System and method for transferring data in high latency firewalled networks

• US 8,667,145 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2009
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signiant Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Signiant Incorporated
• Inventors: Bowler, Ken
• Primary Examiner(s): Donabed, Ninos
• Application Number:
  US12/406,472
• Publication Number:
  US 20090182846A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,812 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/227
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols

Abstract

A system and method are provided for establishing multiple parallel connections between a client and a server on a single server port. Data may be transferred on the multiple parallel connections between the server and the client through an opening in a network firewall that corresponds to the single server port. A control process may accept N connection requests from a client then transfer each accepted connection to a relay process that manages that connection. Each relay process may relay data between the server and the client via the single server port. A single collective data transfer may be executed on the N parallel connections, thereby increasing throughput and data transfer rates. If the data transfer rate is primarily limited by network latency, using N parallel connections provides the advantage of increasing the data transfer rate by approximately a factor of N.

Claims

1. A networked server device configured to transfer one or more electronic files to or from a client, comprising:

a first communication port, wherein data transfer through the first communication port is permitted by a firewall;

a plurality of server ports;

a control process component that;

listens for a plurality of connection requests at the first communication port, wherein the plurality of connection requests have been originated by the client from a corresponding plurality of client ports of the client,

receives, from the client, the plurality of connection requests at the first communication port,

in response to the plurality of connection requests, establishes a plurality of client-side connections between the first communication port and the plurality of client ports of the client, and a plurality of server-side connections between the first communication port and the plurality of server ports of the networked server device, individual ones of the client-side connections and corresponding ones of the server-side connections forming complete client port to server port connections serving to connect individual ones of the client ports with individual ones of the server ports, wherein individual client port to server port connections correspond to individual ones of the plurality of connection requests, and

causes the one or more electronic files to be transferred in parallel using the plurality of client port to server port connections through the first communication port

a plurality of relay process components, wherein individual ones of the plurality of relay process components correspond to individual ones of the plurality of server-side connections, wherein individual ones of the relay process components;

receive, from the control process component, an individual one of the plurality of server-side connections, and

transfer at least part of the one or more electronic files through the first communication port such that the control process component is relieved from transferring the at least part of the one or more electronic files.

2. The networked server device of claim 1, wherein the one or more electronic files are transferred from at least two server ports of the networked server device to at least two client ports of the client, wherein file transfer occurs in parallel.

3. The networked server device of claim 1, wherein the one or more electronic files are transferred from at least two client ports of the client to at least two server ports of the networked server device, wherein file transfer occurs in parallel.

4. The networked server device of claim 1, wherein the communication port of the networked server device is a communication port reserved for file transfer protocol (FTP) transactions.

5. The networked server device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of server-side connections is limited to a negotiated number of available connections, wherein the negotiated number of available connections is determined through negotiation with the client.

6. A computer-implemented method for transferring one or more electronic files between a networked server device and a client, comprising:

listening, by a control process component of the networked server device, for a plurality of connection requests at a first communication port of the networked server device, wherein the plurality of connection requests have been originated by the client from a corresponding plurality of client ports of the client;

receiving the plurality of connection requests at the first communication port;

in response to the plurality of connection requests, establishing a plurality of client-side connections between the first communication port and the plurality of client ports of the client, and establishing a plurality of server-side connections between the first communication port and a plurality of server ports of the networked server device, individual ones of the client-side connections and corresponding ones of the server-side connections forming complete client port to server port connections serving to connect individual ones of the client ports with individual ones of the server ports, wherein individual client port to server port connections correspond to individual ones of the plurality of connection requests, wherein the plurality of server-side connections is established through a corresponding plurality of relay process components;

receiving, by individual ones of the relay process components, from the control process component, an individual one of the plurality of server-side connections; and

causing the one or more electronic files to be transferred in parallel using the plurality of client port to server port connections through the first communication port such that the control process component is relieved, by the individual ones of the relay process components, from transferring at least part of the one or more electronic files.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the one or more electronic files are transferred from at least two server ports to at least two client ports of the client, wherein file transfer occurs in parallel.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the one or more electronic files are transferred from at least two client ports of the client to at least two server ports, wherein the file transfer occurs in parallel.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the communication port of the networked server device is a communication port reserved for file transfer protocol (FTP) transactions.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of server-side connections is limited to a negotiated number of available connections, wherein the negotiated number of available connections is determined through negotiation with the client.

11. A computer-implemented method for transfer of one or more electronic files between a networked server device having a plurality of server ports and a client having a plurality of client ports, the computer-implemented method comprising:

listening, by a control process component of the networked server device, for a plurality of connection requests at a first communication port of the networked server device, wherein the plurality of connection requests have been originated by the client from a corresponding plurality of client ports of the client;

receiving the plurality of connection requests at the first communication port;

determining a number of available server-side connections with the networked server device through negotiations with the client;

in response to the plurality of connection requests from the client, establishing the determined number of available server-side connections, between the first communication port and the plurality of server ports, through a corresponding plurality of relay process components;

establishing a corresponding number of client-side connections between the first communication port and the plurality of client ports such that individual ones of the server-side connections and corresponding ones of the client-side connections form complete client port to server port connections serving to connect individual ones of the client ports with individual ones of the server ports, wherein individual client port to server port connections correspond to individual ones of the plurality of connection requests;

receiving, by individual ones of the plurality of relay process components, from the control process component, an individual one of the determined number of available server-side connections; and

causing the one or more electronic files to be transmitted in parallel using the plurality of client port to server port connections through the first communication port such that the control process component is relieved, by the individual ones of the relay process components, from transferring at least part of the one or more electronic files.