Method and system for scaling network traffic managers
DCFirst Claim
1. An apparatus for routing packets over a network, the packets comprising a first packet type and a second packet type, wherein each packet of the first packet type has a corresponding packet of the second packet type, the apparatus comprising:
- (a) a transceiver configured to receive and to forward each packet; and
(b) a processor, coupled to the transceiver, that is arranged to perform actions, including;
if the received packet is of the first packet type, forwarding the received packet to a first traffic manager that is selected based on at least a first field in the received packet, wherein forwarding the received packet further comprises hashing the first field in the received packet to obtain a hash key and employing the hash key to select the first traffic manager to which the packet is forwarded; and
if the received packet is of the second packet type, forwarding the received packet to a second traffic manager that is selected based on at least a second field in the received packet, wherein the first traffic manager is the same as the second traffic manager when the received packet of the first packet type corresponds to the received packet of the second packet type.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system is directed to routing a flow of packets over a network to multiple traffic management devices. An apparatus receives each packet from a network and forwards the packet to one of a group of traffic management devices. The apparatus also may receive packets from servers for which the traffic management devices are managing communications. When forwarding packets, a traffic management device is selected from the group of traffic management devices by employing a hash of an IP address and port number. The IP address and port number are selected from source or destination information in the packet that has a greater port number. When the traffic management device performs a network address translation, further actions may be performed so that packets that are part of a flow between two network devices are delivered to the same traffic management device.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. An apparatus for routing packets over a network, the packets comprising a first packet type and a second packet type, wherein each packet of the first packet type has a corresponding packet of the second packet type, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a transceiver configured to receive and to forward each packet; and (b) a processor, coupled to the transceiver, that is arranged to perform actions, including; if the received packet is of the first packet type, forwarding the received packet to a first traffic manager that is selected based on at least a first field in the received packet, wherein forwarding the received packet further comprises hashing the first field in the received packet to obtain a hash key and employing the hash key to select the first traffic manager to which the packet is forwarded; and if the received packet is of the second packet type, forwarding the received packet to a second traffic manager that is selected based on at least a second field in the received packet, wherein the first traffic manager is the same as the second traffic manager when the received packet of the first packet type corresponds to the received packet of the second packet type. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of routing packets between a first network device and a second network device over a network, comprising:
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receiving a packet; if the received packet is from the first network device; determining a target traffic manager based on at least a first field in the received packet, by hashing at least the first field in the received packet to obtain a hash key and employing the hash key to select the target traffic manager to which the received packet is forwarded, and forwarding the received packet to the target traffic manager; and if the received packet is from the second network device; determining the target traffic manager based on at least a second field in the received packet, wherein the first field is different from the second field; and forwarding the received packet to the target traffic manager, wherein the received packet from the second network device is forwarded to the same target traffic manager as is the received packet from the first network device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for routing a packet over a network, comprising:
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(i) receiving the packet; (ii) if the received packet is a packet of a first type, forwarding the received packet to a first traffic manager that is selected based in part on a first field in the received packet in part by hashing the first field to obtain a hash key and employing the hash key to select the first traffic manager, wherein a response packet to the received packet is forwarded to the first traffic manager; and (iii) if the received packet is a packet of a second type, forwarding the received packet to a second traffic manager that is selected based in part on a second field in the received packet, wherein the response packet is forwarded to the second traffic manager and wherein the second field in the received packet is hashed to obtain another hash key that is used to select the second traffic manager. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for routing a packet over a network, comprising:
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(a) a plurality of servers; (b) a plurality of traffic managers arranged to direct the packet to at least one of the plurality of servers; and (c) a distributor, coupled to the plurality of traffic managers, that is arranged to perform actions, including; (i) if the received packet is a first packet type, forwarding the received packet to a first traffic manager in the plurality of traffic managers that is selected using in part a first field in the received packet by hashing the first field to obtain a hash key used to select the first traffic manager, wherein a response packet to the received packet is forwarded to the first traffic manager; and (ii) if the received packet is a second packet type, forwarding the received packet to a second traffic manager in the plurality of traffic managers that is selected using in part a second field in the received packet by in part hashing the second field to obtain another hash key used to select the second traffic manager, wherein the response packet is forwarded to the second traffic manager. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification