Methods and apparatus for redirecting network cache traffic

• US 7,493,389 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2006
• Issued: 02/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Aviani, James A. Jr., Cieslak, Martin K., Kagan, Martin A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh; Khanh
• Application Number:
  US11/325,810
• Publication Number:
  US 20060117093A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,140 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/227, 709/232, 709/220, 709/221, 709/245, 711/105, 370/395
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method for routing a data request received by a caching system is described. The caching system includes a router and a cache, and the data request identifies a source platform, a destination platform, and requested data. Where the source and destination platforms correspond to an entry in a list automatically generated by the caching system, the data request is transmitted without determining whether the requested data are stored in the cache.

Claims

1. A network caching system, comprising:

a cache;

a bypass information database automatically generated by the network caching system, wherein the bypass information database includes information indicating that connections between the cache and various destination platforms have failed, wherein a first entry in the bypass information database is automatically generated upon detecting that a connection request between the cache and a destination platform has failed;

an input interface operable to receive a data request identifying a source platform, the destination platform, and requested data;

a processor configured to determine that the data request should be transmitted to the destination platform without checking contents in the cache based on the first entry in the bypass information database.

2. The network caching system of claim 1, wherein the bypass information database is a bypass information list.

3. The network caching system of claim 2, wherein entries in the bypass information list correspond to destination platforms.

4. The network caching system of claim 2, wherein entries in the bypass information list correspond to destination platforms for which user authentication is required.

5. The network caching system of claim 2, wherein entries in the bypass information list correspond to source platforms for which special processing of the requested data is required.

6. The network caching system of claim 1, wherein the processor and the input interface are included in a router.

7. The network caching system of claim 6, wherein the router is connected to the cache.

8. The network caching system of claim 1, wherein the network caching system is a network device.

9. The network caching system of claim 8, wherein the network caching system is a router.

10. The network caching system of claim 1, wherein connections between the cache and various destination platforms have failed when 401 or 403 responses in HTTP headers are received in response to data requests.

11. The network caching system of claim 1, further comprising an output interface operable to transmit the data request to the destination platform.

12. The network caching system of claim 1, wherein the output interface is operable to notify upstream caching systems that connections between the cache and various destination platforms have failed.

13. A network device associated with a cache, the network device comprising:

an input interface configured to receive a data request from a source platform for data from a destination platform;

a processor operable to access bypass information and determine whether to check the cache for data to respond to the data request, wherein bypass information is used by the network device to maintain information on failed connections between the cache and the destination platform, the bypass information including an entry automatically generated when a connection between the cache and the destination platform fails, wherein the processor is operable to determine that the data request should be transmitted to the destination platform without checking contents in the cache based on the automatically generated entry.

14. The network device of claim 13, wherein bypass information is a bypass information list.

15. The network device of claim 14, wherein an entry is added to the bypass information list when a connection between the cache and the destination platform fails.

16. The network device of claim 15, wherein entries in the bypass information list correspond to destination platforms for which user authentication is required.

17. The network device of claim 15, wherein entries in the bypass information list correspond to source platforms for which special processing of the requested data is required.

18. The network device of claim 13, wherein the network device is a router.

19. The network device of claim 18, wherein the cache is checked for data to respond to the data request when the data request does not correspond to an entry in the bypass information list.

20. The network device, comprising:

means for receiving a first request for a connection between a first source node and a first destination node;

means for determining that the first request does not correspond to an entry in an automatically generated bypass information database;

means for checking a cache for data to respond to the first request;

means for receiving a second request for a connection between a second source node and a second destination node;

means for determining that the second request does correspond to an entry in an automatically generated bypass information database;

means for forwarding the second request to the second destination node without checking the contents of the cache.