Distribution of network services among multiple service managers without client involvement

• US 6,633,560 B1
• Filed: 07/02/1999
• Issued: 10/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Albert, Mark, Tiwari, Pranav Kumar, Menditto, Louis F., Howes, Richard A., Tsang, Tzu-Ming, LeBlanc, William M., Jordan, James A., Kersey, Edward A., OʼRourke, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): VINCENT, DAVID ROBERT
• Application Number:
  US09/347,126
• Time in Patent Office: 1,565 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/252, 370/230, 370/351, 370/389, 370/395.1, 370/395.3, 370/395.32, 370/395.31, 370/400, 370/401, 370/402, 370/469
• US Class Current: 370/351
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0879 Manual configuration through operator
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0218 Distributed architectures, e.g. distributed firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• 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 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method are described for partitioning a network service among a plurality of service managers. The method includes configuring a first service manager to send a first request to a forwarding agent for packets meeting a first criteria and sending the first request to the forwarding agent. A second service manager is configured to send requests to the forwarding agent for packets meeting a second criteria and the second request is sent to the forwarding agent. Packets are checked at the forwarding agent to determine whether the packets meet the first criteria or the second criteria and packets that meet the first criteria are received at the first service manager; and packets that meet the second criteria are received at the second service manager.

Claims

1. A method of partitioning a network service among a plurality of service managers, comprising:

receiving a first portion of a traffic flow at a first forwarding agent, wherein the traffic flow propagates from a network and is initiated by one or more clients;

receiving a second portion of the traffic flow at a second forwarding agent;

checking packets included in the traffic flow at the forwarding agents to determine whether the packets meet a first criteria or a second criteria;

processing the packets based on the determination of whether they meet the first or second criteria in order to direct one or more of the packets to a selected one of a plurality of servers; and

receiving instructions from a first service manager at the first forwarding agent, the instructions including an affinity key that indicates how to manage selected packets, wherein the affinity key may be used by the service manager to identify which flows that include the packets should propagate through the first forwarding agent, and wherein the affinity kev includes a selected one or more of a group of elements consisting of;

a source internet protocol (IP) address;

a destination IP address;

a source port number;

a destination port number; and

a protocol identification.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving packets that meet the first criteria at the first service manager; and

receiving packets that meet the second criteria at a second service manager;

wherein each of the service managers is coupled to the first and second forwarding agents.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first forwarding agent encapsulates the packets that meet the first criteria before communicating the packets to the first service manager, and wherein the second forwarding agent encapsulates the packets that meet the second criteria before communicating the packets to the second service manager.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first and second service managers provide a decision-making capability for the first and second forwarding agents in order to perform packet processing operations on the packets, the packet processing operations being selected from the group consisting of:

routing of the packets;

gathering statistics about the packets;

modifying an internet protocol (IP) address associated with a selected one or more of the packets;

tunneling of the packets to a destination different from a standard destination as reflected by an IP address included in each of the packets; and

executing tag switching on the packets.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the decision-making capability is related to one or more network parameters associated with the packets, the network parameters being selected from the group consisting of:

load balancing;

caching; and

security.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the packets that meet the first criteria do not meet the second criteria and vice versa.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein one or more requests are generated and multicasted from the first and second service managers to a plurality of forwarding agents.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second forwarding agents are implemented on a selected one of first and second routers respectively, and first and second switches respectively.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the requests are communicated via a dedicated connection.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the first forwarding agent verifies that the instructions communicated from the first service manager correspond to the packets that meet the first criteria.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the affinity key includes information associated with a selected one of loadbalancing and security parameters associated with management of the packets.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first forwarding agent receives a time to live parameter associated with a communication between the first forwarding agent and the first service manager coupled to the first forwarding agent.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first forwarding agent stores the communication for a time period designated by the time to live parameter and deletes the communication after the time to live parameter has expired.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the time to live parameter is set to zero and the first forwarding agent immediately deletes the communication.

15. An apparatus for managing information in a network environment, comprising:

a service manager operable to communicate a wildcard affinity update packet to a forwarding agent, wherein the wildcard affinity update packet includes a wildcard affinity element that designates a selected one or more of;

a specification for a set of source internet protocol (IP) addresses;

a specification for a set of destination IP addresses;

a time to live parameter;

a plurality of IP addresses that correspond to selected virtual IP addresses of server clusters that are to be loadbalanced by the service manager; and

instructions that indicate that a packet matching the wildcard affinity element is to be sent to the service manager.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the specification for the set of source IP addresses includes a netmask element.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the specification of the set of destination IP addresses includes a netmask element.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the service manager selects a server from the server cluster and communicates a fixed affinity element to the forwarding agent that instructs the forwarding agent to forward one or more packets from a flow to the selected server.

19. A forwarding agent, comprising:

a service manager receiving interface operable to receive a plurality of requests from a plurality of service managers for packets meeting a plurality of criteria, wherein a selected one or more of the service managers communicate a set of instructions to the service manager receiving interface that includes an affinity key indicating how to manage one or more packets, the affinity key being operable to be used by the service manager to identify which flows that include the packets should propagate through the first forwarding agent, and wherein the affinity key includes a selected one or more of a group of elements consisting of;

a source internet protocol (IP) address;

a destination IP address;

a source port number;

a destination port number; and

a protocol identification;

a network interface operable to receive packets from devices on a network;

a processor operable to check the packets to determine whether the packets meet a selected one of the plurality of criteria; and

a service manager sending interface operable to communicate packets that meet one of the plurality of criteria to one of the plurality of service managers that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of criteria.

20. The forwarding agent of claim 19, wherein one or more of the requests include a time to live parameter, and wherein the processor is further operable to delete each of the plurality of requests after the time to live parameter expires.

21. A system for managing packets, comprising:

means for receiving a first portion of a traffic flow at a first forwarding agent, wherein the traffic flow propagates from a network and is initiated by one or more clients;

means for receiving a second portion of the traffic flow at a second forwarding agent;

means for checking packets included in the traffic flow at the forwarding agents to determine whether the packets meet a first criteria or a second criteria;

means for processing the packets based on the determination of whether they meet the first or second criteria in order to direct one or more of the packets to a selected one of a plurality of servers; and

means for receiving instructions that include an affinity key which indicates how one or more of the packets are to be managed, the affinity kev being operable to be used by the service manager to identify which flows that include the packets should propagate through the first forwarding agent, wherein the affinity key includes a selected one or more of a group of elements consisting of;

a source Internet protocol (IP) address;

a destination IP address;

a source port number;

a destination port number; and

a protocol identification.

22. A computer readable medium for handling packets, the medium having code operable to:

receive a plurality of requests from a plurality of service managers for packets meeting a plurality of criteria;

receive packets from a network at a plurality of forwarding agents;

check the packets to determine whether the packets meet a selected one of the plurality of criteria;

communicate selected packets that meet the selected one of the plurality of criteria to a selected one of the plurality of service managers that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of criteria; and

receive instructions that include an affinity key that indicates how to manage selected packets, the affinity key being operable to be used by the service manager to identify which flows that include the packets should propagate through the first forwarding agent, wherein the affinity key includes a selected one or more of a group of elements consisting of;

a source internet protocol (IP) address;

a destination IP address;

a source port number;

a destination port number; and

a protocol identification.