DNS wildcard beaconing

• US 9,577,919 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2014
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Christian, Michael, Apgar, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Winder, Patrice
• Assistant Examiner(s): WIDHALM, ANGELA M
• Application Number:
  US14/191,807
• Publication Number:
  US 20140181287A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/745 Address table lookup; Address filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• 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 67/1036 Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers

Abstract

DNS wildcard beaconing. In one embodiment, for example, a computer-implemented method comprises: receiving a network request from a resolver to resolve a hostname, the network request from the resolver comprising a network address of the resolver, the hostname comprising a unique wildcard portion; storing first data representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion and the network address of the resolver; receiving a network request from a client for a resource, the network request from the client comprising a network address of the client and at least the unique wildcard portion; storing second data representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion and the network address of the client; based on the first data and the second data, associating the client with the resolver; and storing third data representing the association between the client and the resolver.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a network request from a resolver to resolve a hostname, the network request from the resolver comprising a network address of the resolver, the hostname comprising a unique wildcard portion that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver;

in response to receiving the network request from the resolver to resolve a hostname, wherein the network address from the resolver comprises the network address of the resolver, storing first information representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the resolver;

receiving a network request from a client for a resource, the network request from the client for a resource comprising a network address of the client and at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver;

storing second information representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the client;

associating the client with the resolver based on the first information representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the resolver and the second information representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the client; and

storing third information representing the association between the client and the resolver;

using the third information to route subsequent requests to resolve hostnames to resolvers; and

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver to the client prior to receiving the network request from the client for the resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network request from the resolver to resolve a hostname is a domain name resolution request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver is an alphanumeric character sequence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource is a web beacon.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource is a one pixel digital image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the third information comprises the network address of the client and the network address of the resolver.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a geographic location associated with the network address of the client;

based at least in part on the third information representing the association between the client and the resolver and on the geographic location associated with the network address of the client, associating, with the resolver, the geographic location associated with the network address of the client;

receiving another network request from the resolver to resolve another hostname;

selecting one of a set of available network addresses to resolve the other hostname to based at least in part on the geographic location associated with the network address of the client that was associated with the resolver.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of domain name resolution requests from a plurality of resolvers, each of the domain name resolution requests comprising a network address of the resolver that sent the domain name resolution request and a hostname to resolve comprising a unique wildcard portion that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver;

storing first information representing associations between at least the unique wildcard portions of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver in the plurality of domain name resolution requests and the network addresses of the plurality of resolvers;

receiving a plurality of resource requests from a plurality of clients, each of the resource requests comprising a network address of the client that sent the resource request and at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver received in one of the plurality of domain name resolution requests;

storing second information representing associations between at least the unique wildcard portions of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver in the plurality of resource requests and the network addresses of the plurality of clients; and

associating each of the plurality of clients with one of the plurality of resolvers based on the first information representing associations between at least the unique wildcard portions of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver in the plurality of domain name resolution requests and the network addresses of the plurality of resolvers and the second information representing associations between at least the unique wildcard portions of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver in the plurality of resource requests and the network addresses of the plurality of clients;

storing third information representing the associations between the plurality of clients and the plurality of resolvers; and

using the third information to route subsequent requests to resolve hostnames to resolvers; and

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising sending, to each client of the plurality of clients, the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver received in the resource request from the client prior to receiving the resource request from the client.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

based on the third information, determining, for each resolver of the plurality of resolvers, a number of the clients of the plurality of clients that, according to the third information, are associated with the resolver.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the third information comprises the network address of the plurality of resolvers associated with the network address of the plurality of clients.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

based on the third information, determining, for each resolver of the plurality of resolvers, a geographic location of the clients of the plurality of clients that, according to the third information, are associated with the resolver.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining a set of one or more network address ranges based on the network addresses of the clients of the plurality of clients that, according to the third information, are associated with a particular resolver of the plurality of resolvers;

determining a network performance measurement for each network address range in the set of network address ranges;

receiving a network request from the particular resolver to resolve a particular hostname;

selecting one of a set of available network addresses to resolve the particular hostname to based at least in part on the network performance measurements determined for the set of network address ranges.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method comprising:

receiving a network request from a resolver to resolve a hostname, the network request from the resolver comprising a network address of the resolver, the hostname comprising a unique wildcard portion that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver;

storing first information representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the resolver;

receiving a network request from a client for a resource, the network request from the client for a resource comprising a network address of the client and at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver;

storing second information representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the client;

associating the client with the resolver based on the first information representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the resolver and the second information representing an association between at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the client;

storing third information representing the association between the client and the resolver; and

using the third information to route subsequent requests to resolve hostnames to resolvers.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more computing devices, causes sending the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver to the client prior to receiving the network request from the client for the resource.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the network request from the resolver to resolve a hostname is a domain name resolution request.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver is an alphanumeric character sequence.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the resource is a web beacon.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the resource is a one pixel digital image.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the third information comprises the network address of the client and the network address of the resolver.

22. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more computing devices, causes:

determining a geographic location associated with the network address of the client;

based at least in part on the third information representing the association between the client and the resolver and on the geographic location associated with the network address of the client, associating, with the resolver, the geographic location associated with the network address of the client;

receiving another network request from the resolver to resolve another hostname;

selecting one of a set of available network addresses to resolve the other hostname to based at least in part on the geographic location associated with the network address of the client that was associated with the resolver.

23. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method comprising:

receiving a plurality of domain name resolution requests from a plurality of resolvers, each of the domain name resolution requests comprising a network address of the resolver that sent the domain name resolution request and a hostname to resolve comprising a unique wildcard portion that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver;

storing first information representing associations between at least the unique wildcard portions of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver in the plurality of domain name resolution requests and the network addresses of the plurality of resolvers;

receiving a plurality of resource requests from a plurality of clients, each of the resource requests comprising a network address of the client that sent the resource request and at least the unique wildcard portion of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver received in one of the plurality of domain name resolution requests;

storing second information representing associations between at least the unique wildcard portions of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver in the plurality of resource requests and the network addresses of the plurality of clients; and

associating each of the plurality of clients with one of the plurality of resolvers based on the first information representing associations between at least the unique wildcard portions of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver in the plurality of domain name resolution requests and the network addresses of the plurality of resolvers and the second information representing associations between at least the unique wildcard portions of the hostname that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver in the plurality of resource requests and the network addresses of the plurality of clients;

storing third information representing the associations between the plurality of clients and the plurality of resolvers; and

using the third information to route subsequent requests to resolve hostnames to resolvers.

24. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, further comprising sending, to each client of the plurality of clients, the unique wildcard portion of the hostname received in the resource request from the client prior to receiving the resource request from the client.

25. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, further comprising:

based on the third information, determining, for each resolver of the plurality of resolvers, a number of the clients of the plurality of clients that, according to the third information, are associated with the resolver.

26. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the third information comprises the network address of the plurality of resolvers associated with the network address of the plurality of clients.

27. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, further comprising:

based on the third information, determining, for each resolver of the plurality of resolvers, a geographic location of the clients of the plurality of clients that, according to the third information, are associated with the resolver.

28. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, further comprising:

determining a set of one or more network address ranges based on the network addresses of the clients of the plurality of clients that, according to the third information, are associated with a particular resolver of the plurality of resolvers;

determining a network performance measurement for each network address range in the set of network address ranges;

receiving a network request from the particular resolver to resolve a particular hostname;

selecting one of a set of available network addresses to resolve the particular hostname to, based at least in part on the network performance measurements determined for the set of network address ranges.

29. A system comprising:

one or more processors and memory;

an authoritative domain name resolver module configured to receive a network request from a resolver to resolve a hostname, the network request from the resolver comprising a network address of the resolver, the hostname comprising a unique alphanumeric sequence that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver;

the authoritative domain name resolver module further configured to store first information representing an association between at least the unique alphanumeric sequence that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the resolver, in response to receiving the network request from the resolver;

a web server module configured to serve a first resource to a client, the first resource comprising at least the unique alphanumeric sequence;

the web server module further configured to receive a network request from the client for a second resource, the network request from the client comprising a network address of the client and at least the unique alphanumeric sequence that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver served to the client as part of the first resource;

the web server module further configured to serve the second resource to the client in response to receiving the network request from the client;

the web server module further configured to store second information representing an association between at least the unique alphanumeric sequence that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the client, in response to receiving the network request from the client;

an aggregation server module configured to associate the client with the resolver, based on the first information representing an association between at least the unique alphanumeric sequence that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the resolver and the second information representing an association between at least the unique alphanumeric sequence that makes the hostname unresolvable by the resolver and the network address of the client; and

the aggregation server module further configured to store third information representing the association between the client and the resolver;

a load balancing server module further configured to select, based on the third information representing the association between the client and the resolver or information derived from the third information representing the association between the client and the resolver, network addresses to resolves hostnames to, in response to receiving requests to resolve the hostnames from the resolver.