System and architecture for distributing, monitoring, and managing information requests on a computer network
First Claim
1. A method for managing information requests on a computer network that includes a client computer system, a first server computer system, and a second server computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) storing, on the first server computer system, configuration information corresponding to resources available on the first and the second server computer systems and corresponding to types of information requests received by the first server computer system that the first server computer system is to manage;
(b) receiving, at the first server computer system, an information request from the client computer system;
(c) examining said configuration information to determine whether said received information request from the client computer system corresponds to one of said information request types to be managed by the first server computer system;
(d) depending on the outcome of step (c), determining whether said information request is to be processed on the first server computer system or the second server computer system;
(e) processing said information request on the selected server computer system; and
(f) transmitting the results of said processing of said information request to the client computer system;
wherein the computer network includes one or more second server computer systems and wherein step (d) further includes the steps of;
(1) examining said configuration information to determine whether one or more of the second server computer systems are capable of processing said information request;
(2) depending on the outcome of step (1), selecting one of the one or more second server computer systems to process said information request in order to distribute the information requests received by the first server computer system among the one or more second server computer systems to balance the load of processing said information requests across the one or more second server computer systems.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method are disclosed for distributing, monitoring and managing information requests on a computer network including one or more client computer systems, a first server computer system, and one or more secondary server computer systems. Information requests from the client computer systems to the first server computer system are intercepted and examined by a request broker software system implemented on the first server computer system. The request broker software system examines information regarding the capabilities and resources available on the first server computer system and the secondary server computer systems to determine whether to process the information request locally on the first server computer system or to process the information request remotely on one of the secondary server computer systems. The request broker software system will off-load or distribute the information requests to the secondary server computer systems so as to load-balance the information requests among the secondary server computer systems. The request broker software system will also monitor the processing of information requests and initiate recovery actions in the event a fault or error occurs during the processing of the request. If the information request is to be processed remotely on one of the secondary server computer systems, the request broker software system establishes an authenticated communication channel with the selected secondary server computer system to transmit the information request to the selected server computer system. The secondary server computer system processes the information request and sends the results back to the request broker software system on the first server computer system. The request broker software then sends the results of the information request that was processed either locally or remotely back to the client computer system that originated the information request.
348 Citations
42 Claims
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1. A method for managing information requests on a computer network that includes a client computer system, a first server computer system, and a second server computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) storing, on the first server computer system, configuration information corresponding to resources available on the first and the second server computer systems and corresponding to types of information requests received by the first server computer system that the first server computer system is to manage; (b) receiving, at the first server computer system, an information request from the client computer system; (c) examining said configuration information to determine whether said received information request from the client computer system corresponds to one of said information request types to be managed by the first server computer system; (d) depending on the outcome of step (c), determining whether said information request is to be processed on the first server computer system or the second server computer system; (e) processing said information request on the selected server computer system; and (f) transmitting the results of said processing of said information request to the client computer system; wherein the computer network includes one or more second server computer systems and wherein step (d) further includes the steps of; (1) examining said configuration information to determine whether one or more of the second server computer systems are capable of processing said information request; (2) depending on the outcome of step (1), selecting one of the one or more second server computer systems to process said information request in order to distribute the information requests received by the first server computer system among the one or more second server computer systems to balance the load of processing said information requests across the one or more second server computer systems. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for securely distributing information requests across a computer network including a client computer system, a first server computer system, at least one second computer system and a network firewall, wherein the network firewall separates the client computer system and the first server computer system from the at least one second server computer system, the method comprising the steps:
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(a) storing, on the first server computer system, information corresponding to types of information requests that the at least one second server computer systems are capable of processing; (b) receiving, at the first server computer system, an information request from the client computer system; (c) examining said information on the first server computer system to determine whether said received information request corresponds to one of said types of information requests that the at least one second server computer systems are capable of processing; (d) depending on the outcome of step (c), selecting one of the at least one second server computer systems to process said received information request; (e) establishing a mutually authenticated communication channel between the first and the selected at least one second server computer system across the network firewall; (f) transmitting said information request from the first server computer system to the selected at least one second server computer system through the network firewall using said mutually authenticated communication channel; (g) processing said information request on the selected at least one second server computer system; (h) transmitting the results of said processing of said information request from the selected at least one second server computer system to the first server computer system using said mutually authenticated communication channel; and (i) transmitting said results of said processing of said information request from the first server computer system to the client computer system. - View Dependent Claims (35)
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36. The method of 35, wherein said mutually authenticated communication channel is established using a challenge-response authentication procedure between the first server computer system and the at least one second server computer system.
