Application acceleration as a service system and method

• US 8,489,685 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aryaka Networks
• Original Assignee: Aryaka Networks
• Inventors: Bharadhwaj, Rajeev, Gupta, Ajit, Nagaraj, Ashwath
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anwari, Maceeh
• Application Number:
  US12/550,409
• Publication Number:
  US 20110016180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,415 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/029 Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC

Abstract

Disclosed are systems and methods to provide application acceleration as a service. In one embodiment, a system includes a head office to serve an enterprise application comprised of a collaborative document. The system also includes a branch office to request the collaborative document from the head office. The enterprise application may also include a computed document and/or a static document. In addition, the system also includes a set of Point of Presence (POP) locations between the head office and the branch office to communicate the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document on behalf of the head office from a closest POP location to the head office to a closest POP location to the branch office and then onward to the branch office.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a branch office;

a Wide Area Network (WAN);

a head office to serve an enterprise application comprising a collaborative document to be shared with the branch office in accordance with a request therefor, the head office and the branch office being configured to communicate through the WAN, the enterprise application further comprising a computed document generated at runtime and a static document prepared a priori; and

a network of Point of Presence (POP) locations between the head office and the branch office to communicate at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document on behalf of the head office from a closest POP location to the head office to a closest POP location to the branch office and then onward to the branch office, each POP location including a switching engine and an edge engine implemented therein to provide WAN optimization and application acceleration during the communication of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document on behalf of the head office, the switching engine and the edge engine enabling multi-tenancy in the each POP location, resource allocation for each of the switching engine and the edge engine being on a per-customer branch basis, the each of the switching engine and the edge engine being scalable with load balancers, the WAN optimization and the application acceleration capabilities of the each POP location enabling distribution of tasks associated therewith across the WAN network, at least one of the head office and the branch office being configured to generate secure transport data to be transmitted over at least one secure tunnel of at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document between at least one intervening firewall such that traffic is routed securely through the network of POP locations toward a destination, the network of POP locations being implemented with a multi-segment architecture to enable segments of the WAN network to have different queuing and routing policies therebetween based on at least one of cost and congestion, and each segment of the WAN network being capable of implementing a link utilization algorithm using a standard transport protocol therein, wherein the secure tunnel comprises a private transport of a packet with an unaltered Internet Protocol (IP) address through at least one of a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE), an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN).

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the collaborative document is accessible and simultaneously modifiable by a plurality of users at the branch office.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of:

the enterprise application is an internal application of a business entity,

the head office of the business entity and the branch office of the business entity are configured to securely access the enterprise application through a private network using at least one of public addresses of source and destination routers, pools of addresses represented by the at least one intervening firewall, using a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) label, and using a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) tag, and

the enterprise application is configured to be executed at any POP location of the network of POP locations.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) device and a router, coupled to at least one of the head office and the branch office to at least one of;

perform an Advanced Redundancy Removal (ARR) function to avoid transmitting duplicate information in at least one of a transport stream and a packet stream,

perform Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) proxies, with varying policies for at least one of TCP windows, buffering and security,

perform protocol dependent split proxies on at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream,

generate the secure transport data to be transmitted over the secure tunnels of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document, and

communicate the secure transport data between a client device in the branch office and the head office, with the at least one intervening firewall, through the at least one secure tunnel.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the CPE device is further configured to at least one of:

resolve a first bandwidth limitation in a first link between the closest POP location to the branch office and the branch office and to reduce communication time of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document in the first link between the closest POP location to the branch office and the branch office, and

resolve a second bandwidth limitation in a second link between the closest POP location to the head office and the head office and to reduce communication time of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document in the second link between the closest POP location to the head office and the head office.

6. The system of claim 4, further comprising:

storage associated with at least one of the network of POP locations and the CPE device to reduce an amount of data flow when the ARR function is performed, the storage being one of a flash device, a solid state device and a hard drive.

7. The system of claim 4, further comprising:

a public server to generate the computed document and the static document,

wherein the branch office is configured to request at least one of the computed document and the static document from the head office through the at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream, and

wherein the network of POP locations is configured to route the at least one of a transport stream and the packet stream on behalf of the public server from a closest POP location to the public server to the closest POP location to the branch office to the branch office.

8. The system of claim 7, comprising a plurality of head offices, a plurality of public servers, and a plurality of branch offices.

9. The system of claim 7,

wherein the head office and the branch office are configured to communicate with each other through at least one of a private network and a public network, and

wherein the public server and the branch office are also configured to communicate with each other through the at least one of the public network and the private network.

