Load balancer bypass

• US 9,826,033 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2015
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumar, Hemant, Patel, Parveen Kumar, Bansal, Deepak
• Primary Examiner(s): Hussain, Tauqir
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRIJALVA LOBOS, BORIS D
• Application Number:
  US14/972,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20160105499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 705 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2521 Translation architectures other than single NAT servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1038 Load balancing arrangements to avoid a single path through a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

Redirecting message flows to bypass load balancers. A destination intermediary receives a source-side message that includes a virtual address of a load balancer as a destination, and that is augmented to include a network address of a destination machine as a destination. The destination intermediary determines that a source intermediary should address subsequent network messages that originate from a source machine and that are associated with the same multi-message flow to the destination machine while bypassing the load balancer. The destination intermediary modifies the source-side message so the destination for the source-side message addresses the destination machine, and passes the modified source-side message to the destination machine. The destination intermediary receives a response from the destination machine identifying the source machine as its destination, and modifies the response so a source address identifies the virtual address of the load balancer, and dispatches the modified response to the source machine.

Claims

1. A destination intermediary computer system, comprising:

one or more hardware processors; and

one or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the destination intermediary computer system, the computer-executable instructions configure the destination intermediary computer system to redirect a multi-message flow so as to bypass a load balancer, including configuring the destination intermediary computer system to perform at least the following;

receive an augmented source-side message from a load balancer, the augmented source-side message comprising a source-side message previously received by the load balancer from a source intermediary serving a source machine along with a first augmented header that was added to the source-side message by the load balancer, a source-side message header including a virtual network address of the load balancer as a destination of the source-side message, and the augmented header including a network address of a destination machine served by the destination intermediary as a destination of the augmented source-side message;

remove the first augmented header from the augmented source-side message to obtain the source-side message;

determine that the source intermediary is to address subsequent network messages that originate from the source machine and that are associated with the same multi-message flow to the destination machine in a manner that bypasses the load balancer; and

based on the determination;

modify the source-side message header such that the destination of the source-side message comprises the network address of the destination machine;

pass the modified source-side message to the destination machine;

receive a response message from the destination machine that includes a response message header identifying a network address of the source machine as a destination of the response message, and identifying the network address of the destination machine as a source of the response message;

augment the response message with a second augmented header identifying a network address of the source machine as a destination of the augmented response message, and identifying the virtual network address of the load balancer as a source of the augmented response message; and

dispatch the augmented response message to the source machine while bypassing the load balancer.

2. The destination intermediary computer system of claim 1, wherein the response message lacks an instruction to bypass the load balancer.

3. The destination intermediary computer system of claim 1, wherein the virtual network address of the load balancer is a virtual internet protocol (IP) address that is load balanced across a plurality of destination machines.

4. The destination intermediary computer system of claim 1, wherein the destination intermediary computer system comprises a virtual machine host.

5. The destination intermediary computer system of claim 4, wherein the destination machine is a virtual machine executing on the destination intermediary computer system.

6. A source intermediary computer system, comprising:

one or more hardware processors; and

one or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the source intermediary computer system, the computer-executable instructions configure the source intermediary computer system to cooperate in bypassing a load balancer, including configuring the source intermediary computer system to perform at least the following;

receive a source-side message from a source machine, the source-side message having a virtual network address of a load balancer as a destination address, and having a routable device identifier of the source machine as a source address;

send the source-side message to a load balancer serving a destination intermediary computer system;

based on sending the source-side message to the load balancer, receive an augmented response from the destination intermediary computer system, the augmented message lacking an instruction to bypass the load balancer, the augmented response including a response from a destination machine served by the destination intermediary computer system, the augmented response having the routable device identifier of the source machine as its destination, and having the virtual network address of the load balancer as its source;

extract the response from the augmented response;

identify a routable device identifier of the destination machine from the response;

modify the response so that a source address of the response includes the virtual network address of the load balancer;

dispatch the modified response to the source machine; and

redirect one or more subsequent messages received from the source machine to the destination machine, using the identified routable device identifier of the destination machine, to bypass the load balancer.

7. The source intermediary computer system of claim 6, wherein the augmented response encapsulates the response.

8. The source intermediary computer system of claim 7, wherein extracting the response from the augmented response comprises decapsulating the response from the augmented response.

9. The source intermediary computer system of claim 6, wherein the load balancer serves a plurality of destination intermediary computer systems.

10. The source intermediary computer system of claim 6, wherein sending the source-side message to the load balancer comprises preventing the source-side message from undergoing network address translation (NAT).

11. The source intermediary computer system of claim 6, wherein the virtual network address of the load balancer is a virtual internet protocol (IP) address that is load balanced across a plurality of destination machines.

12. The source intermediary computer system of claim 6, wherein the source intermediary computer system comprises a virtual machine host.

13. The source intermediary computer system of claim 12, wherein the source machine is a virtual machine executing on the source intermediary computer system.

14. A method, implemented at a destination intermediary computer system that includes one or more processors, for redirecting a multi-message flow so as to bypass a load balancer, the method comprising:

receiving an augmented source-side message from a load balancer, the augmented source-side message comprising a source-side message previously received by the load balancer from a source intermediary serving a source machine along with a first augmented header that was added to the source-side message by the load balancer, a source-side message header including a virtual network address of the load balancer as a destination of the source-side message, and the augmented header including a network address of a destination machine served by the destination intermediary as a destination of the augmented source-side message;

removing the first augmented header from the augmented source-side message to obtain the source-side message;

determining that the source intermediary is to address subsequent network messages that originate from the source machine and that are associated with the same multi-message flow to the destination machine in a manner that bypasses the load balancer; and

based on the determination;

modifying the source-side message header such that the destination of the source-side message comprises the network address of the destination machine;

passing the modified source-side message to the destination machine;

receiving a response message from the destination machine that includes a response message header identifying a network address of the source machine as a destination of the response message, and identifying the network address of the destination machine as a source of the response message;

augmenting the response message with a second augmented header identifying a network address of the source machine as a destination of the augmented response message, and identifying the virtual network address of the load balancer as a source of the augmented response message; and

dispatching the augmented response message to the source machine while bypassing the load balancer.