Message processing methods and systems

• US 8,856,862 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2006
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Inventors: Dimitrakos, Theo, Titkov, Leonid, Maierhofer, Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): Armouche, Hadi
• Assistant Examiner(s): HO, DAO Q
• Application Number:
  US12/280,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20090235325A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,897 Days
• Field of Search: 726/1
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1482 by means of middleware or OS functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for controlling the operation of a distributed application using message interception techniques are disclosed. The message interception software is independent of the software components making up the distributed application. The message interception software processes messages by carrying out a series of actions set out in an interceptor chain configuration policy, that policy being selected on the basis of the contents of the intercepted message. The interceptor chain configuration policy is divided into a separate enforcement configuration policy which dictates what actions should be carried out on a message and in what order, and an interceptor reference policy which indicates references to interceptors which are suitable for carrying out the actions specified in the enforcement configuration policy. In this way, the behavior of the message interception software (and thus the distributed application) can be updated while both the interception software and the distributed application are running without requiring the person updating the behavior of the message interception software to deal with esoteric references to interceptor software routines.

Claims

1. A method of processing a message during a message exchange in a distributed computing environment, the method including

receiving a message and, on the basis of the content of the message and an enforcement configuration policy providing a specified set of conditions dictating what enforcement actions should be carried out on the message and what order,

selecting a plurality of the enforcement actions, from available enforcement actions, to be applied in a particular order to the message,

providing an association or mapping between enforcement actions and respective interceptors;

identifying interceptors that correspond to each of the enforcement actions based on associations which are administrator-editable and

deploying an ordered interceptor chain comprising the identified interceptors to apply the selected plural enforcement actions in the particular order,

wherein, in response to a detection of a fault by a deployed interceptor, determining, based on the fault, if a policy update is required and responsive to the determination;

a) updating the policy; and

b) deploying the updated policy.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the conditions are associated with one or more of:

selecting enforcement actions;

ordering enforcement actions; and

configuring enforcement actions.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the conditions depend upon an intended destination of the message.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the conditions depend upon additional identification information that is stored in the message.

5. A method according to claim 1, including configuring or adapting the behaviour of one or more interceptors or interceptor instances on the basis of the message.

6. A method according to claim 1, including configuring or adapting the behaviour of one or more interceptors or interceptor instances on the basis of an enforcement state.

7. A method according to claim 1, including configuring or adapting the behaviour of one or more of the interceptors or interceptor instances on the basis of at least one of:

the content of message;

the context of message;

meta-data associated with message;

results from previous interceptor instances;

conditions under which the message is received; and

an intended destination of the message.

8. A method according to claim 7, including configuring or adapting the behaviour of an interceptor or interceptor instance after the message is received.

9. A method according to claim 7, including configuring or adapting the behaviour of an interceptor or interceptor instance when the interceptor chain is deployed.

10. A method according to claim 1, including configuring or adapting the behaviour of an interceptor or an interceptor instance by at least one of:

varying an input parameter;

using information contained in the message to influence or provide an input;

introducing a dependency related to an earlier interceptor;

introducing a dependency related to a persisting enforcement state; and

specifying an external service to be invoked.

11. A method according to claim 1, including dynamically loading and invoking each interceptor instance on receipt of the message.

12. A method according to claim 1, including inspecting the content of the message in order to determine specific functionality required of a respective interceptor instance.

13. A method according to claim 1, including selecting or deriving parameters from the message and using the parameters to invoke a specific interceptor instance of a respective interceptor.

14. A method according to claim 1, including selecting one from plural possible specified sets of conditions on the basis of the contents of the message.

15. A method according to claim 1, including updating associations or mappings between the enforcement actions and interceptors.

16. A method according to claim 1, including updating utility services that can be invoked during processing of the message.

17. A method of exchanging messages in a distributed computing environment, the method including for each received message

selecting, on the basis of the content of the message and an enforcement configuration policy providing a specified set of conditions, a plurality of enforcement actions, from available enforcement actions, to be applied in a particular order to the message, the enforcement configuration policy dictating what enforcement actions should be carried out and what order,

providing an association or mapping between enforcement actions and respective interceptors;

identifying interceptors that correspond to each of the enforcement actions based on associations which are administrator-editable; and

deploying an ordered interceptor chain comprising the identified interceptors to apply the selected plural enforcement actions in the particular order,

wherein, in response to a detection of a fault by a deployed interceptor, determining, based on the fault, if a policy update is required and responsive to the determination;

a) updating the policy; and

b) deploying the updated policy.

