Exposed control components for customizable load balancing and persistence

• US 9,130,846 B1
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: F5 Networks, Inc. (F5 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: F5 Networks, Inc. (F5 Incorporated)
• Inventors: Szabo, Paul I., Hansen, David A., McMahon, Nathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phuoc
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZAND, DAVOUD AMAN
• Application Number:
  US12/199,768
• Time in Patent Office: 2,568 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226, 709/223, 340 11- 161, 710/36, 710/107, 711/150
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

Embodiments are directed towards exposing access to network metrics to a late binding user customized set of computer instructions within a traffic manager device (TMD) for use in managing a request for a resource. In one embodiment, the TMD may be interposed between client devices and a plurality of network devices. Request specific data is extracted from a client request received by the user'"'"'s instructions. Various network metrics about the network devices are provided to the user'"'"'s instructions to selectively provide the request from the client device to a network device. In one embodiment, an election hash is described as an action performed by the user'"'"'s instructions.

Claims

1. A traffic manager device for managing communications over a network, comprising:

a memory that stores data and instructions;

an input interface that receives requests and sends responses; and

a processor that performs actions embodied by at least a portion of the stored instructions, the actions comprising;

receiving a request from a client device for a resource;

obtaining a list of a plurality of network devices in response to receiving the request;

exposing at least one metric about the plurality of network devices identified in the list, wherein the at least one metric is a control plane or a management plane metric, the management plane metric being a measure of at least one aspect of the network of operations, administration, maintenance, or provisioning of network traffic;

providing access to the at least one metric for use in a late binding user customized set of instructions configured to perform an action further based on the request, where late binding of the user customized set of instructions with the stored instructions assigns values to symbolic placeholder at least after execution of the stored instructions starts; and

wherein the late binding user customized set of instructions perform actions, comprising;

combining request specific data with each of a plurality of different identifiers, each identifier being associated with a different network device in the plurality of network devices, and wherein the identifiers represent an exposed metric;

generating a plurality of hash values based on the plurality of combinations;

selecting a network device based on an evaluation of the generated plurality of hash values; and

forwarding the request to the selected network device, such that the selected network device services the request for content.

2. The traffic manager device of claim 1, wherein the late binding user customized set of instructions are configured to combine at least one metric for each of the plurality of network devices with the request, and wherein the action performed is to select a network device from the list for which the request from the client device is sent.

3. The traffic manager device of claim 1, wherein the action performed comprises at least one of selecting a set of network devices from the list to send the request to, dropping the request if the late binding set of instructions determines based on the exposed metrics that the list is empty indicating that no network device is currently available, or delaying the request until a network device is available to send the request to.

4. The traffic manager device of claim 1, wherein data from within the request is used to further perform the action, wherein the data within the request comprises at least one of a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), host name, path name, cookie, or client address.

5. The traffic manager device of claim 1, wherein the late binding user customized set of instructions configured to perform an action, comprising:

assigning the network devices in the plurality of network devices among different pools in a plurality of pools;

determining a modulo value from a hash of request specific data;

employing the determined modulo value to select a pool from the plurality of pools; and

employing a plurality of identifiers, each identifier being associated with a different network device in the selected pool of network devices.

6. The traffic manager device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of network devices are associated with intrusion detection devices, and wherein request comprises information associated with a client device requesting the content.

7. A non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium having machine-executable instructions stored thereon, which when executed by at least one processor that is interposed between client devices and a plurality of network devices, causes the at least one processor to perform one or more actions to manage communications over a network, comprising:

receiving a request for content;

extracting request specific data from the request for content;

exposing a plurality of network metrics to a late binding user-customized set of script instructions, the late binding of the user-customized set of script instructions occurring at least after execution of the machine-executable instructions starts; and

executing the late binding instructions to;

combine request specific data with each of a plurality of different identifiers, each identifier being associated with a different network device in the plurality of network devices, and wherein the identifiers represent an exposed metric;

generate a plurality of election hashes based on the plurality of combinations, wherein the combinations include the request specific data with at least one exposed network metric associated with the plurality of network devices;

elect one of the plurality of network devices based on a comparison of the generated plurality of election hashes, and

selectively forward the request for content to the elected network device such that the selected network device can provide the requested content.

8. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the late binding user-customized instructions performs one or more actions further comprising:

allocating the plurality of network devices among a plurality of resource pools; and

electing one of the resource pools from which the network device is elected based on a modified election hash.

9. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein electing based on the generated plurality of election hashes further comprises selecting at least one of a highest election hash value or a lowest election hash value.

10. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the request specific data further comprises at least one of a Uniform Resource identifier (URI), a cookie, a host identifier, or a path name.

11. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein election of one of the plurality of network devices is independent of a position of the selected network device within a list of the plurality of network devices.

12. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the request specific data further comprises an identifier associated with a requesting client device;

and wherein an Application Programming Interface (API) is employed to select the request specific data to be extracted from the request.

13. A system for managing communications over a network, comprising:

a plurality of network devices, wherein the plurality of network devices are distributed among a plurality of resource pools; and

a traffic manager device that is interposed between the plurality of application servers and client devices, and is configured to perform actions, including;

receiving a request from a client device for a resource;

extracting request specific data from the request;

exposing a plurality of network metrics, wherein at least one network metric is associated with a control plane or a management plane; and

executing a late binding user-customized script that is configured to perform actions, the late binding of the user-customized script occurring with instructions executed by the traffic manager device at least after a start of execution of the instructions, including;

combining request specific data with each of a plurality of different identifiers, each identifier being associated with a different network device in the plurality of network devices, and wherein the identifiers represent an exposed metric;

generating a first election hash from the plurality of combinations of the request specific data;

employing the first election hash to elect a resource pool from the plurality of resource pools;

generating a plurality of second election hashes from the plurality of combinations of the request specific data and at least one exposed network metric for each of the plurality of network devices associated with the elected resource pool;

electing a network device from within the associated plurality of network devices based on the plurality of second election hashes; and

selectively forwarding the request for the resource to the elected network device, such that the selected network device provides the resource to the client device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein generating the first election hash further comprises performing a hash function on the request specific data, followed by performing a modulo calculation to generate the first election hash.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein generating each of the plurality of second election hashes further comprises:

combining the request specific data with a network identifier for each respective network device in the plurality of network devices; and

performing a hash on each of the combinations to generate the plurality of second election hashes.

16. A method of managing a request for a managing communications over a network, comprising:

receiving a request from a client device for a resource;

extracting request specific data from the request;

exposing at least one network metric to a late binding user-customized script, the late binding of the user-customized script with instructions for executing the method occurring at least after execution of the instructions starts, wherein the at least one network metric is a control plane or a management plane associated metric about a plurality of network devices;

wherein the late binding user customized script with instructions perform actions, comprising;

combining request specific data with each of a plurality of different identifiers, each identifier being associated with a different network device in the plurality of network devices, and wherein the identifiers represent an exposed metric;

generating a plurality of election hashes based on the plurality of combinations from the request specific data and the at least one network metric about the plurality of network devices;

selectively electing a network device from within the plurality of network devices based on an evaluation of the generated plurality of hash values; and

forwarding the request for the resource to the elected network device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

selecting the plurality of network devices by;

identifying a plurality of resource pools, each resource pool including a plurality of different network devices;

generating a modulo of a hash from the request specific data; and

employing the generated modulo to select a resource pool from the plurality of resource pools, wherein the selected resource pool identifies the plurality of network devices from which to elect the network device for providing the resource to the client device.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein an application programming interface (API) is employed to extract from the request the request specific data, wherein the request specific data is extracted by performing a deep packet inspection at or above layer 5 of the OSI layered stack.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of network devices are configured as intrusion detection devices, the request specific data comprises at least one of a client device identifier, and the intrusion detection device is further configured to a response to the request from another network device.