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37. A system for distributing, monitoring, and managing information requests on a computer network comprising:
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(a) a client computer system; (b) a first server computer system connected to said client computer system; (c) at least one second server computer systems connected to said first server computer system; (d) said first server computer system further including; (1) means for receiving an information request from said client computer system; (2) means for determining whether said received information request may be processed by one of said at least one second server computer systems; (3) means for distributing said received information request to one of said at least one second server computer systems to process said information request; (4) means for monitoring said information request to determine whether an error occurs during the processing of said information request; (5) means for processing said information request on one of said at least one second server computer systems to generate the results of said information request; (6) means for executing recovery actions in the event an error occurs during said processing of said information request; (7) means for receiving at said first server computer system said results of said processing of said information request; and (8) means for transmitting said results of said processing of said information request to said client computer system.
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38. A network enterprise management system comprising:
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(a) one or more client computer systems; (b) a first server computer system connected to said one or more client computer systems; (c) one or more second server computer systems connected to said first server computer system; (d) said first server computer system including; (1) means for receiving information requests from said client computer systems; (2) means for distributing said information requests to one or more of said second server computer systems thereby balancing the information request processing load among said one or more second server computer systems; (3) means for monitoring said information requests to determine whether a fault or error has occurred during the processing of said information request; (4) means for initiating recovery actions in the event a fault or error is detected during said processing of said information request; (5) means for processing said information requests using local data sources connected to said first server computer system in the event said information requests are not distributed to one or more of said second server computer systems; (6) means for transmitting the results of said processing of said information requests to said client computer systems originating said information requests. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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40. A method for managing information requests on a computer network that includes a client computer system, a first server computer system, and a second server computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) storing, on the first server computer system, configuration information corresponding to resources available on the first and the second server computer systems and corresponding to types of information requests received by the first server computer system that the first server computer system is to manage; (b) receiving, at the first server computer system, an information request from the client computer system; (c) examining said configuration information to determine whether said received information request from the client computer system corresponds to one of said information request types to be managed by the first server computer system; (d) depending on the outcome of step (c), determining whether said information request is to be processed on the first server computer system or the second server computer system; (e) processing said information request on the selected server computer system; and (f) transmitting the results of said processing of said information request to the client computer system; wherein said configuration information contains information corresponding to types of information requests that are to be stored in a cache memory on the first server computer system and wherein step (e) includes the steps of; (1) determining whether said information request corresponds to one of said types of information requests that are to be stored in said cache memory; (2) depending upon the outcome of step (1), determining whether the results of said information request have been previously stored in said cache memory; and (3) depending upon the outcome of step (2), retrieving said previously stored results of said information request from said cache memory, and returning said retrieved cached results as said result of said processing of said information request.
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41. A method for managing information requests on a computer network that includes a client computer system, a first server computer system, and a second server computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) storing, on the first server computer system, configuration information corresponding to resources available on the first and the second server computer systems and corresponding to types of information requests received by the first server computer system that the first server computer system is to manage; (b) receiving, at the first server computer system, an information request from the client computer system; (c) examining said configuration information to determine whether said received information request from the client computer system corresponds to one of said information request types to be managed by the first server computer system; (d) depending on the outcome of step (c), determining whether said information request is to be processed on the first server computer system or the second server computer system; (e) processing said information request on the selected server computer system; (f) transmitting the results of said processing of said information request to the client computer system; (g) modifying the data format of said information request to incorporate information corresponding to processing said information request on the first or the second server computer system, wherein said modification does not alter the primary content of said information request; and (h) modifying the data format of said results of said processing of said information request to correspond to the data format of said received information request type for transmission to the client computer system, wherein said modification does not alter the primary content of said results.
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42. An article of manufacture for securely distributing information requests across a computer network including a client computer system, a first server computer system, at least one second computer system and a network firewall, wherein the network firewall separates the client computer system and the first server computer system from the at least one second server computer system, the article of manufacture comprising:
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a computer readable medium; and a plurality of instructions stored on the computer readable medium, the plurality of instructions configured to initiate; (a) storing, on the first server computer system, information corresponding to types of information requests that the at least one second server computer systems are capable of processing; (b) receiving, at the first server computer system, an information request from the client computer system; (c) examining said information on the first server computer system to determine whether said received information request corresponds to one of said types of information requests that the at least one second server computer systems are capable of processing; (d) depending on the outcome of step (c), selecting one of the at least one second server computer systems to process said received information request; (e) establishing a mutually authenticated communication channel between the first and the selected at least one second server computer system across the network firewall; (f) transmitting said information request from the first server computer system to the selected at least one second server computer system through the network firewall using said mutually authenticated communication channel; (g) processing said information request on the selected at least one second server computer system; (h) transmitting the results of said processing of said information request from the selected at least one second server computer system to the first server computer system using said mutually authenticated communication channel; and (i) transmitting said results of said processing of said information request from the first server computer system to the client computer system.
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Specification