Facilitating content accessibility via different communication formats

• US 9,584,473 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2014
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Inventors: Lyon, Barrett Gibson
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN, FRANTZ B
• Application Number:
  US14/452,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20140344417A1
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/230, 709/245, 370/246, 370/401
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/668 Internet protocol [IP] address subnets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/251 between different IP versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/167 Adaptation for transition between two IP versions, e.g. between IPv4 and IPv6 translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses H04L61/2503

Abstract

Methods and systems for facilitating content accessibility via different communication formats are provided. According to one embodiment, a method is provided for directing content requests to an appropriate content delivery network. A content request is received from a client. The content request relates to web page content published by a content publisher in an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) format or an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) format that is obtained by the content delivery network from the content publisher and is translated to the other format by the content delivery network prior to receiving any content requests for the web page content. A communication format through which the client is capable of communicating is determined. The content request is directed to a content delivery network that supports the communication format through which the client is capable of communicating.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

causing client requests for content published by a content publisher in Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) format and hosted by an IPv4 server to be directed or redirected to a traffic management node of a plurality of geographically distributed traffic management nodes by configuring a first domain name of the content publisher to point to a second domain name associated with the traffic management node via a canonical name (CNAME) record of a domain name system (DNS);

receiving, by the traffic management node, a request for the content from a client that has been directed or redirected to the traffic management node as a result of said configuring;

determining, by the traffic management node, communication capabilities of the client based on an ability of the client to access a set of test content; and

based on the determined communication capabilities and a traffic management policy specified by the content publisher, directing, by the traffic management node, the request to an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) proxy server or the IPv4 server, wherein the IPv6 proxy server hosts the web page content in IPv6 format, wherein the content was obtained by the IPv6 proxy server from the IPv4 server and translated from the IPv4 format to the IPv6 format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a Hypertext Transfer Protocol request, a Secure Sockets Layer request, a File Transfer Protocol request, a Real Time Messaging Protocol request or an Encrypted Real Time Messaging Protocol request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the content hosted by the IPv6 proxy server in IPv6 format was proactively translated from the IPv4 format to the IPv6 format prior to receiving any requests for the content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic management policy specifies use of a communication format supported by the client that is expected to provide the client with superior performance.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining, by the traffic management node, whether the request has been tunneled.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said determining, by the traffic management node, whether the request has been tunneled includes comparing a source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the request with a list of known IP addresses associated with tunneling services.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the client is natively connected to an IPv6 network and wherein the traffic management policy specifies use of the IPv6 format to avoid performance degradations inherent in tunneling communications over incompatible networks.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the client is natively connected solely to an IPv4 network and wherein the traffic management policy specifies use of the IPv6 format.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the client is dual stack and natively connected to both an IPv4 network and an IPv6 network.

10. A traffic management node comprising:

a non-transitory storage device having embodied therein one or more routines; and

one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory storage device and operable to execute the one or more routines to perform a method comprising;

receiving a request for the content from a client that has been directed or redirected to the traffic management node as a result of said configuring;

determining communication capabilities of the client based on an ability of the client to access a set of test content; and

based on the determined communication capabilities and a traffic management policy specified by the content publisher, directing the request to an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) proxy server or the IPv4 server, wherein the IPv6 proxy server hosts the web page content in IPv6 format, wherein the content was obtained by the IPv6 proxy server from the IPv4 server and translated from the IPv4 format to the IPv6 format.

11. The traffic management node of claim 10, wherein the request comprises a Hypertext Transfer Protocol request, a Secure Sockets Layer request, a File Transfer Protocol request, a Real Time Messaging Protocol request or an Encrypted Real Time Messaging Protocol request.

12. The traffic management node of claim 10, wherein the content hosted by the IPv6 proxy server in IPv6 format was proactively translated from the IPv4 format to the IPv6 format prior to receiving any requests for the content.

13. The traffic management node of claim 10, wherein the traffic management policy specifies use of a communication format supported by the client that is expected to provide the client with superior performance.

14. The traffic management node of claim 13, wherein the client is natively connected to an IPv6 network and wherein the traffic management policy specifies use of the IPv6 format to avoid performance degradations inherent in tunneling communications over incompatible networks.

15. The traffic management node of claim 13, wherein the client is natively connected solely to an IPv4 network and wherein the traffic management policy specifies use of the IPv6 format.

16. The traffic management node of claim 13, wherein the client is dual stack and natively connected to both an IPv4 network and an IPv6 network.

17. The traffic management node of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises determining, by the traffic management node, whether the request has been tunneled.

18. The traffic management node of claim 17, wherein said determining whether the request has been tunneled includes comparing a source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the request with a list of known IP addresses associated with tunneling services.