Autonomic Content Load Balancing

• US 20100218107A1
• Filed: 05/04/2010
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Leah, Robert C., Kenna, Kimberly D., Joshi, Niraj P., Ehrich, Nathanael F.
• Granted Patent: US 9,614,889 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/726 Reserving resources in multiple paths to be used simultaneously by balancing the load H04L47/125
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for providing autonomic content load balancing. A programmatic selection is made from among alternative content versions based upon current conditions. Preferably, the alternative selectable versions specify content to be used in a Web page, and a version is selected responsive to receiving a request for the Web page. The selectable version may comprise the Web page, or a component of a Web page may have selectable versions. Optionally, the Web page may include more than one component with dynamically-selectable content. In this case, the versions may be selectable independently of one another.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of providing autonomic content load balancing, comprising:

defining, for a Web page to be served, a plurality of alternative versions of the Web page and at least one condition for selecting a particular one of the alternative versions, each of the alternative versions having associated therewith at least one value of each of the at least one condition;

receiving, at a server from a client, a request for the Web page;

upon determining, by the server, that the alternative versions are defined for the requested Web, selecting a particular one of the defined alternative versions to be used as the requested Web page when responding to the received request, comprising;

determining a current value of each of the at least one condition; and

selecting, as the particular one of the defined alternative versions, the defined alternative version for which the determined current value of each of the at least one condition matches one of the at least one value associated with the condition for the particular one; and

serving the selected alternative version of the Web page, from the server to the client, as the requested Web page when responding to the received request.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, by the server, that the alternative versions are defined comprises detecting that syntax defining the requested Web page contains a syntax element which indicates that the plurality of alternative versions are defined.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, by the server, that the alternative versions are defined comprises detecting that an entry in a data structure associated with the requested Web page indicates that the plurality of alternative versions are defined.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the alternative versions comprises the Web page represented using a different media type.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein existence of the plurality of alternative versions of the Web page is transparent to the client.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one condition defined for the Web page comprises at least one of system conditions and network conditions.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the Web page comprises at least two different portions;

a plurality of alternative selectable versions and at least one portion-specific condition for selecting a particular one of the alternative selectable versions are defined for each of the at least two different portions, each of the alternative selectable portions having associated therewith at least one value of each of the at least one portion-specific condition;

upon determining, by the server, that the alternative selectable versions are defined for the at least two different portions, selecting, for each of the at least two different portions, a specific one of the defined alternative selectable versions for which the determined current value of each of the at least one portion-specific condition matches one of the at least one value associated with the portion-specific condition for the specific one; and

the serving serves the Web page using, within the selected alternative version of the Web page, the selected specific one for each of the at least two different portions.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

a directory in a directory structure is associated with the Web page;

each of the alternative versions corresponds to a distinct entry in the directory; and

the selecting identifies which of the distinct entries in the directory to serve as the selected alternative version of the Web page.

9. A computer-implemented system for providing autonomic content load balancing, the system comprising a processor and a memory coupled thereto, the memory storing instructions configured to:

receive, at a server from a client, a request for content;

upon determining, by the server, that a plurality of alternative versions and at least one condition for selecting a particular one of the alternative versions are defined for the requested content, select a particular one of the defined alternative versions to be used as the requested content when responding to the received request, comprising;

determining, for each of the at least one condition, at least one value thereof which is associated with each of the alternative versions;

determining a current value of each of the at least one condition; and

selecting, as the particular one of the defined alternative versions, the defined alternative version for which the determined current value of each of the at least one condition matches one of the at least one value associated with the condition for the particular one; and

serve the selected alternative version of the content, from the server to the client, as the requested content when responding to the received request.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the instructions configured to determine the current value of each of the at least one condition further comprise instructions configured to obtain at least one measurement collected by an automated agent.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the instructions configured to determine that the alternative versions are defined further comprise instructions configured to use a network address of the requested content to scan a data structure that stores information for each content for which alternative versions are defined.

12. The system according to claim 9, wherein the at least one condition comprises at least one of:

a number of active users of the server;

available network bandwidth between the client and the server;

average round-trip time for communications between the client and the server;

processing capacity at the server; and

a number of available servers for serving the content.

13. A computer program product for using dynamically selectable content, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable storage media and comprising computer-readable program code for:

defining, for each of at least two portions of a Web page to be served, a plurality of alternative selectable versions of each of the portions and at least one portion-specific condition for selecting a particular one of the alternative selectable versions, each of the alternative selectable versions having associated therewith at least one value of each of the at least one portion-specific condition;

receiving, at a server from a client, a request for the Web page;

upon determining, by the server, that the alternative selectable versions are defined for the at least two portions, performing;

determining a current value of each of the at least one portion-specific condition defined for each of the at least two portions; and

selecting, for each of the at least two portions, a specific one of the defined alternative selectable versions to be used in the portion of the requested Web page when responding to the received request, wherein the determined current value of each of the at least one portion-specific condition matches one of the at least one value associated with the portion-specific condition for the selected specific one;

serving the requested Web page, from the server to the client, with the selected specific one of each of the at least two portions used therein, when responding to the received request.

14. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the determining, by the server, that the alternative selectable versions are defined for the at least two portions comprises detecting that syntax defining the requested Web page contains a syntax element, for each of the at least two portions, which indicates that the plurality of alternative selectable versions are defined for the portion.

15. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the determining, by the server, that the alternative selectable versions are defined for the at least two portions comprises detecting that an entry in a data structure associated with the requested Web page indicates that the plurality of alternative selectable versions are defined for each of the at least two portions.

16. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein each of the alternative selectable versions for at least one of the at least two portions comprises the portion represented using a different media type.

17. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein existence of the plurality of alternative selectable versions of each of the at least two portions is transparent to the client.

18. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the at least one portion-specific condition defined for at least one of the at least two portions comprises at least one of system conditions and network conditions.

19. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the at least one portion-specific condition defined for at least one of the at least two portions comprises at least one of:

a number of active users of the server;

available network bandwidth between the client and the server;

average round-trip time for communications between the client and the server;

processing capacity at the server; and

a number of available servers for serving the content.