Systems and methods for an autonomous intranet

• US 8,327,017 B1
• Filed: 03/12/2008
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Trost, Christopher S., Clemons, Donald E. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tiv, Backhean
• Application Number:
  US12/046,850
• Time in Patent Office: 1,728 Days
• Field of Search: 709/225, 709/238
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a system and method for an autonomous intranet. The autonomous intranet can include two or more data centers, each provided with a load balancer for advertising a common single-host Internet Protocol address upstream for the respective data centers under certain conditions.

Claims

1. An autonomous intranet system, comprising:

a first data center including a first load balancer that advertises a single-host Internet Protocol (IP) address upstream for the first data center using route health injection (RHI);

a second data center including a second load balancer that advertises the single-host IP address upstream for the second data center using RHI;

wherein traffic from a number of client sessions is routed to one of the first and second data centers using interior gateway protocol (IGP);

wherein the first load balancer performs a first health check and ceases to advertise the single host IP address for the first data center when results of the first health check fail to meet one or more criteria;

wherein traffic from at least one of the number of client sessions that was routed to the first data center is routed to the second data center when the first load balancer ceases to advertise the single-host IP address; and

wherein at least one of the number of client sessions is active, and traffic from the at least one active session is routed to the first data center when the first load balancer ceases to advertise the single-host IP address.

2. The autonomous intranet system of claim 1, wherein traffic from the number of client sessions is routed to one of the first and second data centers using open shortest path first (OSPF) protocol.

3. The autonomous intranet system of claim 1, wherein:

the first data center includes a number of server farms;

the second data center includes a number of counterpart server farms functionally equivalent to the number of server farms; and

wherein traffic from the number of client sessions is routed to one or more servers in one selected from the number of server farms and the number of counterpart server farms.

4. The autonomous intranet system of claim 3, wherein servers in the number of server farms are on a different layer two network than counterpart servers in the number of counterpart server farms.

5. The autonomous intranet system of claim 3, wherein servers in the number of server farms have different network addresses than counterpart servers in the number of counterpart server farms.

6. The autonomous intranet system of claim 1, wherein the first and second load balancers balance traffic from the number of client sessions on the autonomous intranet system between the first and second data centers.

7. The autonomous intranet system of claim 1, wherein all traffic from the number of client sessions for a particular transaction is routed to one of the first and second data centers.

8. A method for operating an autonomous intranet system, comprising:

advertising a single-host Internet Protocol (IP) address upstream with a first load balancer for a first data center using route health injection (RHI);

advertising the single-host IP address upstream with a second load balancer for a second data center using RHI;

wherein traffic from a number of client sessions is routed to one of the first and second data centers using interior gateway protocol (IGP);

performing a first health check by the first load balancer and ceasing to advertise the single-host IP address upstream for the first data center when results of the first health check fail to meet one or more criteria;

routing traffic from at least one of the number of client sessions that was routed to the first data center to the second data center when the first load balancer ceases to advertise the single-host IP address; and

routing traffic from at least one active client session within the number of client sessions to the first data center when the first load balancer ceases to advertise the single-host IP address.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein routing traffic from the number of client sessions includes using open shortest path first (OSPF) protocol.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the method includes:

providing the first data center with a number of server farms;

providing the second data center with a number of counterpart server farms functionally equivalent to the number of server farms; and

routing traffic from the number of client sessions to one or more servers in one selected from the number of server farms and the number of counterpart server farms.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the method includes providing servers in the number of server farms on a different layer two network than counterpart servers in the number of counterpart server farms.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the method includes providing servers in the number of server farms with a different network address than counterpart servers in the number of counterpart server farms.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the method includes balancing traffic from the number of client sessions on the autonomous intranet system using the first and second load balancers between the first and second data centers.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the routing traffic from the number of client sessions includes routing all traffic from the number of client sessions for a particular transaction to one of the first and second data centers.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause a device to perform a method, comprising:

receiving a single-host Internet Protocol (IP) address advertised upstream from a first load balancer for a first data center using route health injection (MI);

receiving the single-host IP address advertised upstream from a second load balancer for a second data center using RHI;

wherein traffic from a number of client sessions is routed to one of the first and second data centers using interior gateway protocol (IGP);

performing a first health check by the first load balancer and ceasing to advertise the single-host IP address upstream for the first data center when results of the first health check fail to meet one or more criteria;

routing traffic from at least one of the number of client sessions that was routed to the first data center to the second data center when the first load balancer ceases to advertise the single-host IP address; and

routing traffic from at least one active client session within the number of client sessions to the first data center when the first load balancer ceases to advertise the single-host IP address.

16. The medium of claim 15, wherein routing traffic from the number of client sessions includes using open shortest path first (OSPF) protocol.

17. The medium of claim 15, wherein routing traffic from the number of client sessions includes routing traffic to one or more servers in one selected from:

a number of server farms in the first data center; and

a number of counterpart server farms in the second data center functionally equivalent to the number of server farms.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein routing traffic from the client includes routing traffic to one or more servers in one selected from:

the number of servers in the first data center on a first layer two network; and

the number of counterpart servers in the second data center on a second layer two network.

19. The medium of claim 17, wherein routing traffic from the number of client sessions includes routing traffic to a server in one selected from:

the number of servers in the first data center having a first network address; and

the number of counterpart servers in the second data center having a second network address.

20. The medium of claim 15, wherein the method includes routing traffic from the number of client sessions on the autonomous intranet system based on information received from the first and second load balancers such that traffic is balanced between the first and second data centers.

21. The medium of claim 15, wherein routing traffic from the number of client sessions includes routing all traffic from the number of client sessions for a particular transaction to one of the first and second data centers.