process a related stream of messages.