Method for seamlessly providing incremental application updates to users while serving continuous live traffic

• US 8,370,467 B1
• Filed: 03/21/2012
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sauer, Frederik Marinus Jan
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Le H
• Application Number:
  US13/426,298
• Time in Patent Office: 321 Days
• Field of Search: 709/221, 709/222, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/205, 714/4, 714/752, 726/3
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/02 Protocol performance

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for upgrading a web application from an existing version to a new version without causing or creating any interruption in service to clients receiving the upgrade. A combination of techniques and strategies are used to fully migrate all connected clients from a first version to a second version of an application while keeping at least two deployment constraints in mind: (1) prevent clients from running with a mixture of resources from two different versions of an application (e.g., Version A and Version B of a given application); and (2) prevent clients from accessing service endpoints from a different version of the application than the client is running (e.g., accessing service endpoints for Version B when running Version A).

Claims

1. A method for providing clients with application updates while serving the clients continuous real-time data, the method comprising:

serving, by a plurality of servers using a first version of a protocol to communicate with a plurality of client devices, application resources and services for a first version of an application running on each of the plurality of client devices;

updating the plurality of servers to communicate with the plurality of client devices using a dual-protocol compatible with both the first version of the application and a second version of the application, the dual-protocol including the first version of the protocol and a second version of the protocol;

serving, by the plurality of servers to the plurality of client devices, application resources and services for the second version of the application using the second version of the protocol, the application resources and services for the second version of the application being different from the application resources and services for the first version of the application;

responsive to determining that the second version of the application is installed on each of the plurality of client devices, removing support for the first version of the protocol from the plurality of servers; and

responsive to determining that an application resource for the second version of the application does not exist for the first version of the application, providing the application resource for the second version of the application to the plurality of servers before the plurality of servers begins using the second version of the protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of servers are updated to communicate with the plurality of client devices using the dual-protocol while the plurality of servers serve continuous real-time data to the plurality of client devices.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of servers serve the application resources and services for the second version of the application to the plurality of client devices using the second version of the protocol while also serving continuous real-time data to the plurality of client devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the support for the first version of the protocol is removed from the plurality of servers while the plurality of servers serve continuous real-time data to the plurality of client devices.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the second version of the application is installed on each of the plurality of client devices, removing the application resources and services for the first version of the application from the plurality of servers.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that an application resource for the first version of the application does not exist for the second version of the application, maintaining the application resource for the first version of the application on one or more of the plurality of servers updated to communicate using the second version of the protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application resources and services for the first and second versions of the application include at least one of version-agnostic resources, version-specific static resources, version-specific executable code, URL fingerprinted resources, and service endpoints.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the application resources and services for the first and second versions of the application include version-agnostic resources, version-specific static resources, version-specific executable code, URL fingerprinted resources, and service endpoints.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the application resources and services for the second version of the application include URL fingerprinted resources for the second version of the application, and further comprising:

providing the URL fingerprinted resources for the second version of the application to the plurality of servers before the plurality of servers begins serving the application resources and services for the second version of the application to the plurality of client devices using the second version of the protocol.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the application resources and services for the first version of the application include URL fingerprinted resources for the first version of the application, and further comprising:

maintaining the URL fingerprinted resources for the first version of the application on the plurality of servers following the determination that the second version of the application is installed on each of the plurality of client devices.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the application resources and services for the second version of the application include version-specific static resources not included in the application resources and services for the first version of the application, and further comprising:

providing the version-specific static resources to the plurality of servers before the plurality of servers begins serving the application resources and services for the second version of the application to the plurality of client devices using the second version of the protocol.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the application resources and services for the first version of the application include version-specific static resources not included in the application resources and services for the second version of the application, and further comprising:

maintaining the version-specific static resources on one or more of the plurality of servers following the determination that the second version of the application is installed on each of the plurality of client devices.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the application resources and services for the second version of the application include version-specific executable code not included in the application resources and services for the first version of the application, and further comprising:

providing the version-specific executable code to the plurality of servers before the plurality of servers begins serving the application resources and services for the second version of the application to the plurality of client devices using the second version of the protocol.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the application resources and services for the first version of the application include version-specific executable code not included in the application resources and services for the second version of the application, and further comprising:

maintaining the version-specific executable code on one or more of the plurality of servers following the determination that the second version of the application is installed on each of the plurality of client devices.

