Systems and methods of freshening and prefreshening a DNS cache

• US 7,720,936 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2007
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Plamondon, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim; Krisna
• Application Number:
  US11/685,142
• Publication Number:
  US 20080228899A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• Field of Search: 709/245, 709227-229, 709/203, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data

Abstract

The present solution provides a variety of techniques for accelerating and optimizing network traffic, such as HTTP based network traffic. The solution described herein provides techniques in the areas of proxy caching, protocol acceleration, domain name resolution acceleration as well as compression improvements. In some cases, the present solution provides various prefetching and/or prefreshening techniques to improve intermediary or proxy caching, such as HTTP proxy caching. In other cases, the present solution provides techniques for accelerating a protocol by improving the efficiency of obtaining and servicing data from an originating server to server to clients. In another cases, the present solution accelerates domain name resolution more quickly. As every HTTP access starts with a URL that includes a hostname that must be resolved via domain name resolution into an IP address, the present solution helps accelerate HTTP access. In some cases, the present solution improves compression techniques by prefetching non-cacheable and cacheable content to use for compressing network traffic, such as HTTP. The acceleration and optimization techniques described herein may be deployed on the client as a client agent or as part of a browser, as well as on any type and form of intermediary device, such as an appliance, proxying device or any type of interception caching and/or proxying device.

Claims

1. In a network environment having an appliance acting as a proxy between a client requesting pages and a server responding to client requests, a method for resolving an address of a host name identified by a uniform resource locator using the internet protocol address identified as a destination of a request, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, by an appliance, a request packet from a client requesting via an application protocol layer a uniform resource locator of a page;

(b) identifying, by the appliance, from the request packet an internet protocol address of a destination of the request;

(c) associating, by the appliance, the internet protocol address of the destination with a host name identified by the uniform resource locator;

(d) storing, by the appliance, in a cache an entry identifying the internet protocol address as an address of the host name;

(e) receiving, by the appliance, one of a Domain Name Server (DNS) request of the client to resolve the host name or a second request of the client for the uniform resource locator identifying the host name; and

(f) identifying, by the appliance, the entry in the cache as a resolved address of the host name.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises the appliance not querying a DNS server to resolve the address of the host name.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising resolving, by the client, the internet protocol address of the host name identified by the uniform resource locator requested by the client prior to transmitting the request packet.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein step (a) comprises transmitting, by the client, via the request packet a request to open a transport layer connection to the destination identified by the internet protocol address of the host name.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises extracting, by the appliance, the internet protocol address of the destination from a field of a header of the request packet.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises identifying, by the appliance, the internet protocol address from one of a network layer or transport layer of the request packet.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising responding, by the appliance to the DNS request of the client with the entry in the cache.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising identifying, by the appliance, a cached URL of the second request using the entry in the cache providing the resolved address of the host name.

9. In a network environment having an appliance acting as a proxy between a client requesting pages and a server responding to client requests, a method for updating by the appliance a cached domain name server (DNS) address of a host name, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) intercepting, by an appliance, one of a Domain Name Server (DNS) request of a client to resolve a host name or a request of the client for a uniform resource locator identifying the host name;

(b) storing, by the appliance, in a cache a resolved DNS address of the host name;

(c) intercepting, by the appliance, a second request from the client for a page;

(d) forwarding, by the appliance, the page to the client; and

(e) determining, by the appliance, a uniform resource locator of the forwarded page identifies the host name; and

(f) transmitting, by the appliance in response to the determination, a request generated by the appliance to resolve the address of the host name with a server.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein step (b) comprises transmitting, by the appliance a DNS resolution request to a DNS server, and receiving an address resolution of the host name.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising storing, by the appliance, the address resolution of the host name in the cache.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein step (f) comprising transmitting, by the appliance, the request prior to a user requesting the uniform resource locator from the page.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein step (f) comprising transmitting, by the appliance, the request prior to the client requesting DNS resolution of the host name identified by the uniform resource locator of the page.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein step (e) comprises determining, by the appliance the address for the host name is located in the cache.

15. The method of claim 9, comprising establishing, by the appliance, an expiration period in the cache for the cached DNS address of the host name.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein step (e) comprises determining, by the appliance, the expiration period for the cached DNS address has expired.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein step (e) comprises determining, by the appliance, a remaining time of the expiration period for the cached DNS address is within a predetermined threshold.

