JP5287623B2 - Virtual server management system, image processing system, virtual server management apparatus, and control program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a virtual server management system, an image processing system, a virtual server management apparatus, and a control program, and more particularly to automation of activation and termination of a virtual server.

  In communication in a TCP / IP network environment between a plurality of computers, each computer is identified by an IP address, and communication is performed. This IP address may be statically assigned or may be dynamically assigned such as DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). This IP address is information indicated by an enumeration of numbers, and is used by being replaced by a host name in order to improve identification by a user and convenience of processing by a program.

  A host name is information associated with an IP address. When a communication destination is specified by a host name, a computer as a communication terminal can store a list of host names held inside, a DNS (Domain Name System), or the like. ) Obtain the IP address from the host name by the service. By using the host name in this way, it is easy for humans to identify the communication terminal, and at the same time, when the IP address is changed due to a change in the computer, only the DNS service is used without changing the designation destination in many computers. You can respond by changing

  In the DNS service, in a DNS (Dynamic DNS) environment in which the correspondence between the host name and the IP address is dynamically updated, a plurality of IP addresses are assigned to one host name, so that communication is performed every time communication is performed. It is possible to change the destination computer. With this technology, even if communication with one computer is interrupted, it is possible to communicate with other computers, and there is an advantage that fault tolerance is improved.

  In such a DDNS environment, even when the host name is changed or when the host name is duplicated with another device, a method capable of causing the DNS server to perform appropriate name resolution has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1). In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, an alias name different from the host name given by the change, and an alias name uniquely determined for each device is registered in the DNS server. Has solved.

  In recent years, in an information processing environment in which information processing apparatuses such as a plurality of servers exchange information with each other and execute processing in conjunction with each other, the above-described virtual IP addresses and host names are individually set. A technique for constructing a secure server is known. In such a virtualization technology, it is possible to construct a virtual server on the network that behaves like a physical server by simply setting a new IP address and host name.

  When a service is provided via a network using such a virtualization technology, the number of virtual servers to be activated is increased or decreased according to the system load status. Therefore, when the virtual servers communicate with each other, the host name of the communication partner changes frequently, so a mechanism for host name resolution becomes important. When a virtual environment such as that described above is developed and a service is provided, a rule for assigning a host name can also be independently constructed, so that host names can be easily managed.

  On the other hand, when providing a company's service using a virtual environment service provided by another company (hereinafter referred to as a virtual environment service), the host name is assigned according to the rules of the provided virtual environment service. Therefore, it is necessary to construct a host name resolution mechanism according to the rules. Here, when using a virtual environment service provided by another company, the newly started virtual server is not necessarily placed in the same subnet as the already started virtual server. Cannot broadcast.

  Furthermore, when using a virtual environment service by another company, there is a possibility that another person who uses the virtual environment service or a virtual server of another company is also located in the same subnet. That is not preferable. Such a problem is particularly problematic when a list of host names is provided in advance and processing is performed according to the list.

  Furthermore, in a service via a network, a plurality of servers having various functions operate in conjunction with each other. Therefore, in the increase / decrease of the virtual server, which function the newly activated server or the terminated server plays. It is necessary to know what was happening. However, the prior art such as Patent Document 1 does not consider the mechanism up to that point.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and in a virtual server environment, when the number of virtual servers is increased or decreased, the functions of the increased or decreased virtual servers are grasped, and a predetermined host name is determined. The purpose is to perform communication by assigning a host name according to the list.

