System and method for distributing heuristics to network intermediary devices
First Claim
1. A method, comprising distributing, from a policy distribution server to one or more network intermediary devices communicatively coupled to the policy distribution server, on a subscription basis, policy updates to effect desired behaviors of at least one network intermediary device from the one or more network intermediary devices, wherein the policy updates include instructions for data collection by the at least one network intermediary device, and data collected in accordance with said instructions are used as feedback to tune caching policy updates for the at least one network intermediary device that supplied the data collected, and wherein the nature and frequency of the data provided via this feedback process is subject to control of said subscription basis, and the tuned caching policy updates are distributed from the policy distribution server to the at least one network intermediary device.
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Abstract
A policy distribution server provides, on a subscription basis, policy updates to effect desired behaviors of network intermediary devices. The policy updates may specify caching policies, and may in some instances, include instructions for data collection by the network intermediary devices. Data collected in accordance with such instructions may be used to inform future policy updates distributed to the network intermediary devices.
43 Citations
17 Claims
- 1. A method, comprising distributing, from a policy distribution server to one or more network intermediary devices communicatively coupled to the policy distribution server, on a subscription basis, policy updates to effect desired behaviors of at least one network intermediary device from the one or more network intermediary devices, wherein the policy updates include instructions for data collection by the at least one network intermediary device, and data collected in accordance with said instructions are used as feedback to tune caching policy updates for the at least one network intermediary device that supplied the data collected, and wherein the nature and frequency of the data provided via this feedback process is subject to control of said subscription basis, and the tuned caching policy updates are distributed from the policy distribution server to the at least one network intermediary device.
- 10. A system, comprising one or more network intermediary devices and a policy distribution server communicatively coupled to the network intermediary devices, the policy distribution server configured to deliver to the network intermediary devices, on a subscription basis, policy updates to effect desired behaviors of at least one network intermediary device from the one or more network intermediary devices, wherein the policy updates include instructions for data collection by the at least one network intermediary device, and data collected in accordance with said instructions are used as feedback to tune caching policy updates for the at least one network intermediary device that supplied the data collected, and wherein the nature and frequency of the data provided via this feedback process is subject to control of said subscription basis, and the tuned caching policy updates are distributed from the policy distribution server to the at least one network intermediary device.
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17. A network intermediary device, comprising:
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a processor; a storage device connected to the processor; and a set of instructions on the storage device that are executable by the processor, including; a transactor software sub-routine configured to establish a connection at a beginning of a client/intermediary device communication, facilitate processing of a request and response throughout the communication, and close the connection at an end of the communication; a policy administrator software sub-routine configured to maintain current versions of policies distributed to the network intermediary device from a policy distribution server, on a subscription basis, and assign to the transactor software sub-routine a most current version of a policy available at a beginning of the communication; and a policy evaluator software sub-routine configured to collect statistics regarding operations of the transactor software sub-routine for various communications and policies for reporting to the policy distribution server, wherein (i) the transactor software sub-routine is further configured to handle the communication in accordance with an assigned policy specified by the policy administrator software sub-routine and perform designated activities in accordance with the assigned policy when the communication reaches specified checkpoints and (ii) the statistics are used as feedback to tune caching policy updates distributed from the policy distribution server to the network intermediary device that supplied the statistics that were collected and reported to the policy distribution server, and wherein the nature and frequency of the statistics provided via this feedback process is subject to control of said subscription basis.
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Specification