Systems and methods to cache packet steering decisions for a cluster of load balancers

• US 9,497,281 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2014
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Jagadish, Ashwin, Mylarappa, Mahesh, Gopinath, Sandhya, Annamalaisami, Saravana, Nanjundaswamy, Shashidhara
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Duc
• Application Number:
  US14/245,505
• Publication Number:
  US 20140301388A1
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/7453 using hashing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed towards methods and systems for caching packet steering sessions for steering data packets between intermediary devices of a cluster of intermediary devices intermediary to a client and a plurality of servers. A first intermediary device receives a first data packet and determines, from a hash of a tuple of the first packet, a second intermediary device to which to steer the first packet. The first device stores, to a session for storing packet steering information, the identity of the second device and the tuple. The first device receives a second packet having a corresponding tuple that matches the tuple of the first packet and determines, based on a lookup for the session using the tuple of the second packet, that the second device is the intermediary device to which to steer the second packet. The first device steers the second packet to the second device.

Claims

1. A method for caching packet steering information for steering data packets between intermediary devices of a cluster of intermediary devices, the method comprising:

receiving, by a first intermediary device of a cluster of intermediary devices, a first data packet, the cluster of intermediary devices intermediary to a client and a plurality of servers;

determining, by the first intermediary device, from a hash of a tuple of the first data packet, a second intermediary device of the cluster of intermediary devices to which to steer the first data packet;

storing, to a session that stores packet steering information used to steer data packets between the intermediary devices of the cluster of intermediary devices, the identity of the second intermediary device and the tuple for which the hash was determined;

receiving, at the first intermediary device, a second data packet having a corresponding tuple that matches the tuple of the first data packet;

determining, based on a lookup for the session using the tuple of the second data packet, that the second intermediary device is the intermediary device to which to steer the second data packet; and

steering, by the first intermediary device, the second data packet to the second intermediary device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein steering, by the first intermediary device, the second data packet to the second intermediary device comprises steering the second data packet to the second intermediary device via a backplane through which each of the intermediary devices of the cluster is in communication with other intermediary devices of the cluster.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the tuple of the received data packet comprises a source IP address of the received data packet, source port of the received data packet, a destination IP address of the received data packet and a destination port of the received data packet.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the first intermediary device, the hash of the tuple of the first data packet to each of the other intermediary devices of the cluster of intermediary devices; and

storing, by each of the other intermediary devices of the cluster of intermediary devices, the identity of the second intermediary device and the hash of the tuple to a session of each intermediary device for storing packet steering information.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, at a third intermediary device of the cluster of intermediary devices, a third data packet having a corresponding tuple that matches the tuple of the first data packet;

determining, by the third intermediary device, based on a lookup for a session stored by the third intermediary device using the tuple of the third data packet, that the second intermediary device is the intermediary device to which to steer the second data packet; and

steering, by the third intermediary device, the third data packet to the second intermediary device to provide data packet processing to the second data packet.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein storing, to the session, the identity of the second intermediary device and the tuple for which the hash was determined further comprises storing an operational view set of the cluster of intermediary devices as part of the session.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the first intermediary device, that the session has not been used for a threshold amount of time; and

deleting, by the first intermediary device, the session identified as not having been used for a threshold amount of time.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing, by the first intermediary device, to the other intermediary devices of the cluster of intermediary devices, an instruction to delete one or more sessions stored by the other intermediary devices corresponding to the session identified as not having been used for a threshold amount of time.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the first intermediary device, that the received data packet is one of a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or Universal Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet; and

performing, by the first intermediary device, a lookup to determine where to transmit the data packet.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the second intermediary device is the intermediary device to which to steer the second data packet, identifying, by the first intermediary device, that a TCP segment of the received data packet includes a FIN or RST flag; and

deleting, by the first intermediary device, the session responsive to identifying that a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) segment of the received data packet includes a FIN or RST flag.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the hash comprises calculating a receive side scaling (RSS) hash of the tuple of the received packet.

12. A system for caching packet steering information for steering data packets between intermediary devices of a cluster of intermediary devices, comprising:

a cluster of intermediary devices including a plurality of intermediary devices, the cluster intermediary to a client and a plurality of servers, a processor, coupled to memory, of a first intermediary device of the plurality of intermediary devices configured to;

determine from a hash of a tuple of a data packet received by the first intermediary device, a second intermediary device of the cluster of intermediary devices to which to steer the first data packet;

store, to a session that stores packet steering information used to steer data packets between the intermediary devices of the cluster of intermediary devices, the identity of the second intermediary device and the tuple for which the hash was calculated;

receive a second data packet having a corresponding tuple that matches the tuple of the first data packet;

determine, based on a lookup for the session using the tuple of the second data packet, that the second intermediary device is the intermediary device to which to steer the second data packet; and

steer the second data packet to the second intermediary device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the tuple of the received data packet comprises a source IP address of the received data packet, source port of the received data packet, a destination IP address of the received data packet and a destination port of the received data packet.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the intermediary devices of the cluster is in communication with other intermediary devices of the cluster via a backplane;

and wherein

to steer the second data packet to the second intermediary device includes steering the second data packet to the second intermediary device via the backplane.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein to store the identity of the second intermediary device and the tuple for which the hash was determined to the session includes to store an operational view set of the cluster of intermediary devices as part of the session.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the first intermediary device is further configured to:

identify that a stored packet steering session has not been used for a threshold amount of time; and

delete the session identified as not having been used for a threshold amount of time.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first intermediary device is further configured to provide, to the other intermediary devices, an instruction to delete one or more sessions stored by the other intermediary devices corresponding to the session identified as not having been used for a threshold amount of time.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein

the first intermediary device is further configured to transmit the hash of the tuple of the first data packet to each of the other intermediary devices of the cluster of intermediary devices;

and wherein

each of the other intermediary devices of the cluster of intermediary devices is configured to store the identity of the second intermediary device and the hash of the tuple to a session of each intermediary device for storing packet steering information.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein a third intermediary device of the cluster of intermediary devices is configured to:

receive a third data packet having a corresponding tuple that matches the tuple of the first data packet;

determine, based on a lookup for a session stored by the third intermediary device using the tuple of the third data packet, that the second intermediary device is the intermediary device to which to steer the second data packet; and

steer the third data packet to the second intermediary device to provide data packet processing to the second data packet.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the first intermediary device is further configured to:

responsive to determining, based on the lookup, that the second intermediary device is the intermediary device to which to steer the second data packet, identify that a TCP segment of the received data packet includes a FIN or RST flag; and

delete the identified stored packet steering session responsive to identifying that a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) segment of the received data packet includes a FIN or RST flag.