10. The system of claim 9,

wherein the computed document is generated based on a recent interaction between the public server and the branch office during a secure session of the public network.

11. The system of claim 4, wherein compression for a communication segment between the each POP location of the network of POP locations is variable based on a path segment policy between the each POP location of the network of POP locations, the CPE, and the head office.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the network of POP locations is shared by a plurality of licensed entities of an application acceleration service, each of the licensed entities having at least one head office and at least one branch office, and the each of the licensed entities leveraging both a shared software and a shared hardware infrastructure of a service provider associated with the application acceleration service.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein an alternate path is used to route at least one of a transport stream and a packet stream that includes at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document between the head office and the branch office when routing through the closest POP location to the branch office is undesirable due to at least one of network congestion, service unavailability, and a segment policy.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the branch office is configured to access an external service without communicating through the head office when a request to access the external service is communicated from the branch office directly to a particular POP location closest to the external service.

15. A system comprising:

at least one head office of a business entity;

a WAN network;

at least one branch office of the business entity configured to communicate with the at least one head office through the WAN network;

a network of POP locations geographically proximate to the at least one head office and the at least one branch office, each POP location including a switching engine and an edge engine implemented therein to provide WAN optimization and application acceleration during communication of at least one of a collaborative document, a computed document and a static document of an enterprise application served through the at least one head office to a POP location closest to a requesting entity, the switching engine and the edge engine enabling multi-tenancy in the each POP location, resource allocation for each of the switching engine and the edge engine being on a per-customer branch basis, the each of the switching engine and the edge engine being scalable with load balancers, the WAN optimization and the application acceleration capabilities of the each POP location enabling distribution of tasks associated therewith across the WAN network, the collaborative document being accessible and simultaneously modifiable by a plurality of users at the at least one branch office, the computed document being generated at runtime, the static document being prepared a priori, the network of POP locations being implemented with a multi-segment architecture to enable segments of the WAN network to have different queuing and routing policies therebetween based on at least one of cost and congestion, and each segment of the WAN network being capable of implementing a link utilization algorithm using a standard transport protocol therein; and

a CPE device at at least one of the head office and the requesting entity to perform an ARR function on at least one of the collaborative document, the enterprise application, and the computed document, to perform TCP proxies with varying policies for at least one of TCP windows, buffering and security and to generate secure transport data to be transmitted over at least one secure tunnel of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document between at least one intervening firewall such that traffic is routed securely through the network of POP locations toward a destination, the CPE device also having a capability to perform protocol dependent split proxies on at least one of a transport stream and a packet stream associated with the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document, and the ARR function enabling avoiding transmission of duplicate information in the at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream, wherein the secure tunnel comprises a private transport of a packet with an unaltered Internet Protocol (IP) address through at least one of a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE), an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN).

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the requesting entity is at least one of a branch office of the business entity, a secondary head office to a particular head office of the business entity in which the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document is hosted, and a consumer client-side device.

17. The system of claim 16,

wherein the computed document is generated based on a recent interaction between a public server and the branch office during a secure session of a public network.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the CPE device is further configured to at least one of:

resolve a first bandwidth limitation in a first link between the closest POP location to the branch office and the branch office and to reduce communication time of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document in the first link between the closest POP location to the branch office and the branch office, and

resolve a second bandwidth limitation in a second link between a closest POP location to the at least one head office and the at least one head office and to reduce communication time of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document in the second link between the closest POP location to the at least one head office and the at least one head office.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the application acceleration is offered as a service to the business entity.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one of:

the enterprise application is an internal application of the business entity,

the at least one head office of the business entity and the at least one branch office of the business entity are configured to securely access the enterprise application through a private network using at least one of public addresses of source and destination routers, pools of addresses represented by the at least one intervening firewall, using an MPLS label, and using a VLAN tag, and

the enterprise application is executable at any POP location of the network of POP locations.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one secure tunnel is one of an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel, a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunnel, and a VLAN tunnel.

22. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

storage associated with at least one of the network of POP locations and the CPE device to reduce an amount of data flow when the ARR function is performed, the storage being one of a flash device, a solid state device and a hard drive.

23. The system of claim 15, further comprising at least one of:

a public server to generate the computed document and the static document; and

a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to host the static document,

wherein the requesting entity is configured to request at least one of the computed document and the static document from the at least one head office through the at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream, and

wherein the network of POP locations is configured to route the at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream on behalf of at least one of the public server and the CDN from the closest POP location to the requesting entity to the requesting entity.

24. The system of claim 23,

wherein the at least one head office and the at least one branch office communicate with each other through at least one of a private network and a public network, and

wherein the public server and the at least one branch office communicate with each other through the at least one of the public network and the private network.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein an alternate path is used to route the at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream associated with the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document between the at least one head office and the requesting entity when routing through the closest POP location to the requesting entity is undesirable due to at least one of network congestion, service unavailability, and a segment policy.

26. The system of claim 15, wherein the requesting entity is configured to access an external service without communicating through the at least one head office when a request to access the external service is communicated from the requesting entity directly to a particular POP location closest to the external service.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein compression for each communication segment between the at least one head office and the at least one branch office is variable based on a path segment policy.

28. A method comprising:

providing a capability to communicate between a head office of a business entity and a branch office of the business entity through a WAN;

serving, through a processor, an enterprise application comprising a collaborative document from the head office of the business entity to the branch office thereof in accordance with an appropriate request from the branch office, the enterprise application further comprising a computed document generated at runtime and a static document prepared a priori;

communicating at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document through a network of POP locations based on at least one of a transport stream and a packet stream on behalf of the head office from a closest POP location to the head office to a closest POP location to the branch office and then onward to the branch office;

providing a capability of WAN optimization and application acceleration across the WAN network during the communication of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document on behalf of the head office through the network of POP locations by implementing each POP location thereof with a switching engine and an edge engine therein, the switching engine and the edge engine enabling multi-tenancy in the each POP location, resource allocation for each of the switching engine and the edge engine being on a per-customer branch basis, and the each of the switching engine and the edge engine being scalable with load balancers;

generating, through at least one of the head office and the branch office, secure transport data to be transmitted over at least one secure tunnel of at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document between at least one intervening firewall such that traffic is routed securely through the network of POP locations toward a destination, wherein the secure tunnel comprises a private transport of a packet with an unaltered Internet Protocol (IP) address through at least one of a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE), an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN); and

implementing the network of POP locations with a multi-segment architecture to enable segments of the WAN network to have different queuing and routing policies therebetween based on at least one of cost and congestion, each segment of the WAN network being capable of implementing a link utilization algorithm using a standard transport protocol therein.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

granting simultaneous access to the collaborative document to different client devices of the branch office; and

processing a simultaneous modification of the collaborative document by a plurality of the different client devices from a closest POP location to the branch office to a closest POP location to the head office.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein at least one of:

the enterprise application is an internal application of the business entity,

the head office of the business entity and the branch office of the business entity are configured to securely access the enterprise application through a private network using at least one of public addresses of source and destination routers, pools of addresses represented by the at least one intervening firewall, using an MPLS label, and using a VLAN tag, and

the enterprise application is executable at any POP location of the network of POP locations.

31. The method of claim 28, further comprising at least one of:

performing an ARR function to avoid transmitting duplicate information of the at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream; and

performing TCP proxies, with varying policies for at least one of TCP windows, buffering and security.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

reducing an amount of data flow when the ARR function is performed through providing storage comprising one of a flash device, a solid state device, and a hard drive.

33. The method of claim 28, further comprising at least one of:

resolving a first bandwidth limitation in a first link between the closest POP location to the branch office and the branch office and to reduce communication time of the collaborative document in the first link between the closest POP location to the branch office and the branch office; and

resolving a second bandwidth limitation in a second link between the closest POP location to the head office and the head office and to reduce communication time of the collaborative document in the second link between the closest POP location to the head office and the head office.

34. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

generating a computed document at runtime and a static document a priori through a public server; and

routing at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream on behalf of the public server from the closest POP location to the branch office to the branch office.

35. The method of claim 34, comprising a plurality of head offices, a plurality of public servers, and a plurality of branch offices.

36. The method of claim 34, comprising at least one of:

communicating between the head office and the branch office through at least one of a private network and a public network; and

communicating between the public server and the branch office through the at least one of the public network and the private network.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

generating the computed document based on a recent interaction between the public server and the branch office during a secure session of the public network.

38. The method of claim 34, further comprising routing the at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream including at least one of the collaborative document, computed document and the static document through an alternate path between the head office and the branch office when routing through the closest POP location to the branch office is undesirable due to at least one of network congestion, service unavailability, and a segment policy.

39. The method of claim 28, further comprising sharing a set of POP locations between the head office and the branch office with a plurality of licensed entities of an application acceleration service, each of the licensed entities having at least one head office and at least one branch office thereof.

40. The method of claim 28, further comprising accessing an external service from the branch office without communicating through the head office when a request to access the external service is communicated from the branch office directly to a particular POP location closest to the external service.

