Method and apparatus for a client connection manager

• US 8,271,658 B1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digi International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Digi International Inc.
• Inventors: Allred, Curtis M., Schwartz, Elliot
• Primary Examiner(s): Nooristany, Sulaiman
• Application Number:
  US11/981,247
• Time in Patent Office: 1,784 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/227
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 Errors, e.g. transmission errors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2564 for a higher-layer protocol, e.g. for session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2567 for reachability, e.g. inquiring the address of a correspondent behind a NAT server
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/029 Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/145 avoiding end of session, e.g. keep-alive, heartbeats, resumption message or wake-up for inactive or interrupted session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures

Abstract

A method and apparatus for a connection manager have been disclosed. By providing for persistent connections with clients, the connection manager allows for servers to communicate with clients, which would otherwise be inaccessible.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

first, transitioning a client'"'"'s connection from an active state to an inactive-idle state;

closing an application'"'"'s socket when the client connection is transitioned to the inactive-idle state;

transitioning the client connection to an inactive table when the client connection is transitioned to the inactive-idle state;

freeing buffers associated with the transitioned client connection when the client connection is transitioned to the inactive-idle state;

killing any threads associated with the transitioned client connection when the client connection is transitioned to the inactive-idle state;

maintaining a persistent connection with the client when the client connection is transitioned to the inactive-idle state;

opening a socket to the client in response to a connection request from the application; and

mapping the connection request to the maintained persistent connection with the client in response to the connection request from the application; and

wherein any connection state data associated with said application'"'"'s socket transitioning to an inactive state is moved to a non-transitory secondary storage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping the connection request to the maintained persistent connection with the client further comprises transitioning the client to an active state.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving client data; and

simulating a connection request to an application.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said non-transitory secondary storage is a disk storage.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the connection state data is active connection data.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the connection state data is inactive connection data.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the connection state data is transition from active to inactive connection data.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the connection state data is transition from inactive to active connection data.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said non-transitory secondary storage is a database storage.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said non-transitory secondary storage is a flash storage.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said non-transitory secondary storage is a virtual memory storage.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said non-transitory secondary storage is a holographic storage.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving at a connection manager a transmission control protocol data segment from the client, the transmission control protocol data segment destined for a server;

scanning an active connection table;

determining if there is an active connection from the client to the server;

checking if there is connection data when there is not the active connection from the client to the server; and

sending a response when there is not the connection data.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

forwarding the transmission control protocol data segment to the server when there is the active connection.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

scanning an inactive connection table when there is the connection data.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

determining if the connection is in standby; and

activating the standby connection when the connection is in standby.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

forwarding the transmission control protocol data segment to the server when the connection is in standby; and

resetting a timestamp when the connection is in standby.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

determining if the connection is in standby; and

determining if the connection is idle when the connection is not in standby.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

activating the idle connection when the connection is not in standby.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

forwarding the transmission control protocol data segment to the server when the connection is not in standby; and

resetting a timestamp when the connection is not in standby.