Connection manager capable of supporting both distributed computing sessions and non distributed computing sessions

• US 8,161,169 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2011
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Fleischer, Christian, Luik, Oliver, Stanev, Georgi
• Primary Examiner(s): Colin, Carl
• Assistant Examiner(s): THIAW, CATHERINE B
• Application Number:
  US13/072,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20110179133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 389 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709212-215, 709217-219, 709227-229, 718/100, 718/105, 719/312
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066

Abstract

A method is described that involves establishing a connection over a shared memory between a connection manager and a worker node. The shared memory is accessible to multiple worker nodes. Then sending, from the connection manager to the worker node over the connection, a first request containing a method call to a remote object on the worker node. Also sending, from the connection manager to the worker node over the connection, a second request containing a second method call to a second remote object on the worker node.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

a server coupled to a network, the server comprising a connection manager and a worker node connected via a shared memory structure, the connection manager configured to,

manage distributed and non-distributed computing sessions with an external client over the network,

establish temporary connections associated with the non-distributed computing sessions, the temporary connections maintained through the shared memory structure with the worker node for a single request/response cycle, and

establish quasi-permanent connections associated with the distributed computing sessions, the quasi-permanent connections maintained through the shared memory structure with the worker node for multiple request/response cycles.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the connection manager is configured to establish a single quasi-permanent connection with the worker node for a plurality of distributed sessions handled by the worker node.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the connection manager is configured to establish the quasi-permanent connections with the worker node using a request notification queue within the shared memory structure.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the connection manager is configured to maintain the quasi-permanent connections with the worker node for as long as both the connection manager and the worker node continue to remain active.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the connection manager is configured to manage distributed computing sessions over a plurality of remote object invocation protocols.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the connection manager is configured to manage distributed computing sessions over a plurality of remote object invocation protocols selected from a group including:

a IIOP protocol;

a RMI protocol;

a CORBA protocol;

a RMI/IIOP protocol; and

,

a RMI-P4 protocol.

7. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second server coupled to the network, the server comprising a second connection manager and a second worker node connected via a second shared memory structure;

a dispatcher communicatively coupled to the server and the second server and configured to direct incoming requests from external clients to one of the server or the second server;

the second connection manager configured to,

manage distributed computing sessions with either the external client or the server and non-distributed computing sessions with the external client,

establish temporary connections associated with the non-distributed computing sessions, the temporary connections maintained through the second shared memory structure with the second worker node for a single request/response cycle, and

establish quasi-permanent connections associated with the distributed computing sessions, the quasi-permanent connections maintained through the second shared memory structure with the second worker node for multiple request/response cycles.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the connection manager is configured to establish a first distributed computing session with the second connection manager over the network, and send a request to invoke a method on the second worker node;

and

wherein the second connection manager is configured to establish, in response to the first distributed computing session, a first quasi-permanent connection with the second worker node, and transmit the request to the second worker node.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the second connection manager is configured to receive over the first quasi-permanent connection a response from the second worker node, and forward the response on to the connection manager over the network.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium containing instructions which when executed, on a server, cause the server to:

manage distributed and non-distributed computing sessions with a plurality of external clients;

establish temporary connections associated with the non-distributed computing sessions between a connection manager and a worker node operating on the server over a shared memory structure;

maintain the temporary connections for a single request/response cycle;

establish quasi-permanent connections associated with the distributed computing sessions between the connection manager and the worker node; and

maintain the quasi-permanent connections for multiple request/response cycles.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions which cause the server to establish quasi-permanent connections include further instructions to establish a single quasi-permanent connection with the worker node for a plurality of distributed sessions handled by the worker node.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions which cause the server to establish quasi-permanent connections include further instructions to establish the quasi-permanent connections with the worker node using a request notification queue within the shared memory structure.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions which cause the server to maintain the quasi-permanent connections include further instructions to maintain the quasi-permanent connections with the worker node for as long as both the connection manager and the worker node continue to be up and running.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions which cause the server to manage the distributed sessions include further instructions to instantiate a plug-in associated with each of a plurality of remote object invocation protocols.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions which cause the server to instantiate a plug-in associated with each of the plurality of remote object invocation protocols include further instructions to instantiate plug-ins associated with protocols selected from a group including:

a IIOP protocol;

a RMI protocol;

a CORBA protocol;

a RMI/IIOP protocol; and

, a RMI-P4 protocol.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions which cause the server to manage distributed computing sessions include instructions to manage a first distributed computing session with a second server operating within a cluster including the server.

17. A method comprising:

managing, with a connection manager on a server, distributed and non-distributed computing sessions with a plurality of external clients connecting to the server over a network;

establishing temporary connections associated with the non-distributed computing sessions between the connection manager and a worker node operating on the server over a shared memory structure;

maintaining the temporary connections for a single request/response cycle;

establishing quasi-permanent connections associated with the distributed computing sessions between the connection manager and the worker node; and

maintaining the quasi-permanent connections for multiple request/response cycles.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the managing the non-distributed computing sessions includes managing HTTP or HTTPS sessions with the external client.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the establishing the quasi-permanent connections includes establishing a quasi-permanent connection to handle all distributed computing sessions serviced by the worker node;

and

wherein the maintaining the quasi-permanent connection with the worker node is maintained for as long as both the connection manager and the worker node remain active.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the managing distributed computing sessions includes managing a distributed computing session with a second server operating within a cluster including the server.