In order to solve the above problem, one aspect of the present invention, a virtual server configured by an information processing apparatus connected to the network, associating the network address of the virtual server identification information for identifying the virtual server A virtual server management unit that manages the virtual server, and a virtual server activation request unit that requests the virtual server management unit to activate a virtual server according to a load state of the virtual server activated on the network. , A virtual server function management unit that stores information on the function of the virtual server in association with the identification information, a network address of the virtual server according to a list of host names predetermined for each function of the virtual server, and the A virtual server management system including a communication control unit that manages a correspondence relationship with a host name. A server management unit newly sets the identification information and the network address of the virtual server in response to a request from the virtual server activation request unit, newly starts a virtual server, and sets the identification information and the network address. Is transmitted to the virtual server activation request unit, and the stored identification information and network address are transmitted in response to a request from the communication control unit, and the virtual server activation request unit is received by activation of the virtual server. The virtual server function management unit stores the identification information and the function information to be assigned to the virtual server, and the virtual server function management unit is activated in response to a request from the communication control unit. Server function information is transmitted to the communication control unit, and the communication control unit stores the stored information from the virtual server management unit. The virtual server function is acquired according to the virtual server function information obtained from the virtual server function management unit, the virtual server function information is acquired from the virtual server function management unit, and the virtual server function information is acquired from the virtual server function management unit. Another feature is that the information is stored in association with a predetermined host name.

  Here, the virtual server activation request unit stores the identification information and the function information received by the activation of the virtual server in the virtual server function management unit, and causes the communication control unit to store the network address of the virtual server. And the communication control unit acquires the stored identification information and network address from the virtual server management unit in response to the update request, and the virtual server It is preferable to acquire the function information of the virtual server from the function management unit.

  Further, the communication control unit periodically acquires the stored identification information and network address from the virtual server management unit, and acquires information on the function of the virtual server from the virtual server function management unit. it can.

  The communication control unit preferably controls communication on the network in the virtual server.

  The communication control unit is configured in at least one of the virtual servers, and the other virtual server acquires the network address based on the host name by accessing a virtual server including the communication control unit. You can also.

  In addition, it is preferable that the communication control unit manages all the host names included in the host name list in association with any of the network addresses of virtual servers running on the network.

  The execution instruction allocating unit further includes an execution instruction allocating unit that acquires an execution instruction of information processing that can be processed by the function realized by the virtual server, and allocates the acquired execution instruction to any of a plurality of virtual servers. Preferably assigns the execution instruction according to the predetermined host name.

  The predetermined list of host names is preferably a list of character strings composed of information indicating the function of the virtual server and a continuous numerical value.

  In addition, the communication control unit associates and manages the host name and the network address by associating the network address of the virtual server running on the network with the host name in the order of the consecutive numerical values. It is preferable to do.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing system configured by any one of the virtual server management systems described above, wherein the execution instruction storage stores information on the execution instruction allocated by the execution instruction allocation unit. And an image processing unit that acquires information of the stored execution instruction and executes image processing as information processing related to the execution instruction.

  Further, it is preferable that the virtual server activation request unit requests activation of the virtual server according to an accumulation state of the execution instructions stored in the execution instruction storage unit.

  In addition, it is preferable that the virtual server activation request unit requests activation of the virtual server according to a load state of an arithmetic device that controls the virtual server configuring the image processing system.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a virtual server control device that controls a virtual server configured by an information processing device connected to a network, the host name being predetermined for each function of the virtual server. The correspondence between the network address of the virtual server and the host name is managed according to the list, the communication control unit for controlling communication on the network, the identification information for identifying the virtual server, and the network address of the virtual server are associated The stored identification information and network address are acquired from the stored virtual server management unit, and the function information of the virtual server is stored in association with the identification information from the virtual server function management unit. An information acquisition unit that acquires information on the function of the virtual server, and the acquired network address. An information update unit that updates a correspondence relationship between the network address of the virtual server and the host name by storing in association with a host name predetermined for each function of the virtual server according to the acquired function information of the virtual server Are preferably included.

  Further, the information acquisition unit is stored in response to a notification from a virtual server activation request unit that requests additional activation of the virtual server according to a load state of a virtual server activated on the network. It is preferable to acquire identification information, a network address, and function information of the virtual server.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control program that causes an information processing apparatus to function as a virtual server control apparatus that controls a virtual server configured by an information processing apparatus connected on a network, the virtual server Managing the correspondence between the network address of the virtual server and the host name in accordance with a list of host names predetermined for each function, controlling communication on the network, and identification information for identifying the virtual server; Obtaining the stored identification information and network address from the virtual server management unit storing the network address of the virtual server in association with each other, and storing the function information of the virtual server in association with the identification information; The function information of the virtual server from the existing virtual server function management unit And storing the acquired network address in association with a host name predetermined for each function of the virtual server according to the acquired function information of the virtual server, and storing the network address of the virtual server and the host name The information processing apparatus is caused to execute the step of updating the correspondence relationship.

