Session lifecycle management within a multi-tiered enterprise network

• US 20060155756A1
• Filed: 12/28/2004
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Stanev, Georgi, Galchev, Galin
• Granted Patent: US 8,281,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms

Abstract

A system and method are described for managing session lifecycles within a multi-tiered enterprise network. In one embodiment, a plurality of session objects are generated at different layers of the enterprise network in response to a client request. Each of the session objects store session data defining a state of interaction with the client. In addition, one embodiment of the invention manages the lifecycle of a first session object based on corresponding lifecycles of one or more related session objects and also the type of relationship existing between the first session object and the one or more related session objects. In one embodiment, the defined relationship types include strong references, weak references, and soft references.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a plurality of session objects in response to client requests, the session objects storing session data defining a state of interaction with each of a respective plurality of clients;

managing the lifecycle of a first session object based on corresponding lifecycles of one or more related session objects and the type of relationship existing between the first session object and the one or more related session objects.

2. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

invalidating the first session object in response to the invalidation of a session object if the first session object has a strong reference to the second session object.

3. The method as in claim 2 further comprising:

invalidating the second session object in response to the invalidation of the first session object if the first session object has a strong reference to a second session object.

4. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

invalidating the first session object in response to the invalidation of a session object if the first session object has a soft reference to the second session object.

5. The method as in claim 4 further comprising:

maintaining the second session object in the valid state in response to the invalidation of the first session object if the first session object has a soft reference to the second session object.

6. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

invalidating the first session object in response to the invalidation of a session object if the first session object has a weak reference to the second session object.

7. The method as in claim 6 further comprising:

changing the state of the second session object to a transparent state in response to the invalidation of the first session object if the first session object has a weak reference to the second session object and if one or more other session objects have a reference to the second session object.

8. The method as in claim 7 further comprising:

invalidating the second session object in response to the invalidation of the first session object if the first session object has a weak reference to the second session object and if no other session objects have a reference to the second session object.

9. The method as in claim 1 wherein the first session object is located within a different layer of a multi-layer enterprise architecture than the one or more other session objects.

10. The method as in claim 9 wherein the first session object is within a Web container and the second session object is within an enterprise Java bean container.

11. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

if the type of relationship existing between the first session object and a second session object is not explicitly declared, then automatically declaring the relationship between the first session object and the second session object to be a weak reference.

12. The method as in claim 11 wherein detecting comprises identifying specified session content within one or more of the session objects.

13. The method as in claim 12 wherein the specified session content comprises a SessionRef object and wherein detecting is performed using Java serialization techniques.

14. A machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of:

generating a plurality of session objects in response to client requests, the session objects storing session data defining a state of interaction with each of a respective plurality of clients;

managing the lifecycle of a first session object based on corresponding lifecycles of one or more related session objects and the type of relationship existing between the first session object and the one or more related session objects.

15. The machine-readable medium as in claim 14 further comprising:

invalidating the first session object in response to the invalidation of a session object if the first session object has a strong reference to the second session object.

16. The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 comprising additional program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

invalidating the second session object in response to the invalidation of the first session object if the first session object has a strong reference to a second session object.

17. The machine-readable medium as in claim 14 comprising additional program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

invalidating the first session object in response to the invalidation of a session object if the first session object has a soft reference to the second session object.

18. The machine-readable medium as in claim 17 comprising additional program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

maintaining the second session object in the valid state in response to the invalidation of the first session object if the first session object has a soft reference to the second session object.

19. The machine-readable medium as in claim 14 comprising additional program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

invalidating the first session object in response to the invalidation of a session object if the first session object has a weak reference to the second session object.

20. The machine-readable medium as in claim 19 comprising additional program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

changing the state of the second session object to a transparent state in response to the invalidation of the first session object if the first session object has a weak reference to the second session object and if one or more other session objects have a reference to the second session object.

21. The machine-readable medium as in claim 20 comprising additional program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

invalidating the second session object in response to the invalidation of the first session object if the first session object has a weak reference to the second session object and if no other session objects have a reference to the second session object.

22. The machine-readable medium as in claim 14 wherein the first session object is located within a different layer of a multi-layer enterprise architecture than the one or more other session objects.

23. The machine-readable medium as in claim 22 wherein the first session object is within a Web container and the second session object is within an enterprise Java bean container.

24. The machine-readable medium as in claim 14 comprising additional program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

if the type of relationship existing between the first session object and a second session object is not explicitly declared, then automatically declaring the relationship between the first session object and the second session object to be a weak reference.

25. The machine-readable medium as in claim 24 wherein detecting comprises identifying specified session content within one or more of the session objects.

26. The machine-readable medium as in claim 25 wherein the specified session content comprises a SessionRef object and wherein detecting is performed using Java serialization techniques.

27. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing program code which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the operations of;

generating a plurality of session objects in response to client requests, the session objects storing session data defining a state of interaction with each of a respective plurality of clients;

managing the lifecycle of a first session object based on corresponding lifecycles of one or more related session objects and the type of relationship existing between the first session object and the one or more related session objects.

28. A system comprising:

means for generating a plurality of session objects in response to client requests, the session objects storing session data defining a state of interaction with each of a respective plurality of clients;

means for managing the lifecycle of a first session object based on corresponding lifecycles of one or more related session objects and the type of relationship existing between the first session object and the one or more related session objects.