15. A system for providing a client with application updates while serving the client continuous real-time data, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

serve, using a first version of a protocol to communicate with at least one client device, application resources and services for a first version of an application running on the at least one client device;

update, to communicate with the at least one client device using a dual-protocol compatible with both the first version of the application and a second version of the application, the dual-protocol including the first version of the protocol and a second version of the protocol;

serve, to the at least one client device, application resources and services for the second version of the application using the second version of the protocol, the application resources and services for the second version of the application being different from the application resources and services for the first version of the application;

responsive to determining that the second version of the application is installed on the at least one client device, discard support for the first version of the protocol; and

responsive to determining that an application resource for the second version of the application does not exist for the first version of the application, receive the application resource for the second version of the application before using the second version of the protocol.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor updates to communicate with the at least one client device using the dual-protocol while the at least one processor also serves continuous real-time data to the at least one client device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor serves the application resources and services for the second version of the application to the at least one client device using the second version of the protocol while the at least one processor also serves continuous real-time data to the at least one client device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor discards support for the first version of the protocol while the at least one processor also serves continuous real-time data to the at least one client device.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

responsive to determining that the second version of the application is installed on the at least one client device, discard the application resources and services for the first version of the application.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

responsive to determining that an application resource for the first version of the application does not exist for the second version of the application, maintain the application resource for the first version of the application after updating to communicate using the second version of the protocol.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the application resources and services for the first and second versions of the application include at least one of version-agnostic resources, version-specific static resources, version-specific executable code, URL fingerprinted resources, and service endpoints.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the application resources and services for the second version of the application include URL fingerprinted resources for the second version of the application, and wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

receive the URL fingerprinted resources for the second version of the application before the at least one processor begins serving the application resources and services for the second version of the application to the at least one client device using the second version of the protocol.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the application resources and services for the first version of the application include URL fingerprinted resources for the first version of the application, and wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

maintain the URL fingerprinted resources for the first version of the application following the determination that the second version of the application is installed on the at least one client device.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the application resources and services for the second version of the application include version-specific static resources not included in the application resources and services for the first version of the application, and wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

receive the version-specific static resources before the at least one processor begins serving the application resources and services for the second version of the application to the at least one client device using the second version of the protocol.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein the application resources and services for the first version of the application include version-specific static resources not included in the application resources and services for the second version of the application, and wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

maintain the version-specific static resources following the determination that the second version of the application is installed on the at least one client device.

26. The system of claim 15, wherein the application resources and services for the second version of the application include version-specific executable code not included in the application resources and services for the first version of the application, and wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

receive the version-specific executable code before the at least one processor begins serving the application resources and services for the second version of the application to the at least one client device using the second version of the protocol.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein the application resources and services for the first version of the application include version-specific executable code not included in the application resources and services for the second version of the application, and wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

maintain the version-specific executable code following the determination that the second version of the application is installed on the at least one client device.

28. A computer-implemented method for providing clients with application updates, the method comprising:

serving to a plurality of client devices, using a first version of a communication protocol, application resources and services for a first version of an application running on each of the plurality of client devices;

updating to a dual-communication protocol compatible with both the first version of the application and a second version of the application, the dual-communication protocol including the first version of the communication protocol and a second version of the communication protocol;

serving to the plurality of client devices, using the second version of the communication protocol, application resources and services for the second version of the application, the application resources and services for the second version of the application being different from the application resources and services for the first version of the application;

responsive to determining that the second version of the application is installed on each of the plurality of client devices, removing support for the first version of the communication protocol; and

responsive to determining that an application resource for the second version of the application does not exist for the first version of the application, obtaining the application resource for the second version of the application before using the second version of the communication protocol.