  According to the present invention, in a virtual server environment, when a virtual server is increased or decreased, the function of the increased or decreased virtual server is grasped, and communication is performed by assigning a host name according to a predetermined list of host names. it can.

It is a figure which shows the operation | use form of the virtual server management system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows typically the hardware constitutions of the information processing terminal which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the virtual operation | use form of the virtual server management system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the virtual structure of the image processing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the virtual management server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the information memorize | stored in the virtual server information storage part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the database server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the information memorize | stored in the server function information storage part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the load balancer server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the DNS information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the monitor server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the task management server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the worker server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the task storage server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the image processing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the virtual server management system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the update of the information memorize | stored in the virtual server information storage part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the update of the information memorize | stored in the server function information storage part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the update of the DNS information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the image processing which the image processing part of the worker server which concerns on embodiment of this invention can process.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a case where a network service for image processing is provided using a virtual server environment will be described as an example.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an operation mode of an image processing system using a virtual server management system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, in the image processing system according to the present embodiment, a network A of a provider that provides a virtual server environment (hereinafter referred to as a virtual environment provider) and a network service of image processing (hereinafter referred to as an image). A network B of a service provider (hereinafter referred to as an image processing service provider) that provides a processing service) and a network C of a service user that uses the image processing service use a public line D such as the Internet or a telephone line. Connected through.

  A plurality of physical servers 1 operating in conjunction with each other are connected to the network A, and a virtual server environment is provided by the function of an application operating on the physical server 1. Connected to the network B is a client terminal 2 that is a terminal operated by an operator of the image processing service provider. Connected to the network C is an image processing apparatus 3 operated by a user who uses the image processing system.

  The client terminal 2 is a general information processing terminal, and is realized by an information processing apparatus such as a PC (Personal Computer). The image processing apparatus 3 is a multifunction machine that can be used as a printer, a facsimile, a scanner, and a copying machine by including an imaging function, an image forming function, a communication function, and the like. The image processing apparatus 3 also functions as a user interface for instructing execution of image processing in the image processing system according to the present embodiment.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the physical server 1, the client terminal 2, and the image processing device 3 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment. The image processing apparatus 3 includes an engine for realizing a scanner, a printer, and the like in addition to the hardware configuration shown in FIG. In the following description, the hardware configuration of the client terminal 2 will be described as an example, but the same applies to the physical server 1 and the image processing apparatus 3.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment includes the same configuration as that of a general server or PC. That is, the client terminal 2 according to the present embodiment includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 20, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 30, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 40, and an I / F 50. Connected through. Further, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 60 and an operation unit 70 are connected to the I / F 50.

  The CPU 10 is a calculation means and controls the operation of the entire client terminal 2. The RAM 20 is a volatile storage medium capable of reading and writing information at high speed, and is used as a work area when the CPU 10 processes information. The ROM 30 is a read-only nonvolatile storage medium and stores a program such as firmware. The HDD 40 is a non-volatile storage medium that can read and write information, and stores an OS (Operating System), various control programs, application programs, and the like.

  The I / F 50 connects and controls the bus 80 and various hardware and networks. The LCD 60 is a visual user interface for the operator to check the state of the client terminal 2. The operation unit 70 is a user interface such as a keyboard and a mouse for an operator to input information to the client terminal 2. As described in FIG. 1, the physical server 1 according to this embodiment is operated as a server. Therefore, user interfaces such as the LCD 60 and the operation unit 70 can be omitted.

  In such a hardware configuration, a program stored in a storage medium such as the ROM 30, the HDD 40, or an optical disk (not shown) is read into the RAM 20, and operates according to the control of the CPU 10, thereby configuring a software control unit. The virtual server environment and information processing system functions according to the present embodiment are realized by a combination of the software control unit configured as described above and hardware.

