Reducing virtual IP-address (VIP) failure detection time
First Claim
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1. A system comprising:
- a plurality of hardware processors, wherein at least one of the plurality of hardware processors is configured to communicate over a network with a plurality of servers;
a global site selector, executed by at least one of the plurality of hardware processors, wherein;
the global site selector performs a global server load balancing to direct network traffic among a plurality of virtual internet protocol (VIP) addresses;
the global site selector includes a keepalive engine to periodically poll one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on an application control engine to check whether each VIP address is in an ONLINE state or an OFFLINE state, wherein the keepalive engine of the global site selector sends one or more keepalive requests and waits for a keepalive response to the keepalive request up to a minimum keepalive interval; and
the global site selector receives a state change information included in a VIP status notification message in response to a state change of one of the VIP addresses, in addition to and distinct from the keepalive response,wherein the keepalive response specifies only the ONLINE state or the OFFLINE state, respectively, the received state change information is received in less than the minimum keepalive interval between the periodic polls, and the state change information is configured to specify a state change from either ONLINE to OFFLINE or OFFLINE to ONLINE; and
the application control engine, executed by at least one of the plurality of hardware processors and in communication with the global site selector, including a configuration manager wherein;
the configuration manager, concurrently with creating a VIP address of the one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on the application control engine, specifies a global site selector IP address through which the application control engine sends to the global site selector the VIP status notification message for the VIP address, wherein the VIP status notification message is distinct from the keepalive response and provides the state change information; and
the application control engine sends, independently of waiting for the minimum keepalive interval between keepalive requests, the VIP status notification message to the global site selector IP address, in direct response to the state change information for the VIP address;
wherein the global site selector modifies the global server load balancing immediately in response to the VIP status notification message, and without waiting for the keepalive response or the minimum keepalive interval, by;
redirecting traffic away from the VIP address if the state change transitions from the ONLINE state to the OFFLINE state, anddirecting traffic to the VIP address if the state change transitions from the OFFLINE state to the ONLINE state.
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Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for global server load balancing in a communication network using a global site selector and an application control engine in communication with the global site selector, in which the application control engine notifies the global site selector in response to a state change for a virtual internet protocol (VIP) address. Keepalive methods generally rely on periodically polling VIP addresses to check whether they are in an ONLINE or OFFLINE state. A minimum interval between two keepalives can be as long as 40 seconds, during which, without a mechanism to reflect state change to the load balancer in real time, if a VIP address changes state (e.g., VIP address failure), a customer can experience network outage during the time interval. Embodiments provide a mechanism to reflect, in real time, the current VIP address state to a global server load balancer to reduce failure detection time.
27 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a plurality of hardware processors, wherein at least one of the plurality of hardware processors is configured to communicate over a network with a plurality of servers; a global site selector, executed by at least one of the plurality of hardware processors, wherein; the global site selector performs a global server load balancing to direct network traffic among a plurality of virtual internet protocol (VIP) addresses; the global site selector includes a keepalive engine to periodically poll one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on an application control engine to check whether each VIP address is in an ONLINE state or an OFFLINE state, wherein the keepalive engine of the global site selector sends one or more keepalive requests and waits for a keepalive response to the keepalive request up to a minimum keepalive interval; and the global site selector receives a state change information included in a VIP status notification message in response to a state change of one of the VIP addresses, in addition to and distinct from the keepalive response, wherein the keepalive response specifies only the ONLINE state or the OFFLINE state, respectively, the received state change information is received in less than the minimum keepalive interval between the periodic polls, and the state change information is configured to specify a state change from either ONLINE to OFFLINE or OFFLINE to ONLINE; and the application control engine, executed by at least one of the plurality of hardware processors and in communication with the global site selector, including a configuration manager wherein; the configuration manager, concurrently with creating a VIP address of the one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on the application control engine, specifies a global site selector IP address through which the application control engine sends to the global site selector the VIP status notification message for the VIP address, wherein the VIP status notification message is distinct from the keepalive response and provides the state change information; and the application control engine sends, independently of waiting for the minimum keepalive interval between keepalive requests, the VIP status notification message to the global site selector IP address, in direct response to the state change information for the VIP address; wherein the global site selector modifies the global server load balancing immediately in response to the VIP status notification message, and without waiting for the keepalive response or the minimum keepalive interval, by; redirecting traffic away from the VIP address if the state change transitions from the ONLINE state to the OFFLINE state, and directing traffic to the VIP address if the state change transitions from the OFFLINE state to the ONLINE state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method comprising:
