Load balancing content requests using dynamic document generation cost information
First Claim
1. A method of improving load balancing operations in a computing network using cost metrics, comprising steps of:
- obtaining cost metrics representing a cost of generating document content;
receiving a request for particular document content;
determining a particular one of a plurality servers which most recently served the requested document content; and
routing the request to a selected one of the plurality of servers, further comprising the steps of;
determining which other one of the plurality of servers is (1) capable of serving the requested document content and (2) most laghtly loaded;
using the obtained cost metrics to compare a first cost of routing the request to the determined one to a second cost of routine the request to the particular one; and
selecting the determined one if the first cost is less than the second cost and selecting the particular one otherwise.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, systems, computer program products, and methods of doing business by performing load balancing of content requests using information regarding the cost of dynamically creating the requested document content. Cost metrics are gathered by a server which generates requested content, and may reflect processing at one or more other servers. This cost information is provided to a load balancing host. Several alternative approaches for providing the cost metrics may be used, including defining new headers for response messages, specifying cookie values, and so forth. The load balancing host may choose to route a subsequent request for that content to the server which most recently generated the content, or to another available server, depending on the cost of re-generating the content and the current load on those servers.
120 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of improving load balancing operations in a computing network using cost metrics, comprising steps of:
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obtaining cost metrics representing a cost of generating document content;
receiving a request for particular document content;
determining a particular one of a plurality servers which most recently served the requested document content; and
routing the request to a selected one of the plurality of servers, further comprising the steps of;
determining which other one of the plurality of servers is (1) capable of serving the requested document content and (2) most laghtly loaded;
using the obtained cost metrics to compare a first cost of routing the request to the determined one to a second cost of routine the request to the particular one; and
selecting the determined one if the first cost is less than the second cost and selecting the particular one otherwise. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for improving load balancing operations in a computing network using cost metrics, comprising:
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means for obtaining cost metrics representing a cost of generating document content;
means for receiving a request for particular document content;
means for responding to the request using cached content, if available; and
means for routing the request to a selected one of a plurality of server;
when cached content is not available, further comprising;
means for determinig a particular one of the plurality of servers that most recently served the requested document content;
means for determinig which other one of the plurality of servers is (1) capable of serving the requested document content and (2) most lightly loaded;
means for using the obtained cost metrics to compare a first cost of routing the request to the determined one to a second cost of routing the request to the particular one and means for selecting the determined one if the first cost is less than the second cost and selecting the particular one otherwise.
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18. A computer program product for improving load balancing operations in a computing network using cost metrics, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising:
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computer-readable program code means for obtaining cost metrics representing a cost of generating document content;
computer-readable program code means for receiving a request for particular document content;
computer-readable program code means for responding to the request using cached content, if available; and
computer-readable program code means for routing the request to a selected one of a plurality of servers, when cached content is not available, further comprising;
computer-readable program code means for determining a particular one of the plurality of servers that most recently served the requested document content;
computer-readable program code means for determining which other one of the plurality of servers is (1) capable of serving the requested document content and (2) most lightly loaded;
computer-readable program code means for using the obtained cost metrics to compare a first cost of routing the request to the determined one to a second cost of routing the request to the particular one; and
computer-readable program code means for selecting the determined one if the first cost is less than the second cost and selecting the particular one otherwise.
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19. A method of using cost metrics when load balancing incoming content requests in a networking environment, comprising steps of:
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gathering cost metric information representing a cost of generating document content; and
creating meta-data to convey the cost metric information to a load balancer;
sending the created meta-data to the load balancer;
receiving the sent cost metric information at the load balancer;
upon receiving a request for the document content at the load balancer, using the received cost metric information to route the request to a server selected from a plurality of servers, further compromising the steps of;
using the received cost metric information to determine a first cost of serving the requested document content from a particular one of the plurality of servers that most recently served the requested document content;
using the received cost metric information to determine a second cost of serving the requested document content from a different one of the plurality of servers, wherein the received cost metric information indicates that the different one of the plurality of servers which is capable of serving the request document content at least cost; and
selecting the particular one if the first cost is less than the second cost and selecting the different one otherwise. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification