Failover in an internet location coordinate enhanced domain name system

• US 8,458,298 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2008
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Josefsberg, Arne, Dunagan, John D, Scheibel, Mark D., Wolman, Alastair
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Jeong S
• Application Number:
  US12/041,599
• Publication Number:
  US 20090222582A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,919 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/221, 709/223, 709/245
• US Class Current: 709/220
• 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 41/0668 by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity

Abstract

An exemplary failover module includes (a) instructions to respond to a connection problem to a host server at an IP address by selecting a different IP address from a cached list of IP addresses for a domain name associated with the host server and (b) instructions to return the selected, different IP address to future name queries where the instructions to respond, the instructions to initiate, and the instructions to return execute at an operating system level of a computing device configurable to connect to at least one of a plurality of host servers. Such a module may include instructions to optionally initiate a connection to a host server at the selected, different IP address. An exemplary failover module may optionally select an IP address based in part on Internet Location Coordinates (ILCs) where the host servers reside in an ILC enhanced Domain Name System (DNS). Other methods, devices and systems are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

memory;

at least one processing unit of a client computing device, wherein the at least one processing unit is communicatively coupled to the memory;

instructions stored in the memory and executable by the at least one processing unit, the instructions to;

request resolution of a domain name using a Domain Name System (DNS) protocol;

receive, in response to the request, a list of Internet protocol (IP) addresses and Internet Location Coordinates (ILCs) for host servers associated with the domain name, the ILCs for the host servers being determined based at least in part on communication with network beacons by the host servers;

respond to a connection problem to a host server at an IP address by selecting a different IP address from the list, the selecting the different IP address comprising comparing an ILC of the client computing device, as determined based at least in part by the client computing device sending packets to network beacons, with an ILC of a different host server at the different IP address, as determined based at least in part by the different host server sending packets to network beacons; and

initiate a connection to the different host server at the selected, different IP address, the client computing device being configured to connect to at least one of a plurality of host servers.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the instructions further comprise an application programming interface (API).

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the API comprises notification functionality to notify an application executing on the client computing device of a failover.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the connection problem to the host server at the IP address occurs in the context of a first application and the selected different IP address is returned in the context of a second application.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the connection problem comprises a connection failure.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the connection problem comprises an unacceptable connection response time.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the list comprises Internet Location Coordinates for at least some of the IP addresses.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the host server comprises state information about an application executing on the client computing device.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising instructions to communicate state information to at least one of the host servers associated with the domain name.

10. A method for failover, implemented by a computing device, the method comprising:

requesting, by the computing device, resolution of a domain name using a Domain Name System (DNS) protocol;

receiving, in response to the requesting, a list of Internet protocol (IP) addresses and Internet Location Coordinates (ILCs) for host servers associated with the domain name, the ILCs for the host servers being determined based in part on communication with network beacons by the host servers;

selecting, by the computing device, a first IP address from the list;

recognizing a connection problem to a host server associated with the first IP address;

selecting, by a failover module operating at an operating system level of the computing device, a second IP address from the list, wherein the selecting the second IP address comprises comparing an ILC determined by the computing device based in part on sending packets to network beacons with one of the ILCs determined by a different host server at the second IP address; and

returning, by the failover module operating at the operating system level of the computing device, the second IP address to further DNS queries for the given domain name.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the connection problem to the host server associated with the first IP address occurs in the context of a first application and the selected second IP address is returned in the context of a second application, the failover module further operating in a seamless manner to failover the first application to the second IP address in response to the connection problem, wherein the experience of a user of the first application is uninterrupted by the connection problem.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the connection problem comprises a connection failure.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the connection problem comprises an unacceptable connection response time.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the requesting comprises an API call by an application seeking to establish a connection to a host server associated with the domain name.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the application comprises a stateless application.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving state information from a stateful application.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising communicating, by the computing device, the state information to the different host server at the second IP address, wherein when the host server at the second IP address requires login information from the computing device to further the DNS queries, the failover module provides the login information without interruption of a user of the computing device.

18. A method for failover, implemented by a client computing device, the method comprising:

acquiring an Internet Location Coordinate (ILC) based at least in part on communication, by the client computing device, with network beacons;

requesting, by the client computing device, resolution of a domain name using a Domain Name System (DNS) protocol;

receiving, in response to the requesting by the client computing device, a list of Internet protocol (IP) addresses and Internet Location Coordinates (ILCs) for host servers associated with the domain name, the ILCs for the host servers being derived based in part on communication with network beacons by the host servers;

comparing, by the client computing device, the ILC of the client computing device with the ILCs for the host servers;

selecting, by the client computing device, an IP address from the list based at least in part on the comparing;

recognizing, by the client computing device, a connection problem to the host server associated with the IP address;

selecting, by the client computing device, a next IP address from the list based at least in part on the comparing; and

establishing, by the client computing device, a connection to the host server at the next IP address.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising receiving state information from a stateful application and communicating the state information to the host server at the next IP address.