Methods for policy-based network traffic queue management and devices thereof

• US 9,231,879 B1
• Filed: 02/20/2012
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: F5 Networks, Inc. (F5 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: F5 Networks, Inc. (F5 Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wojcik, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Application Number:
  US13/400,186
• Time in Patent Office: 1,415 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/207, 709/202, 709/224, 709/232
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames

Abstract

A method, computer readable medium, and network traffic management apparatus includes determining whether at least one existing request should be removed from a request queue. At least one existing request stored in the request queue is identified by applying one or more queue management rules. The identified existing request is removed from the request queue and the current request is added to the request queue when it is determined that at least one existing request should be removed from the request queue.

Claims

1. A method for policy-based network traffic queue management, comprising:

determining, by a network traffic management apparatus, when an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request queue should be dequeued based on one or more queue management rules and in response to receiving a current HTTP request from a client computing device;

identifying, by the network traffic management apparatus, one of a plurality of existing HTTP requests stored in the request queue based at least in part on a utilization level of the request queue and a score associated with each of the existing requests, wherein the utilization level is less than full utilization and the score is generated based on a type of content associated with each of the existing requests, and removing, the existing request from the request queue, when the determining indicates that the request queue should be dequeued;

generating, by the network traffic management apparatus, another score for the current request based at least in part on another type of additional content associated with the current request; and

inserting, by the network traffic management apparatus, the current request into the request queue as associated with the another score.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the queue management rules defined based at least in part on historical information regarding one or more users or one or more network addresses, the requested content, or one or more request attributes selected from a network address, an associated user, a content type, whether servicing is likely to result in one or more related requests, a uniform resource identifier (URI) of associated content, one or more associated cookies, information regarding associated content stored in cache, or one or more associated Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) header values.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

updating, by the network traffic management apparatus, performance information selected from a number of requests received from a user associated with the current request, a number of requests received from a network address associated with the current request, or a number of requests received for the content; and

generating, by the network traffic management apparatus, one or more of the queue management rules based at least in part on the performance information.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein one or more of the queue management rules are established by a manufacturer of the traffic management apparatus, configured by an administrator of the traffic management apparatus, or learned by the traffic management apparatus.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the network traffic management apparatus, when the request queue is empty and at least one server is available; and

servicing, by the network traffic management apparatus, the current request without removing the existing request when the determining indicates that the queue is empty and at least one server is available.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the network traffic management apparatus, when the request queue has capacity when the determining indicates that the request queue should not be dequeued;

inserting, by the network traffic management apparatus, the current request into the request queue when the determining indicates that the request queue has capacity;

dropping, by the network traffic management apparatus, the current request when the determining indicates that the request queue does not have capacity; and

asynchronously servicing, by the network traffic management apparatus, the existing requests according to the order in which the existing requests were added to the request queue.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6 wherein one or more of the removing the existing request from the request queue or the dropping the current request further comprises closing a connection associated with the existing request, communicating an error code to the client computing device, or communicating an alternate version of the content to the client computing device.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for policy-based network traffic queue management comprising executable code which when executed by at least one processor, causes the processor to perform steps comprising:

determining when an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request queue should be dequeued based on one or more queue management rules and in response to receiving a current HTTP request from a client computing device;

identifying one of a plurality of existing HTTP requests stored in the request queue based at least in part on a utilization level of the request queue and a score associated with each of the existing requests, wherein the utilization level is less than full utilization and the score is generated based on a type of content associated with each of the existing requests, and removing the existing request from the request queue, when the determining indicates that the request queue should be dequeued;

generating another score for the current request based at least in part on another type of additional content associated with the current request; and

inserting the current request into the request queue as associated with the another score.

9. The medium as set forth in claim 8 wherein the queue management rules are defined based at least in part on historical information regarding one or more users or one or more network addresses, the requested content, or one or more request attributes selected from a network address, an associated user, a content type, whether servicing is likely to result in one or more related requests, a uniform resource identifier (URI) of associated content, one or more associated cookies, information regarding associated content stored in cache, or one or more associated Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) header values.

