Reliable processing of HTTP requests

• US 7,975,047 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Issued: 07/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Dongre, M. Keerthidhara
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino; Joseph E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khan; Aftab Nasir
• Application Number:
  US12/339,110
• Publication Number:
  US 20100161714A1
• Time in Patent Office: 928 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709223-225, 709/227, 718/105
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/566 Grouping or aggregating service requests, e.g. for unified processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A monitoring tool provided according to an aspect of the present invention causes an HTTP request to be resubmitted to another server system if a server system, to which the same HTTP request has been earlier submitted, is detected to have failed without completing processing of the request. In one embodiment, the server system is deemed to have failed upon absence of completion of requests for a pre-specified duration. As an alternative or in addition, the operational status of the server system is checked periodically and the server system is deemed to have failed if it is non-operational.

Claims

1. A computing system comprising:

a set of server systems to process hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests;

a client system to send a HTTP request; and

a front end server to receive said HTTP request and to submit said HTTP request to a first server system,

said first server system to generate a response processing said HTTP request and to send said response to said client system to complete processing of said HTTP request, said first server system sending no response to said client system upon failure to complete processing said HTTP request,

said front end server to maintain an information indicating that said request has been submitted to said first server system and a status field set to a first value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is not yet complete, said information and said status field with said first value being maintained on submission of said HTTP request to said first server system,

wherein said status field is designed to be set to a second value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is complete on completion of processing of said HTTP request,

said front end server comprising a monitoring tool to check whether said first server system has failed after submission of said HTTP request,

upon finding that said first server system has failed, said monitor tool to identify that said first request is to be resubmitted to another server system based on said information indicating that said request has been earlier submitted to said first server system if said status field is still set to said first value,

upon identifying that said first request is to be resubmitted, said front end server to resubmit said first request to a second server system,

said second server system to generate said response by completing processing of said request and to send said response to said client system, wherein said status field is set to said second value upon completion of processing of said request and sending of said response to said client system,

whereby said client system receives said response without having to resubmit said HTTP request even in case of failure of said first server system in processing said HTTP request, wherein said first server system and said second server system are contained in said set of server systems.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein said front end server stores a portion of said HTTP request, said stored portion including a universal resource locator or indicator (URL/URI) received in said HTTP request, wherein said front end system resubmits said HTTP request to said second server system by sending said URL/URI of said stored portion.

3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein said front end server maintains a table with a first column corresponding to said information and a second column corresponding to said status, said table also containing a plurality of rows, with each row corresponding to one of a submitted responses such that a first row corresponds to said request,

on submission of said request to said first server system, said first row storing said information indicating that said request is submitted to said first server system corresponding to said first column and said status field set to said first value,

wherein said monitoring tool inspects said first row in identifying that said HTTP request is to be resubmitted, said monitoring tool to resubmit said HTTP request to said second server system, on submission of said request to said second server system, said monitoring tool to set said first row to indicate that said HTTP request has been submitted to said second server system, on completion of processing of said HTTP request by said second server system, said second column of said second row being set to said second value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is complete.

4. The computing system of claim 3, wherein said front end server checks periodically whether each of said set of server systems is operational or not,

wherein said monitoring tool is designed to inspect said status information if said first server system is determined not to be operational and to resubmit said HTTP request to said second server system if said status information also indicates that said HTTP request has been submitted to said first server system and processing of said HTTP request is not yet complete.

5. The computing system of claim 3, wherein said HTTP request is a one way request not requiring a response to be sent to said client system,

wherein said set of server systems are designed to indicate completion of processing of requests,

said front end server updating said status of said first row to indicate completed status upon receiving indication of completion from said second server system.

6. The computing system of claim 3, wherein said HTTP request is a two way request requiring a response to be sent to said client system,

said second server system generating a response data by completing processing of said HTTP request,

said front end server to receive said response data and to generate said response to said HTTP request and to update said status of said first row to indicate completion of processing of said HTTP request.

7. The computing system of claim 4, wherein each of said server systems is an application server, each of said set of server systems implementing a corresponding set of enterprise applications,

wherein said front end server inspects said HTTP request to determine an enterprise application designed to process said HTTP request,

said front end server to further select one of said server systems executing said enterprise application to submit said HTTP request.

8. A front end server comprising:

a request handler to receive a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request from a client system; and

a submitter block to submit said HTTP request to a first server system and to maintain an information indicating that said request has been submitted to said first server system and a status field set to a first value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is not yet complete, said information and said status field with said first value being maintained on submission of said HTTP request to said first server system,

wherein said status field is designed to be set to a second value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is complete on completion of processing of said HTTP request;

a monitoring tool to determine whether said first server system has failed after submission of said HTTP request,

said monitoring tool, upon determining that said first server system has failed, to identify that said first request is to be resubmitted to another server system based on said information indicating that said request has been earlier submitted to said first server system if said status field is still set to said first value,

said monitoring tool to cause said submitter block and then to resubmit said HTTP request to a second server system upon said identifying that said first request is to be resubmitted to another server system,

wherein said first server system is designed to generate a response by processing said HTTP request and to send said response to said client system to complete processing of said HTTP request, said first server system sending no response to said client system upon failure to complete processing of said HTTP request,

wherein said first server system is detected to have failed based on absence of any response from said first server system to said client system,

wherein said server system is designed to generate said response by completing processing of said request and to send said response to said client system,

wherein said status field is set to said second value upon completion of processing of said request and sending of said response to said client system, and

wherein said front end server comprises a processor designed to execute a set of instructions to implement at least one of said request handler, said submitter block and said monitoring tool.

