Technique for improving load balancing of traffic in a data network using source-side related information
First Claim
1. A method of processing incoming packets from a plurality of clients for distribution among a plurality of servers in a data network, the method comprising:
- generating a modified destination IP address of a first packet using a virtual IP address received in response to a DNS look-up request, by execution of an IP address modification application at a first client, wherein the modified destination IP address includes embedded source-side information derived using encrypted keys in conjunction with the IP address modification application;
configuring the first client to access one or more specific DNS servers based on rights and privileges of the first client;
receiving a first packet from the first client;
the first packet including a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address field in a header portion of the packet, the destination IP address field having a subfield for embedding source-side information including one or more of user-specific data, user preference data, requested content, first client priority information, and first client privilege information;
analyzing the destination IP address field of the first packet to identify source-side information embedded therein;
selecting, using said identified source-side information, an appropriate server from the plurality of servers; and
forwarding the first packet to the appropriate server.
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Abstract
According to various aspects of the present invention, a technique is described for improving load balancing of traffic in a data network using source-side related information embedded into the destination IP address field of packets received at a load balancing device. One aspect of the present invention relates to assigning more than one virtual IP address to a server cluster in order to enable different clients to select a virtual cluster address which corresponds to each clients'"'"' respective rights and/or profiles, and to use the selected virtual cluster address to access a desired site or service. Another aspect of the present invention relates to a mechanism which allows for load balancing operations to be implemented using source-side information which is embedded into the destination IP address of a packet header. In this way, load balancing decisions may be quickly performed at initial or early stages of a connection flow.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method of processing incoming packets from a plurality of clients for distribution among a plurality of servers in a data network, the method comprising:
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generating a modified destination IP address of a first packet using a virtual IP address received in response to a DNS look-up request, by execution of an IP address modification application at a first client, wherein the modified destination IP address includes embedded source-side information derived using encrypted keys in conjunction with the IP address modification application; configuring the first client to access one or more specific DNS servers based on rights and privileges of the first client; receiving a first packet from the first client; the first packet including a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address field in a header portion of the packet, the destination IP address field having a subfield for embedding source-side information including one or more of user-specific data, user preference data, requested content, first client priority information, and first client privilege information; analyzing the destination IP address field of the first packet to identify source-side information embedded therein; selecting, using said identified source-side information, an appropriate server from the plurality of servers; and forwarding the first packet to the appropriate server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system of processing incoming packets from a plurality of clients for distribution among a plurality of servers in a data network, the system comprising:
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means for generating a modified destination IP address of a first packet using a virtual IP address received in response to a DNS look-up request, by execution of an IP address modification application at a first client, wherein the modified destination IP address includes embedded source-side information derived using encrypted keys in conjunction with the IP address modification application; means for configuring the first client to access one or more specific DNS servers based on rights and privileges of the first client; means for receiving a first packet from the first client; the first packet, including a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address field in a header portion of the packet the destination IP address field having a sub-field for embedding source-side information including one or more of user-specific data, user preference data, requested content, first client priority information, and first client privilege information; means for analyzing the destination address field of the first packet to identify source-side information embedded therein; means for selecting, using said source-side information, an appropriate server from the plurality of servers; and means for forwarding the first packet to the appropriate server; wherein the destination address field of the first packet includes; a cluster address portion which includes subnet and host address information.
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21. A system of processing incoming packets from a plurality of clients for distribution among a plurality of servers in a data network, the system comprising:
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at least one processor; at least one interface configured or designed to provide a communication link to at least one other network device in the data network; and memory; the system being configured or designed to generate a modified destination IP address of a first packet using a virtual IP address received in response to a DNS look-up request by execution of an IP address modification application at the first client, wherein the modified destination IP address includes embedded source-side information derived using encrypted keys in conjunction with the IP address modification application; and configured or designed to enable the first client to access one or more specific DNS servers based on rights and privileges of the first client; and configured or designed to receive a first packet from the first client; the first packet including a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address field in a header portion of the packet the destination IP address field having a sub-field for embedding source-side information including one or more of user-specific data, user preference data, requested content, first client priority information, and first client privilege information; the system being further configured or designed to analyze the destination address field of the first packet to identify source-side information embedded therein; the system being further configured or designed to select, using said identified source-side information, an appropriate server from the plurality of servers; and the system being further configured or designed to forward the first packet to the appropriate server. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification