Internet server session backup apparatus
First Claim
1. A computer system comprising:
- a plurality of application servers, wherein each of the plurality of application servers is programmed to maintain session data for a user session assigned to such application server; and
a backup server coupled to the application servers;
wherein the backup server is programmed to maintain a backup of the session data for a first of the application servers;
wherein a second of the application servers is programmed to obtain the backup of session data from the backup server when the second of the application servers receives a request for service not corresponding to a user session hosted by the second of the application servers; and
wherein the transition of the backup session data from the first server to the second server is transparent to the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer system for a web site uses three tiers of servers, web (or HTTP) servers, application servers, and backup servers. The backup servers are responsible for backing up the session data for particular application servers. The system assigns to each web session a session ID, which encodes the IP addresses of the application server and its backup server, and provides an identifier that uniquely identifies the session within that application server. A session is automatically routed to a second application server to process a request if the application server handling the session should fail or not have the requested application. However, the request uses the original session ID. The second application server detects from the session ID that the session may have been handled by the first application server. The second application server decodes the IP address for the backup server for the first application server, and connects to that backup server. The user'"'"'s session data is recovered from that backup server and reconstituted into a new session, with a new session ID. If the session had previously existed on the second application server, the session ID used by the second application server and the session data for that session are used, updated with the session data from the first backup server.
306 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A computer system comprising:
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a plurality of application servers, wherein each of the plurality of application servers is programmed to maintain session data for a user session assigned to such application server; and
a backup server coupled to the application servers;
wherein the backup server is programmed to maintain a backup of the session data for a first of the application servers;
wherein a second of the application servers is programmed to obtain the backup of session data from the backup server when the second of the application servers receives a request for service not corresponding to a user session hosted by the second of the application servers; and
wherein the transition of the backup session data from the first server to the second server is transparent to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer system comprising:
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a web server;
a plurality of application servers coupled to the web server, wherein a user session is assigned to one of the plurality of application servers and the one of the plurality of application servers maintains session data for the user session; and
a group of at least one backup server coupled to the application servers;
wherein each application server is assigned to one backup server from the group of backup servers, and each backup server in the group of backup servers is programmed to maintain a backup of the session data for at least one of the application servers;
wherein a user session assigned to a first of the application servers is assigned a session ID;
wherein the second of the application servers assigns a different session ID to the user session;
wherein a second of the application servers is programmed to obtain the backup of session data from the backup server to which the first of the application servers is assigned when the second of the application servers receives a request for service from the web server, the request for service not corresponding to a user session hosted by the second of the application servers; and
wherein the transition of the backup session data from the first server to the second server is transparent to the user.
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17. A method for transferring a session on a computer network comprising the steps of:
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assigning a user session to a first application server;
assigning a first session ID to the user session;
sending a request for service to a second application server, the request for service including the first session ID;
determining whether the request for service corresponds to a user session hosted by the second application server;
retrieving session data for the user session from a backup server assigned to the first application server;
assigning a second session ID to the user session; and
wherein the retrieval of the session data from the first server to the second server is transparent to the user. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A computer system comprising:
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an application server programmed to maintain session data for user sessions assigned to the application server and to assign a session ID to each user session assigned to the application server; and
a backup server coupled to the application server, wherein the backup server is programmed to maintain a backup of session data for a user session on the computer system;
wherein the application server is programmed to obtain from the backup server the backup of session data for the user session if the application server is not hosting the user session;
wherein the application server is programmed to determine if the application server is not hosting the user session by comparing the session ID of the user session to a list of session ID'"'"'s currently being hosted by the application server; and
wherein the transfer of session data to the application server is transparent to the user.
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Specification