18. The method of claim 9, comprising generating, by the appliance the request as a speculative request.

19. The method of claim 18, comprising transmitting, by the appliance, the generated request at a lower priority of transmission than non-speculative requests.

20. The method of claim 9, comprising forwarding, by the appliance in response to receiving the second request, the second request to the cached DNS address of the host name identified by the uniform resource locator and transmitting a third request to a DNS server to obtain an updated resolution of the DNS address of the host name stored in the cache.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising forwarding, by the appliance the second request to the cached DNS address of the host name, and the third request to the DNS server one of substantially simultaneously or in parallel to each other.

22. An appliance acting as a proxy between a client requesting pages and a server responding to client requests, the appliance updating a cached domain name server (DNS) address of a host name, the appliance comprising:

means for intercepting one of a Domain Name Server (DNS) request of a client to resolve a host name or a request of the client for a uniform resource locator identifying the host name;

a cache manager for storing in a cache a resolved DNS address of the host name;

means for intercepting a second request from the client for a page;

means for forwarding the page to the client; and

means for determining a uniform resource locator of the forwarded page identifies the host name; and

means for transmitting, in response to the determination, a request generated by the appliance to resolve he address of the host name with a server.

23. The appliance of claim 22, wherein the appliances transmits a DNS resolution request to a DNS server, and receives an address resolution of the host name.

24. The appliance of claim 23, wherein the cache manager stores the address resolution of the host name in the cache.

25. The appliance of claim 23, wherein the appliance transmits the request prior to a user requesting the uniform resource locator from the page.

26. The appliance of claim 23, wherein the appliance transmits the request prior to the client requesting DNS resolution of the host name identified by the uniform resource locator of the page.

27. The appliance of claim 23, wherein the cache manager determines the address for the host name is located in the cache.

28. The appliance of claim 23, wherein the cache manager establishes an expiration period in the cache for the cached address of the host name.

29. The appliance of claim 23, wherein the cache manager determines the expiration period for the cached address has expired.

30. The appliance of claim 23, wherein the cache manager determines a remaining time of the expiration period for the cached address is within a predetermined threshold.

31. The appliance of claim 23, comprising means for generating the request as a speculative request.

32. The appliance of claim 31, wherein the appliance transmits the generated request at a lower priority of transmission than non-speculative requests.

33. The appliance of claim 31, wherein the appliance forwards, in response to receiving the second request, the second request to the cached address of the host name identified by the uniform resource locator and transmits a third request to a DNS server to obtain an updated resolution of the address of the host name stored in the cache.

34. The appliance of claim 33, wherein the appliance forwards the second request to the cached address of the host name, and the third request to the DNS server one of substantially simultaneously or in parallel to each other.

35. A method for resolving by an intermediary device an address of a host name identified by a uniform resource locator using the internet protocol address identified as a destination of a request, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, by an intermediary device, a request packet from a client requesting via an application protocol layer a uniform resource locator of a page;

(b) identifying, by the intermediary device, from the request packet an internet protocol address of a destination of the request;

(c) associating, by the intermediary device, the internet protocol address of the destination with a host name identified by the uniform resource locator;

(d) storing, by the intermediary device, in a cache an entry identifying the internet protocol address as an address of the host name;

(e) receiving, by the intermediary device, one of a Domain Name Server (DNS) request of the client to resolve the host name or a second request of the client for the uniform resource locator identifying the host name; and

(f) identifying, by the intermediary device, the entry in the cache as a resolved address of the host name.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein step (c) comprises the intermediary device not querying a DNS server to resolve the address of the host name.

37. The method of claim 35, comprising resolving, by the client, the internet protocol address of the host name identified by the uniform resource locator requested by the client prior to transmitting the request packet.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein step (a) comprises transmitting, by the client, via the request packet a request to open a transport layer connection to the destination identified by the internet protocol address of the host name.

39. The method of claim 35, wherein step (b) comprises extracting, by the intermediary device the internet protocol address of the destination from a field of a header of the request packet.

40. The method of claim 35, wherein step (b) comprises identifying, by the intermediary device, the internet protocol address from one of a network layer or transport layer of the request packet.

41. The method of claim 35, comprising responding, by the intermediary device to the DNS request of the client with the entry in the cache.

42. The method of claim 35, comprising identifying, by the intermediary device, a cached URL of the second request using the entry in the cache providing the resolved address of the host name.

43. The method of claim 35, wherein the intermediary device comprises one of a client agent or an appliance.