Method and system for providing a web service by a plurality of web domains through a single IP address

• US 7,613,793 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2004
• Issued: 11/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cloudblue LLC
• Original Assignee: Parallels Holdings Limited (HNA Technology Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Bondar, Gregory, Baram, Nir
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Dustin
• Application Number:
  US10/784,570
• Publication Number:
  US 20040236861A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,080 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/225, 709/235, 709/245, 709/246, 709/250, 709/219, 709/230, 713/155, 713/180, 718/104, 726/11, 703/21, 370/352, 707/103
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method and system for providing a Web service by a plurality of Web domains hosted by a computer, through a single IP address, is disclosed. A server having a unique domain name and the same IP address is allocated for each of the domains, while a software module intermediates between a client of the service and each of the servers. Upon receiving a request for connecting the client to one of the servers in order to provide the service, the target domain name of the request is identified by interacting between the client and the software module via standard communication protocol. The software module communicates with the server providing the service associated with the target domain name also by the standard protocol. A communication channel is then established between the server and the client, so that the server is allowed to provide the desired service to the client.

Claims

1. A method for providing a service by a plurality of domains through a single IF′

address, the method comprising;

a) For each of the plurality of domains, allocating a server having a unique domain name and the IF′

address, for providing the service, wherein the allocated server is an original, unmodified server;

b) Providing a wrapper, the wrapper being a software module for intermediating between a client of the service and the server providing the service via a standard communication protocol for communicating with the server providing the service;

c) Upon receiving a request for connecting a client to the server in order to provide the service;

(i) Identifying the target domain name of the request by interacting between the client and the wrapper via the standard communication protocol, wherein the target domain name and the user name are embedded in a single command, separated by a symbol that is permitted by the standard communication protocol, wherein the symbol is at least one character that does not conform with the standard characters allowed in a username in the standard communication protocol,

wherein the username phrase is one of “

user%domain” and

“

domain%user”

, in which “

user”

is the username, “

domain”

is the domain name, and “

%”

is any symbol that does not conform to the standard communication protocol;

(ii) Mediating the interaction between the wrapper and the server providing the service which is associated with using the target domain name by the standard communication protocol;

(iii) Establishing a communication channel between the server and the client through the wrapper, such that the wrapper receives commands from the client using a modified protocol, and the server utilizes the standard communication protocol to receive the client requests;

(iv) keeping the wrapper active only until the requested server is identified, and the communication is handed to the requested server, and then terminating the wrapper;

(v) Starting a data connection between the client and the original, unmodified server to receive and respond to the client requests directly using the standard communication protocol; and

(vi) Allowing the original, unmodified server to provide the service to the client;

(vii) Providing a buffer to each socket, for retaining temporarily the information received from the client, and reading the data from the buffer if it is not empty, or from the socket if the buffer is empty; and

(viii) Ignoring any write command until the buffer is empty.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the services are any of POP3, SMTP, MIRC, Telnet, SSH, Rtelnet, and Shell.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the domains refers to a different Virtual Dedicated Server.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the IP address is associated with a computer system running any dialect of Unix, Solaris, Linux (including Red Hat, Debian, SuSE, FreeBSD), AIX, HP/UX, Tru64, or Irix.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein each domain has its own instance of the server, the instance being a virtual server.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein multiple servers providing services to multiple clients for at least some domains share the same disk space.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein only one instance of a server resides at a Host, and is referenced by hard links from the domains.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing a replacement shared library including additional functionality compared to an original shared library to which the standard communication protocol refers.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the additional functionality of the replacement shared library is added to the original shared library by hooking.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein a single encryption key is used for all domains on each Host.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wrapper is provided with information related to secured services of the target domain in plain text.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the services are any of HTTP and FTP.

12. A system for providing a service to a client by a plurality of domains, through a single IP address, the system comprising:

a plurality of servers, each server providing the service for a corresponding domain; and

a wrapper, for intermediating between the client and the plurality of servers, using a standard communication protocol,

wherein, for each request to connect the client to the server, the wrapper identifies a target domain name by interacting with the client via the standard communication protocol, interacts with the server associated with the target domain name via the standard communication protocol, and enables the server to provide the service to the client, wherein the server providing the service is a copy of an original, unmodified server out of the plurality of servers,

wherein the target domain name and the user name are embedded in a single command, separated by a symbol that is permitted by the standard communication protocol, wherein the symbol is at least one character that does not conform with the standard characters allowed in a username in the standard communication protocol,

a communication channel established through the wrapper between the server and the client, such that the wrapper receives commands from the client using a modified protocol, and the original, unmodified server utilizes the standard communication protocol to receive the client requests;

a data connection between the client and the original, unmodified server for receiving and responding to the client requests directly using the standard communication protocol,

wherein the username phrase is one of “

user%odomain” and

“

domain%user”

, in which “

user”

is the username, “

domain”

is the domain name, and “

%”

is any symbol that does not conform to the standard communication protocol;

a buffer provided to each socket, for retaining temporarily the information received from the client, wherein the data is read from the buffer if the buffer is not empty, or from the socket if the buffer is empty, and wherein any write command is ignored until the buffer is empty.

13. The system according to claim 12, further comprising a replacement shared library including additional functionality compared to an original shared library to which the standard communication protocol refers.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the additional functionality of the replacement shared library is added to the original shared library by hooking.

15. The system according to claim 12, wherein one encryption key is used for all domains on each server.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the wrapper is provided with information related to secured services of the target domain in plain text.

17. The system according to claim 12, wherein each domain has its own instance of the server, the instance being a virtual server.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein servers corresponding to some of the domains share the same disk space.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein only one instance of some of the servers resides at a Host, and is referenced by hard links from the domains.

20. The system according to claim 12, wherein the wrapper provides servers hosting the domain with additional functionality by hooking a replacement shared library to an original shared library of the standard communication protocol.