Exchange of server health and client information through headers for request management

• US 9,185,006 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2012
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Uluderya, Gokhan, Furtwangler, Tyler, Soni, Bijul, Fox, Eric, Rama, Sanjay, Ami-ad, Kfir, Silva, Roshane
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH CHAU
• Application Number:
  US13/716,913
• Publication Number:
  US 20140173092A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,058 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709223-224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

Server health and client information are exchanged through headers for request management. Headers in standardized or proprietary protocol communication between servers and a request management module and/or clients and the request management module may be used to exchange server health and client information. The exchanged server health and/or client information may be employed in throttling, routing, and/or load balancing the incoming requests. Rules specified by the client through the header exchange may also be used for throttling, routing, and/or load balancing decisions.

Claims

1. A method executed on a computing device for exchange of server health and client information through headers in request management, the method comprising:

receiving server health information in headers of service communication from one or more servers at one or more request managers in a service infrastructure;

receiving a request from a client at the one or more request managers, wherein the request includes client type information in a header of the request, the client type information including an indication of the client, wherein the one or more request managers are;

dedicated to perform request management tasks if a configuration of the service infrastructure is in a dedicated mode deployment, and

integrated to the one or more servers if the configuration of the service infrastructure is in an integrated mode deployment;

selecting a server at the one or more request managers from the one or more servers for the received request to be routed based on at least one of the received server health information and the client type information, wherein selecting the server based on the client type information includes, blocking or sending the request to a low health server, and sending the request to a server with high priority based on the client type information; and

performing one or more of the following actions at the one or more request managers;

routing the request to the selected server,

throttling the request, and

load balancing the request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the server health information in form of one a single health score, multiple health scores, and a health metric value.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the multiple health scores is associated with a group of health metrics.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the health metrics include one or more of a processor capacity, a memory capacity, an available bandwidth, and a current load.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the service infrastructure is a scalable system comprising the one or more request managers receiving the server health information and the client type information.

6. The method acclaim 5, further comprising:

receiving at least one from a set of;

a routing rule, a throttling rule, a load balancing rule, a routing script, and the client type information at one of the one or more request managers; and

disseminating the received one of the routing rule, the throttling rule, the load balancing rule, the routing script, and the client type information to remaining request managers.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the server health information to be customized by an administrator.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

making, at least one from a set of a routing decision, a throttling, decision, and a load balancing decision based on one of a rule and a script.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the server health information through one of a periodic communication and an on-demand communication with the one or more servers.

10. A computing device for employing exchange of server health and client information through headers in request management, the computing device comprising:

a communication module configured to communicate with one or more servers in a service infrastructure and one or more clients;

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute a request management application in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory, wherein the request management application is configured to;

receive server health information in headers of one of a periodic service communication and an on-demand service communication from the one or more servers;

receive a request from a client, wherein the request includes client type information;

manage the request through one or more request managers that are dedicated to performing request management tasks in response to a configuration of the service infrastructure in a dedicated mode deployment;

manage the request through the one or more request managers that are integrated to the one or more servers in response to a configuration of the service infrastructure in an integrated mode deployment;

select a server from the one or more servers for the received request to be routed based on the received server health information and client type information, wherein the server is selected based on the client type information through one of;

blocking or sending the request to a low health server, and sending the request to a server with high priority based on the client type information; and

one or more of route the request to the selected server, throttle the request, and load balance the request.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the request management application is further configured to:

receive the client type information in a header of communication providing the request from the client; and

make at least one from a set of a routing decision, a throttling decision, and a load balancing decision based on the received client type information.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the request management application is further configured to:

employ one or more rules to make the decision, wherein the one or more rules are received from one of an administrator and the client, and disseminated to the one or more request managers in the service infrastructure.

13. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to perform one or more of routing the request to the selected server, throttling the request, and load balancing the request based on one or more of a server functionality, a type of application associated with the request, and a resource demand of the application associated with the request.

14. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to route the request to the selected server based on a functionality hosted by the selected server.

15. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device is one of a request management server and a router.

16. A computer-readable memory device with instructions stored thereon for exchange of server health and client information through headers in request management, the instructions comprising:

receiving server health information in form of one of a single health score, multiple health scores, and a health metric value from one or more servers in a service infrastructure in headers of service communication between the servers and one or more request managers;

receiving a request from a client, wherein the request includes client type information identifying a client type in a header of the request,

managing the request through the one or more request managers that are dedicated to performing request management tasks in response to a configuration of the service infrastructure in a dedicated mode deployment;

managing, the request through the one or more request managers that are integrated to the servers in response to a configuration of the service infrastructure in an integrated mode deployment;

making at least one from a set of a routing decision, a throttling decision, and a load balancing decision based on at least one of the received server health information and the client type information using one of a rule and a script, wherein making a routing decision based on the client type information includes blocking or sending the request to a low health server, and sending the request to a server with high priority; and

one or more of routing the request to the selected server, throttling the request, and load balancing the request.

17. The computer-readable memory device of claim 16, wherein the instructions further comprise:

routing the request to a server with a good health status and preventing impact on one or more servers with lower health status;

prioritizing the request by throttling other types of requests; and

routing the request to a selected servers based on one or more HTTP elements.

18. The computer-readable memory device of claim 16, wherein the instructions further comprise:

routing the request to a server based on a type of the request and a type of the server;

identifying and blocking harmful requests to prevent a server from processing the harmful request;

routing heavy requests to servers with more resources; and

enabling troubleshooting by at least one of routing to the request to a server experiencing problems and routing requests from selected clients to selected servers.