Apparatus and method for improving performance of proxy server arrays that use persistent connections

• US 6,757,733 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2001
• Issued: 06/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gupta, Amit
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Application Number:
  US09/789,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20010027492A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,225 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/225, 709/227, 709/228, 709/229, 709/245, 709/246
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1006 with static server selection, e.g. the same server being selected for a specific client
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and apparatus that ensures that requests for pages in a particular domain name are routed to the same proxy server by all of a plurality of clients. If, for example, a proxy server has a persistent connection to a server for a domain, all incoming requests for that domain will be sent to the proxy server and will, thus, will be able to take advantage of the persistent connection. Each client contains a proxy table that is periodically updated by one or more of the proxy servers. A proxy table in a client contains an entry corresponding to each proxy server. When a client needs to access a resource through a proxy server, the client truncates the address (e.g., the URL) of the resource. Thus, for example, all addresses in a particular domain name are truncated to the same value. The truncated address is then used to hash into the proxy table in the client and to identify a proxy server. The client sends its request to the identified proxy server. Thus, all requests for a particular domain hash to the same proxy table entry and, hence, to the same proxy server. If the proxy server has opened a persistent connection to the server for the requested domain, the proxy server will be able to take advantage of the persistent connection.

Claims

1. A method performed by a client in a client/server network comprising:

receiving a proxy table, the proxy table including information about how to connect to at least one proxy server in the client/server network;

receiving an address of a page to access, the page being stored on a server in the client/server network;

processing the address to yield a modified address identifying the server for the page;

processing the modified address to yield an index for the proxy table;

using the index to find a corresponding proxy server having an entry in the proxy table; and

accessing the corresponding proxy server to retrieve the page via a persistent connection between the corresponding proxy server and the server for the page.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of processing the address to yield a modified address includes truncating the address.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of processing the modified address to yield an index for the proxy table includes hashing the modified address.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of receiving an address of a page to access includes receiving a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a page to access.

4. The method of claim wherein the proxy table is received from a proxy server in the client/server network.

6. A client/server network comprising:

a plurality of server computers;

a plurality of proxy server computers; and

a client computer operable to;

receive a proxy table containing information about how to connect to at least one proxy server in the client/server network;

receive an address of a page to access, the page being stored on a server computer in the plurality of server computers;

process the address to yield a modified address identifying the server computer for the page;

process the modified address to yield an index for the proxy table;

using the index to find a corresponding proxy server having an entry in the proxy table; and

access the corresponding proxy server to retrieve the page via a persistent connection between the corresponding proxy server and the server for the page.

7. The network of claim 6 wherein the client computer processes the address to yield a modified address by truncating the address.

8. The network of claim 6 wherein the client computer processes the modified address to yield an index by hashing the modified address.

9. A method performed by a client in a client/server network comprising:

receiving a proxy table, the proxy table including information concerning proxy servers in the client/server network;

receiving an address of data to access, the data being stored on a server in the client/server network;

processing the address to identify a proxy server having an entry in the proxy table, the identified proxy server having a persistent connection to the server; and

accessing the identified proxy server to retrieve the data via the persistent connection between the identified proxy server and the server.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the act of processing the address to identify a proxy server includes truncating the address to identify the server and hashing the truncated address to yield an value for the proxy table.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the proxy table is received from a proxy server.