18. A method according to claim 17, including, in between received messages, at least one of:

updating the specified set of conditions

removing or deleting an existing specified set of conditions;

updating associations or mappings between the enforcement actions and interceptors;

identifying utility services that can be invoked during processing of the message;

updating utility services that can be invoked during processing of the message;

updating one or more of the available interceptors; and

providing a new specified set of conditions or updating an existing specified set of conditions.

19. A computer system arranged to process a message during a message exchange in a distributed computing environment, the computer system including:

an input for receiving a message,

an output for delivering a processed message,

a computer-readable store, the store storing an enforcement configuration policy providing a specified set of conditions dictating what enforcement actions should be carried out on the message and what order,

a computer-readable store, the store storing an association or mapping between enforcement actions and respective interceptors;

a processing system having at least one processor, the processing system being arranged to inspect the content of a received message, on the basis of the content of the message and the conditions, identify a plurality of the enforcement actions, from available enforcement actions, to be applied in a particular order to the message, use associations to identify interceptors that correspond to each of the enforcement actions and deploy an ordered interceptor chain comprising the identified interceptors to apply the selected plural enforcement actions in the particular order, said associations being administrator-editable,

wherein the processing system is further arranged to, in response to a detection of a fault by a deployed interceptor, determine, based on the fault, if a policy update is required and responsive to the determination to;

a) update the policy; and

b) deploy the updated policy.

20. A computer system according to claim 19, wherein said administrator-editable associations comprise a first declarative policy which correlates each local or remotely deployed interceptor from the pool of interceptors with an assertion type denoting an enforcement action.

21. A computer system according to claim 20, comprising a second declarative policy which describes conditions based on the type of content and protocol context of an intercepted message that determines a sequence of enforcement actions.

22. A computer system according to claim 21, comprising a unit configured to dynamically form the interceptor chain during the processing of an intercepted message, where the interceptors are selected from a pool of interceptors based on the content and a protocol context of the intercepted message, constraints set by the first declarative policy and a correlation described by the second declarative policy.

23. A computer system according to claim 21, including a third declarative policy which is editable by an administrator and defines network addresses or endpoint references of external services that can be invoked during the processing of an intercepted message by an interceptor in the chain.

24. A computer system according to claim 23, including a unit configured to upload the third declarative policy during execution of an interceptor in the chain in order to implement message exchanges with the external services.

25. A computer system according to claim 21, comprising a unit arranged to extend the second declarative policy with additional configuration parameters for the interceptors.

26. A computer system according to claim 21, comprising a unit configured to arrange the second declarative policy or an extended second declarative policy into instances, each associated with protecting a different network service or resource.

27. A computer system according to claim 26, comprising a unit arranged to bind each instance of the second declarative policy or the extended second declarative policy with the first declarative policy, in order to generate a configuration that is explicitly associated with a respective different network service or resource.

28. A computer system according to claim 27, comprising a unit arranged to bind each instance of the second declarative policy or the extended second declarative policy with a third declarative policy, which defines a network of addresses or endpoint references of external services that can be invoked during the processing of an intercepted message by an interceptor in the chain, in order to generate a configuration that is explicitly associated with a respective different network service or resource.

29. The system of claim 19, wherein said associations are administrator-editable at runtime.

30. The system of claim 19, wherein said associations are administrator-editable at deployment-time of the associations.

31. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, which upon execution by at least one computer, process a message during a message exchange in a distributed computing environment by at least:

selecting plural enforcement actions, from available enforcement actions, to be applied in a particular order to the message on the basis of the content of the message and an enforcement configuration policy providing a specified set of conditions dictating what enforcement actions should be carried out on the message and what order,

providing an association or mapping between enforcement actions and respective interceptors;

identifying interceptors that correspond to each of the enforcement actions based on associations which are administrator-editable and

deploying an ordered interceptor chain comprising the identified interceptors to apply the selected plural enforcement actions in the particular order,

wherein, in response to a detection of a fault by a deployed interceptor, determining, based on the fault, if a policy update is required and responsive to the determination;

a) updating the policy; and

b) deploying the updated policy.