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performing, by a global site selector, global server load balancing to direct network traffic among a plurality of virtual internet protocol (VIP) addresses; periodically polling by a keepalive engine of the global site selector one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on an application control engine to check whether each VIP address is in an ONLINE state or an OFFLINE state, wherein the keepalive engine of the global site selector sends one or more keepalive requests and waits for a keepalive response to the keepalive request up to a minimum keepalive interval; receiving a state change information specifying a state change from ONLINE to OFFLINE by the global site selector, wherein; the received state change information is included in a VIP status notification message in response to a state change of a VIP address of the one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on the application control engine, the received state change information is in addition to and distinct from the keepalive response, the keepalive response specifies only the ONLINE state or the OFFLINE state, respectively, the received state change information is received in less than the minimum keepalive interval between the periodic polls, and the state change information is configured to specify a state change from either ONLINE to OFFLINE or OFFLINE to ONLINE; concurrently with creating the VIP address of the one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on the application control engine, specifying, by a configuration manager of the application control engine, a global site selector IP address through which the application control engine sends to the global site selector the VIP status notification message for the VIP address, wherein the VIP status notification message is distinct from the keepalive response and provides the state change information; sending, by the application control engine independently of waiting for the minimum keepalive interval between keepalive requests, the VIP status notification message to the global site selector IP address, in direct response to the state change information for the VIP address; and modifying, by the global site selector, the global server load balancing in immediate response to the VIP status notification message including a received state change information that specifies a state change from ONLINE to OFFLINE, and without waiting for the keepalive response or the minimum keepalive interval, by redirecting traffic away from the VIP address. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable and executable code for instructing a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
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performing, by a global site selector, global server load balancing to direct network traffic among a plurality of virtual internet protocol (VIP) addresses; periodically polling by a keepalive engine of the global site selector one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on an application control engine to check whether each VIP address is in an ONLINE state or an OFFLINE state, wherein the keepalive engine of the global site selector sends one or more keepalive requests and waits for a keepalive response to the keepalive request up to a minimum keepalive interval; receiving a state change information specifying a state change from ONLINE to OFFLINE by the global site selector, wherein; the received state change information is included in a VIP status notification message in response to a state change of a VIP address of the one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on the application control engine, the received state change information is in addition to and distinct from the keepalive response, the keepalive response specifies only the ONLINE state or the OFFLINE state, respectively, and the received state change information is received in less than the minimum keepalive interval between the periodic polls, and the state change information is configured to specify a state change from either ONLINE to OFFLINE or OFFLINE to ONLINE; concurrently with creating the VIP address of the one or more of the VIP addresses hosted on the application control engine, specifying, by a configuration manager of the application control engine, a global site selector IP address through which the application control engine sends to the global site selector the VIP status notification message for the VIP address, wherein the VIP status notification message is distinct from the keepalive response and provides the state change information; sending, by the application control engine independently of waiting for the minimum keepalive interval between keepalive requests, the VIP status notification message to the global site selector IP address, in direct response to the state change information for the VIP address; and modifying, by the global site selector, the global server load balancing in immediate response to the VIP status notification message including a received state change information that specifies a state change from ONLINE to OFFLINE, and without waiting for the keepalive response or the minimum keepalive interval, by redirecting traffic away from the VIP address. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification
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Current AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
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Original AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
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InventorsKumar, Mahesh
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Primary Examiner(s)Christensen, Scott B
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Assistant Examiner(s)DO, LAM T
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Application NumberUS13/493,694Publication NumberTime in Patent Office1,457 DaysField of SearchNoneUS Class Current1/1CPC Class CodesH04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity manag...H04L 41/0897 by horizontal or vertical s...H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of net...H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of serv...H04L 67/1029 using data related to the s...