  Next, a virtual environment realized in the physical server 1 of the network A will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, in the virtual environment according to the present embodiment, a virtual environment that behaves as if the virtual management server 4, the database server 5, and the plurality of virtual servers 6 are connected to the network is constructed. The virtual management server 4 is a management server that manages the activation and termination of the virtual server 6. In this embodiment, the virtual management server 4 is a user who uses a virtual environment (in this embodiment, an image processing service using the virtual environment). In accordance with an instruction from a service provider that provides the management of the virtual server 6, the activation or termination of the virtual server 6 is managed.

  The database server 5 is a database that stores information on the virtual server 6 in the virtual environment. The database server 5 according to the present embodiment stores information on the function of the activated virtual server 6. The virtual management server 4 and the database server 5 are servers provided by a provider that provides a virtual environment, and may be realized as physical servers instead of virtual servers.

  As described above, the plurality of virtual servers 6 are virtual information processing apparatuses that behave in the same manner as an actual physical server on the network by an application that operates on the physical server 1. An IP address and a host name are set. The number of virtual servers 6 according to the present embodiment is increased or decreased according to the system load of the image processing service.

  Next, an image processing system constructed by the virtual server 6 by the image processing service provider in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the image processing system according to the present embodiment behaves as if the load balancer server 100, the monitor server 200, the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500 are connected to the network. An image processing system is virtually realized. Note that a plurality of task management servers 300, worker servers 400, and task storage servers 500 are configured according to the load state of the system.

  The load balancer server 100 is configured to serve as a window for a service user (hereinafter referred to as a user) who uses an image processing service in the image processing system according to the present embodiment, and the user operates the image processing apparatus 3. The input job is acquired and assigned to the plurality of task management servers 300 in order. Thereby, processing is distributed and stable operation of the system is realized. The monitor server 200 monitors the load status of the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500, and requests the virtual management server 4 to start or end each server according to each load status. . As a result, when the system load is high, the number of servers increases so that the processing is more distributed, and when the system load is low, the number of servers decreases for efficient operation.

  The task management server 300 is a server that manages tasks allocated by the load balancer server 100. The task management server 300 also includes a function of executing image processing that is not necessary to be executed by the worker server 400. The worker server 400 is a server that executes actual image processing in the image processing system. The task storage server 500 is a server that stores tasks assigned by the load balancer server 100 by the task management server 300.

  Next, the functional configuration of the virtual management server 4 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the virtual management server 4 according to the present embodiment includes a virtual server activation management unit 4a, a virtual server information storage unit 4b, and a communication control unit 4c. As described above, the virtual server activation management unit 4a and the communication control unit 4c are configured by a control program stored in a storage medium such as the HDD 40 illustrated in FIG. 2 being loaded into the RAM 20 and operating according to the control of the CPU 10. Is done. The virtual server information storage unit 4b is configured by a storage medium such as the HDD 40 shown in FIG.

  The virtual server activation management unit 4a manages activation and termination of the virtual server 6 based on the request from the monitor server 200 described above. When starting the virtual server 6, the virtual server activation management unit 4 a is a program stored in the storage medium such as the HDD 40 described in FIG. 2, and copies the program for realizing the server and loads it into the RAM 20. Then, the virtual server 6 is started by causing the CPU 10 to perform control. Further, the virtual server activation management unit 4a sets an identifier and an IP address that is an address on the network for the activated virtual server 6, and stores them in the virtual server information storage unit 4b.

  As described above, the virtual server information storage unit 4b is a storage medium that stores the identifier and IP address of the activated virtual server 6 in association with each other. FIG. 6 shows an example of information stored in the virtual server information storage unit 4b. The communication control unit 4c is a network interface for the virtual server activation management unit 4a to exchange information with the database server 5 and the virtual server 6 via a virtual network.

  In the present embodiment, when the virtual server activation management unit 4a newly activates the virtual server 6, it sets a host name in addition to the identifier and IP address described above. For this host name, for example, uniquely determined information such as a MAC address is used. Accordingly, the communication control unit 4c included in the virtual management server 4 has a DNS (Domain Name System) environment (hereinafter referred to as a first DNS environment) corresponding to the resolution of the host name set by the virtual server activation management unit 4a. ) To communicate information.