41. The method of claim 28, further comprising performing variable compression for each communication segment between the head office and the branch office based on a path segment policy.

42. A method comprising:

providing a capability to communicate between at least one head office of a business entity and at least one branch office of the business entity through a WAN;

placing a network of POP locations geographically proximate to the at least one head office and the at least one branch office;

communicating, through a processor, at least one of a collaborative document, a computed document and a static document of an enterprise application served through the at least one head office to a POP location closest to a requesting entity in accordance with an appropriate request therefor, the collaborative document being accessible and simultaneously modifiable by a plurality of users at the at least one branch office, the computed document being generated at runtime, and the static document being prepared a priori;

providing a capability of WAN optimization and application acceleration across the WAN network during the communication of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document through the network of POP locations by implementing each POP location thereof with a switching engine and an edge engine therein, the switching engine and the edge engine enabling multi-tenancy in the each POP location, resource allocation for each of the switching engine and the edge engine being on a per-customer branch basis, and the each of the switching engine and the edge engine being scalable with load balancers;

generating, through at least one of the at least one head office and the at least one branch office, secure transport data to be transmitted over at least one secure tunnel of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document between at least one intervening firewall such that traffic is routed securely through the network of POP locations toward a destination, wherein the secure tunnel comprises a private transport of a packet with an unaltered Internet Protocol (IP) address through at least one of a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE), an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN);

implementing the network of POP locations with a multi-segment architecture to enable segments of the WAN network to have different queuing and routing policies therebetween based on at least one of cost and congestion, each segment of the WAN network being capable of implementing a link utilization algorithm using a standard transport protocol therein; and

performing an ARR function on at least one of the collaborative document, the enterprise application, and the computed document to avoid transmission of duplicate information during the communication of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the requesting entity is at least one of a branch office of the business entity, a secondary head office to a particular head office of the business entity in which the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document is hosted, and a consumer client-side device.

44. The method of claim 42, comprising the business entity accepting the application acceleration function as a service.

45. The method of claim 42, comprising:

generating the computed document based on a recent interaction between a public server and the branch office during a secure session of a public network.

46. The method of claim 42, wherein at least one of:

the enterprise application is an internal application of the business entity,

the at least one head office of the business entity and the at least one branch office of the business entity are configured to securely access the enterprise application through a private network using at least one of public addresses of source and destination routers, pools of addresses represented by the at least one intervening firewall, using an MPLS label, and using a VLAN tag, and

the enterprise application is executable at any POP location of the network of POP locations.

47. The method of claim 42, further comprising generating, through a CPE device, the secure transport data of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document to be transmitted over the at least one secure tunnel and communicating the secure transport data between the requesting entity and the at least one head office of the business entity, with the at least one intervening firewall, through the at least one secure tunnel.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising at least one of:

resolving, through the CPE device, a first bandwidth limitation in a first link between the closest POP location to the at least one branch office and the at least one branch office and to reduce communication time of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document in the first link between the closest POP location to the at least one branch office and the at least one branch office; and

resolving, through the CPE device, a second bandwidth limitation in a second link between the closest POP location to the at least one head office and the at least one head office and to reduce communication time of the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document in the second link between the closest POP location to the at least one head office and the at least one head office.

49. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

reducing an amount of data flow when the ARR function is performed through providing storage comprising one of a flash device, a solid state device, and a hard drive.

50. The method of claim 42, comprising:

generating the computed document and a static document through a public server, wherein the requesting entity is configured to request the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document from the at least one head office through at least one of a transport stream and a packet stream, and

wherein the network of POP locations is configured to route the at least one of the transport stream and the packet stream on behalf of the public server from the closest POP location to the requesting entity to the requesting entity.

51. The method of claim 50, comprising:

communicating between the at least one head office and the at least one branch office through at least one of a private network and a public network; and

communicating between the public server and the at least one branch office also through the at least one of the public network and the private network.

52. The method of claim 42, further comprising routing at least one of a transport stream and a packet stream including the at least one of the collaborative document, the computed document, and the static document between the at least one head office and the requesting entity through an alternate path when routing through the closest POP location to the requesting entity is undesirable due to at least one of network congestion, service unavailability, and a segment policy.

53. The method of claim 42, further comprising providing a capability to the requesting entity to access an external service without communicating through the at least one head office when a request to access the external service is communicated from the requesting entity directly to a particular POP location closest to the external service.

54. The method of claim 42, further comprising providing variable compression for each communication segment between the at least one head office and the at least one branch office based on a path segment policy.