9. The front end server of claim 8, wherein said front end server further comprises a memory,

said request handler to store a portion of said HTTP request in said memory, said portion including a universal resource locator or indicator (URL/URI) received in said HTTP request, wherein said submitter block resubmits said HTTP request to said second server system by sending said URL/URI of said stored portion.

10. The front end server of claim 9, wherein said request handler first examines said HTTP request to determine whether required information is present in said HTTP request,

said request handler to further stores said portion in said memory and forward said HTTP request to said submitter block only if said HTTP request contains the required information.

11. The front end server of claim 9, wherein memory stores a status information indicating whether processing of said HTTP request is completed or not, said monitoring tool to inspect said status information prior to resubmitting said HTTP request, wherein said HTTP request is resubmitted only if said status information indicates that the processing of said HTTP request is not completed.

12. The front end server of claim 11, wherein said submitter block checks periodically whether each of said set of server systems is operational or not,

wherein said monitoring tool is designed to inspect said status information if said first server system is determined not to be operational and to interface with said submitter block to resubmit said HTTP request to said second server system if said status information also indicates that said HTTP request has been submitted to said first server system and processing of said HTTP request is not yet complete.

13. The front end server of claim 12, wherein said HTTP request is a one way request not requiring a response to be sent to said client system,

wherein each of said first server system and said second server system is designed to indicate completion of processing of requests,

said monitoring tool to update said status information to indicate completed status upon receiving indication of completion of processing of said HTTP request from said second server system.

14. The front end server of claim 12, wherein said HTTP request is a two way request requiring a response to be sent to said client system,

said second server system generating a response data by completing processing of said HTTP request,

said front end server further comprising a response handler to receive said response data and to generate and send a response to said HTTP request.

15. The front end server of claim 12, wherein each of said first server system and said second server system is an application server implementing a corresponding set of enterprise applications,

wherein said submitter block inspects said HTTP request to determine an enterprise application designed to process said HTTP request,

said submitter block to further select one of said server systems executing said enterprise application to submit said HTTP request.

16. A method of ensuring reliable processing of HTTP requests, said method comprising:

receiving a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request from a client system;

submitting said HTTP request to a first server system, said first server system designed to generate a response processing said HTTP request and to send said response to said client system to complete processing of said HTTP request, said first server system sending no response to said client system upon failure to complete processing said HTTP request;

storing a status information indicating whether processing of said HTTP request is completed or not, wherein said status information is set to a first value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is not yet complete, said information and said status field with said first value being maintained on submission of said HTTP request to said first server system,

wherein said status field is designed to be set to a second value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is complete on completion of processing of said HTTP request;

updating said status information by setting to said second value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is complete if a response data is received for said HTTP request;

detecting that said first server system has failed without completing processing of said HTTP request based on absence of any response from said first server system to said client system; and

resubmitting said HTTP request to a second server system upon said detecting, wherein said resubmitting of said HTTP request is performed only if said status information indicates that processing of said HTTP request is not completed by being at said second value.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

storing a universal resource locator or indicator (URL/URI) received in said HTTP request in a memory,

wherein said resubmitting comprises retrieving said URL/URI from said memory and forwarding said URL/URI to said second server system.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said detecting comprises checking whether said first server system has not indicated completion of any requests in a pre-specified duration.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said detecting comprises checking whether said first server system is operational or not, wherein said resubmitting of said HTTP request is performed if said first server system is found not to be operational and processing of said HTTP request submitted to said first server system is not yet complete.

20. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for causing a front-end server to process hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors contained in said system causes said front-end server to perform the actions of:

receiving a HTTP request from a client system;

submitting said HTTP request to a first server system, said first server system designed to generate a response processing said HTTP request and to send said response to said client system to complete processing of said HTTP request, said first server system sending no response to said client system upon failure to complete processing said HTTP request;

storing a status information indicating whether processing of said HTTP request is completed or not, wherein said status information is set to a first value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is not yet complete, said information and said status field with said first value being maintained on submission of said HTTP request to said first server system,

wherein said status field is designed to be set to a second value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is complete on completion of processing of said HTTP request;

updating said status information by setting to said second value to indicate that processing of said HTTP request is complete if a response data is received for said HTTP request;

detecting that said first server system has failed without completing processing of said HTTP request based on absence of any response from said first server system to said client system; and

resubmitting said HTTP request to a second server system upon said detecting, wherein said resubmitting of said HTTP request is performed only if said status information indicates that processing of said HTTP request is not completed by being at said second value.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 20, further comprising:

storing a universal resource locator or indicator (URL/URI) received in said HTTP request in a memory, wherein said resubmitting comprises retrieving said URL/URI from said memory and forwarding said URL/URI to said second server system.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein said detecting comprises checking whether said first server system has not indicated completion of any requests in a pre-specified duration.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 22, wherein said detecting comprises checking whether said first server system is operational or not, wherein said resubmitting of said HTTP request is performed if said first server system is found not to be operational and processing of said HTTP request submitted to said first server system is not yet complete.