  Next, the functional configuration of the database server 5 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the database server 5 according to the present embodiment includes a communication control unit 5a and a server function information storage unit 5b. Similar to the communication control unit 4c included in the virtual management server 4, the communication control unit 5a is a network interface for the database server 5 to exchange information with the virtual management server 4 and the virtual server 6 via a virtual network. is there.

  The server function information storage unit 5b is a storage medium that stores the identifier of the activated virtual server 6 and the function of the server in association with each other. FIG. 8 shows an example of information stored in the server function information storage unit 5b. As described in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500 are subject to increase / decrease. Therefore, the character information “taskmaster”, “worker”, and “database” is set and stored as information indicating the function for the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500, respectively.

  Next, the functional configuration of the load balancer server 100 will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the load balancer server 100 according to the present embodiment includes a task distribution unit 101 and a communication control unit 102. The task distribution unit 101 distributes processing by distributing input tasks, and improves system stability. That is, the task distribution unit 101 functions as an execution instruction allocating unit that acquires an execution instruction for processing that can be executed in the virtual server 6 and allocates the acquired execution instruction to one of the plurality of virtual servers 6. The task distribution unit 101 performs distribution using host names that are predetermined and listed for each function to be assigned to each virtual server 6 as a task distribution destination.

  The communication control unit 102 is a network interface for the load balancer server 100 to exchange information with each server illustrated in FIG. 4 via a virtual network. The communication control unit 102 also exchanges information via the public line D. Here, when the communication control unit 102 exchanges information with each server illustrated in FIG. 4, the communication control unit 102 is set based on a host name given from the virtual management server 4, that is, a rule constructed by the virtual environment provider. Instead of the host name, a host name uniquely set by the image processing service provider operating the image processing system shown in FIG. 3 is used.

  The host name used in communication by the communication control unit 102 is not the host name set by the virtual server activation management unit 4a, but the host names listed in advance as targets for task distribution by the task distribution unit 101 (hereinafter registered) Host name). In other words, the communication control unit 102 included in the load balancer server 100 includes a DNS environment (hereinafter referred to as a second DNS environment) corresponding to the resolution of the host name registered in advance in the task distribution unit 101 in addition to the first DNS environment described above. (DNS environment).

  In order to realize the second DNS environment, the communication control unit 102 included in the load balancer server 100 holds information in which the registered host name and the IP address are associated with each other. FIG. 10 shows an example of information held by the communication control unit 102 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 10, the communication control unit 102 includes a registered host name and an IP address for each function that the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500, that is, the virtual server 6 plays a role in the image processing system. Holds associated information. That is, the communication control unit 102 manages the correspondence between the IP address of the virtual server 6 and the host name according to a list of host names predetermined for each function of the virtual server 6.

  In FIG. 10, a task management server will be described as an example. In the present embodiment, the task distribution unit 101 holds 100 host names from “taskmaster00” to “taskmaster99” as host names of the task management server 300. That is, the communication control unit 102 uses a host name as a list of character strings including a character string indicating the function of the virtual server 6 such as “taskmaster” and consecutive numerical values such as “00” to “99”. Is managing. The state in FIG. 10 is an example in which only one virtual server 6 is activated as the task management server 300. In this case, since the virtual server 6 activated as the task management server 300 has only one IP address, as shown in FIG. 10, all 100 host names are associated with one IP address.

  When the task distribution unit 101 distributes tasks to the task management server 300, the task distribution unit 101 sequentially allocates tasks to the 100 host names illustrated in FIG. However, in the case of FIG. 10, since 100 host names are all associated with the same IP address, as a result, the processing is not distributed and is all assigned to the same task management server 300.

  On the other hand, when the system load increases and the virtual server 6 is newly activated and starts to function as the task management server 300, the correspondence relationship between the host name and the IP address shown in FIG. Two IP addresses are alternately associated with each host name. As a result, the task distribution unit allocates tasks to 100 host names in order, whereby tasks are alternately allocated to the two task management servers 300. Such processing is the gist according to the present embodiment. This will be described in detail later.

