Method and system for name resolution across heterogeneous architectures

• US 9,935,791 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2013
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sevilla, Spencer, Mahadevan, Priya, Garcia-Luna-Aceves, Jose J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino, Joseph E
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGANKAM, PATRICK F
• Application Number:
  US13/898,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20140344474A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,779 Days
• Field of Search: 709217, 709219, 709227, 709238, 709242, 709245, 707533, 370241
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/54 Store-and-forward switching systems packet switching systems H04L45/00, H04L47/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for resolving a name request in a network comprising a plurality of groups that use different name-resolution schemes. During operation, the system receives, at a first group, the name request; identifies a parent group of the first group, which is a member of the parent group; and in response to failing to resolve the name request within the first group, forwards the name request to the identified parent group.

Claims

1. A method for resolving a name request in a network, comprising:

receiving the name request by a network node of a first group of network nodes that are operating under a first name resolution scheme, wherein the name request is for a node of a second group;

identifying, by the network node of the first group, a parent group of the first group in a hierarchy of name resolution groups, wherein the first group is lower in the hierarchy than the parent group, and the parent group operates under a name resolution scheme that is different from the first name resolution scheme;

in response to failing to resolve the name request within the first group using the first name resolution scheme, forwarding the name request to the identified parent group;

receiving, by the network node through the parent group, a first response to the name request, wherein the parent group is higher in the hierarchy than both the first group and the second group, and the first response indicates a network address of a requested name of the name request and a network address of an intermediate node;

caching the network address of the requested name;

determining, based on the hierarchy of name resolution groups, whether a hierarchy level of the intermediate node is equal to or below the first group;

in response to the hierarchy level of the intermediate node being equal to or below the first group, caching the network address of the intermediate node, wherein a name request to a node can be sent immediately to the cached network address of the intermediate node bypassing the parent group; and

sending a second response to the name request based on the first response.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the parent group not responding to the name request, forwarding the name request to a grandparent group of the first group.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a cached entry associated with the name request exists; and

forwarding the name request or generating a response based on the cached entry.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchy of name resolution groups uses a plurality of name-resolution approaches, including one or more of:

Domain Name System (DNS);

multicast DNS (mDNS); and

distributed hash table (DHT) based name-resolution scheme.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responding with an error message to the name request in response to failing to forward the name request.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for resolving a name request in a network, the method comprising:

receiving the name request by a network node of a first group of network nodes that are operating under a first name resolution scheme, wherein the name request is for a node of a second group;

identifying, by the network node of the first group, a parent group of the first group in a hierarchy of name resolution groups, wherein the first group is lower in the hierarchy than the parent group, and the parent group operates under a name resolution scheme that is different from the first name resolution scheme;

in response to failing to resolve the name request within the first group using the first name resolution scheme, forwarding the name request to the identified parent group;

receiving, through the parent group, a first response to the name request, wherein the parent group is higher in the hierarchy than both the first group and the second group, and the first response indicates a network address of a requested name of the name request and a network address of an intermediate node;

caching the network address of the requested name;

determining, based on the hierarchy of name resolution groups, whether a hierarchy level of the intermediate node is equal to or below the first group;

in response to the hierarchy level of the intermediate node being equal to or below the first group, caching the network address of the intermediate node, wherein a name request to a node can be sent immediately to the cached network address of the intermediate node bypassing the parent group; and

sending a second response to the name request based on the first response.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to the parent group not responding to the name request, forwarding the name request to a grandparent group of the group.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

determining that a cached entry associated with the name request exists; and

forwarding the name request or generating a response based on the cached entry.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the hierarchy of name resolution groups uses a plurality of name-resolution approaches, including one or more of:

Domain Name System (DNS);

multicast DNS (mDNS); and

distributed hash table (DHT) based name-resolution scheme.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

responding with an error message to the name request in response to failing to forward the name request.

11. A system comprising:

a plurality of groups of network nodes that operate under different name-resolution schemes, wherein a node of a first group of the plurality of groups of network nodes is a computing device with one or more processors and a memory and is configured for receiving a name request, for a node of a second group of the plurality of groups of network nodes, and the node is configured to;

identify, by the one or more processors, a parent group of the first group in a hierarchy of name resolution groups, wherein the first group is lower in the hierarchy than the parent group, and the parent group operates under a name resolution scheme that is different from a first name resolution scheme of the first group;

in response to failing to resolve the name request within the first group using the first name resolution scheme, forward the name request to the identified parent group;

receive, through the parent group, a first response to the name request, wherein the parent group is higher in the hierarchy than both the first group and the second group, and the first response indicates a network address of a requested name of the name request and a network address of an intermediate node;

cache the network address of the requested name;

determine, based on the hierarchy of name resolution groups, whether a hierarchy level of the intermediate node is equal to or below the first group;

in response to the hierarchy level of the intermediate node being equal to or below the first group, cache the network address of the intermediate node, wherein a name request to a node can be sent immediately to the cached network address of the intermediate node bypassing the parent group; and

send a second response to the name request based on the first response.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the node is further configured to, in response to the parent group not responding to the name request, forward the name request to a grandparent group of the first group.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the node is further configured to:

determine that a cached entry associated with the name request exists; and

forward the name request or generate a response based on the cached entry.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the hierarchy of name resolution groups uses a plurality of name-resolution approaches, including one or more of:

Domain Name System (DNS);

multicast DNS (mDNS); and

distributed hash table (DHT) based name-resolution scheme.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the node is further configured to respond with an error message to the name request in response to failing to forward the name request.