Method and apparatus for policy based class service and adaptive service level management within the context of an internet and intranet

• US 7,124,188 B2
• Filed: 02/19/2004
• Issued: 10/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mangipudi, Krishna, Basani, Vijay
• Primary Examiner(s): Donaghue, Larry D.
• Application Number:
  US10/782,280
• Publication Number:
  US 20040162901A1
• Time in Patent Office: 971 Days
• Field of Search: 709/225, 709/224, 709/201, 709/202, 709/223, 718/103, 718/104, 718/105
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0604 using filtering, e.g. reduction of information by using priority, element types, position or time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 Errors, e.g. transmission errors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• 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 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1017 : based on a round robin mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 : based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for robustly enhanced Class of Service (COS) at the application layer permits highly flexible privilege based access and enables implementation of complex policies and rules for classification and differentiation of services. Differentiation facilitates categorization of traffic to permit flexible design and implementation of multiple Class of Service levels.

Claims

1. A method for implementing class of service among a plurality of clients sending requests seeking access to sites hosted on a plurality of back-end servers, comprising the steps of:

grouping at least one of said plurality of back-end servers into a respective one of a plurality of service classes based upon an adaptive policy engine;

receiving a client request for host access at a front end processor;

selecting a class of service from said plurality of service classes according to at least one selected parameter of said request; and

distributing said request to a back-end server in said selected class of service according to the load of each of said at least one of said back-end servers in the selected service class, said load dynamically reconfiguring said adaptive policy engine.

2. The method of claim 1 in which said selected parameters of the request are selected from a group consisting of:

user authentication, virtual site level class of service and client level class of service;

wherein a user authentication identifies a subscribed class for an authenticated user;

a virtual site level class of service is determined by host name and selected protocol; and

a client level class of service is determined as a function of the request/transaction, service/protocol, authenticated user, URL, destination port, domain of origin, source IP, destination IP, and application requested.

3. The method of claim 1 in which said step of distributing the request according to the load further includes a load balancing algorithm selected from the group consisting of:

weighted percentage;

round robin;

CPU availability;

least connections; and

probabilistic.