10. The medium as set forth in claim 8 wherein the executable code when executed by the at least one processor cause the processor to perform at least one additional step comprising:

updating performance information selected from a number of requests received from a user associated with the current request, a number of requests received from a network address associated with the current request, or a number of requests received for the content; and

generating one or more of the queue management rules based at least in part on the performance information.

11. The medium as set forth in claim 8 wherein one or more of the queue management rules are established by a manufacturer, configured by an administrator, or learned.

12. The medium as set forth in claim 8 wherein the executable code when executed by the at least one processor cause the processor to perform at least one additional step comprising:

determining when the request queue is empty and at least one server is available; and

servicing the current request without removing the existing request when the determining indicates that the queue is empty and at least one server is available.

13. The medium as set forth in claim 8 wherein the executable code when executed by the at least one processor cause the processor to perform at least one additional step comprising:

determining when the request queue has capacity when the determining indicates that the request queue should not be dequeued;

inserting the current request into the request queue when the determining indicates that the request queue has capacity;

dropping the current request when the determining indicates that the request queue does not have capacity; and

asynchronously servicing the existing requests according to the order in which the existing requests were added to the request queue.

14. The medium as set forth in claim 13 wherein one or more of the removing the existing request from the request queue or the dropping the current request further comprises closing a connection associated with the existing request, communicating an error code to the client computing device, or communicating an alternate version of the content to the client computing device.

15. A network traffic management apparatus comprising a processor and memory coupled to the processor which is configured to be capable of executing programmed instructions comprising and stored in the memory to:

determine when an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request queue should be dequeued based on one or more queue management rules and in response to receiving a current HTTP request from a client computing device;

identify one of a plurality of existing HTTP requests stored in the request queue based at least in part on a utilization level of the request queue and a score associated with each of the existing requests, wherein the utilization level is less than full utilization and the score is generated based on a type of content associated with each of the existing requests, and remove the existing request from the request queue, when the determining indicates that the request queue should be dequeued;

generate another score for the current request based at least in part on another type of additional content associated with the current request; and

insert the current request into the request queue as associated with the another score.

16. The apparatus as set forth in claim 15 wherein the queue management rules are defined based at least in part on historical information regarding one or more users or one or more network addresses, the requested content, or one or more request attributes selected from a network address, an associated user, a content type, whether servicing is likely to result in one or more related requests, a uniform resource identifier (URI) of associated content, one or more associated cookies, information regarding associated content stored in cache, or one or more associated Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) header values.

17. The apparatus as set forth in claim 15 wherein the processor coupled to the memory is further configured to be capable of executing at least one additional programmed instruction comprising and stored in the memory to:

update performance information selected from a number of requests received from a user associated with the current request, a number of requests received from a network address associated with the current request, or a number of requests received for the content; and

generate one or more of the queue management rules based at least in part on the performance information.

18. The apparatus as set forth in claim 15 wherein one or more of the queue management rules are established by a manufacturer of the traffic management apparatus, configured by an administrator of the traffic management apparatus, or learned by the traffic management apparatus.

19. The apparatus as set forth in claim 15 wherein the processor coupled to the memory is further configured to be capable of executing at least one additional programmed instruction comprising and stored in the memory to:

determine when the request queue is empty and at least one server is available; and

service the current request without removing the existing request when the determining indicates that the queue is empty and at least one server is available.

20. The apparatus as set forth in claim 15 wherein the processor coupled to the memory is further configured to be capable of executing at least one additional programmed instruction comprising and stored in the memory to:

determine when the request queue has capacity when the determining indicates that the request queue should not be dequeued;

insert the current request into the request queue when the determining indicates that the request queue has capacity;

drop the current request when the determining indicates that the request queue does not have capacity; and

asynchronously service the existing requests according to the order in which the existing requests were added to the request queue.

21. The apparatus as set forth in claim 20 wherein one or more of the removing the existing request from the request queue or the dropping the current request further comprises closing a connection associated with the existing request, communicating an error code to the client computing device, or communicating an alternate version of the content to the client computing device.