  Next, the functional configuration of the monitor server 200 will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the monitor server 200 according to the present embodiment includes a load state monitoring unit 201, a virtual server change request unit 202, and a communication control unit 203. The load state monitoring unit 201 monitors the load states of the task management server 300, worker server 400, and task storage server 500 via communication by the communication control unit 203.

  When monitoring the load state of the task management server 300, the load state monitoring unit 201 is, for example, a CPU that controls a program that configures the task management server 300, that is, a load state of the arithmetic device, and a program that configures the worker server 400 And the number of tasks stored in the task storage server 500 to be processed by the task management server 300 are referred to. When monitoring the load status of the worker server 400, the load status monitoring unit 201 refers to the number of tasks stored in the task storage server 500 as what the worker server 400 should process, for example. When monitoring the load status of the task storage server 500, the load status monitoring unit 201 refers to, for example, an empty area of a storage area allocated to the task storage server 500.

  The load state monitoring unit 201 stores a threshold value provided for the load state of each server, and when the load state of each server monitored by the above-described processing exceeds the stored threshold value, Determine that the server is overloaded. Then, the load state monitoring unit 201 determines the activation of the virtual server 6 having the same function as the server that is determined to be in an overload state, and notifies the virtual server change request unit 202 of the activation.

  Further, the load state monitoring unit 201 stores a threshold value for determining that the load state of each server is low, and the load state of each server monitored by the above-described processing is low based on the above threshold value. If it is determined, it is determined that the load on the server is low. Then, the load state monitoring unit 201 determines to reduce the number of virtual servers operating as servers determined to have a low load, that is, to terminate the active server, and notifies the virtual server change request unit 202 .

  The virtual server change request unit 202 adds the virtual server 6 operating as a server having the function determined to be in the overload state via the communication control unit 203 in accordance with the notification from the load state monitoring unit 201. The virtual management server 4 is requested to start. The virtual server change request unit 202 also terminates the virtual server 6 that is operating as a server having a function determined to have a low load via the communication control unit 203 in accordance with the notification from the load state monitoring unit 201. Request to the virtual management server 4.

  The communication control unit 203 communicates with the virtual management server 4 in order to request the activation or termination of the virtual server 6 when communicating with each server shown in FIG. 4 for the load state monitoring operation. There are cases. Accordingly, the communication control unit 203 includes communication means based on the first DNS environment and the second DNS environment described above, that is, association information between a host name and an IP address.

  Next, the functional configuration of the task management server 300 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 12, the task management server 300 according to this embodiment includes a task processing unit 301, an image processing unit 302, and a communication control unit 303. The task processing unit 301 processes the task based on the task type input via the communication control unit 303. Task processing by the task processing unit 301 includes task input to the image processing unit 302, task storage to the task storage server 500, response to task processing progress confirmation from the image processing apparatus 3 via the public line D, and the like. There is.

  The image processing unit 302 executes minor image processing that does not need to be executed by the worker server 400 that is a dedicated server for image processing. The image processing executed by the image processing unit 302 is simple image conversion or the like. Similar to the communication control unit 203 of the monitor server 200, the communication control unit 303 includes communication means based on the first DNS environment and the second DNS environment.

  Next, the functional configuration of the worker server 400 will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the worker server 400 according to the present embodiment includes a task acquisition unit 401, an image processing unit 402, and a communication control unit 403. The task acquisition unit 401 requests acquisition of a task stored in the task storage server 500 via the communication control unit 403. In the present embodiment, a task acquisition request from the task acquisition unit 401 is also distributed by the load balancer server 100. That is, the task acquisition unit 401 makes a task request to the load balancer server 100 via the communication control unit 403.

  The image processing unit 402 executes image processing based on the task and image information acquired by the task acquisition unit 401. Image processing executed by the image processing unit 402 is processing with a large amount of processing, such as OCR or information embedding. The worker server 400 according to the present embodiment does not process an input task, but the task acquisition unit 401 acquires a task from the task storage server 500, and the image processing unit 402 processes the task. Therefore, the task acquisition unit 401 accesses the task storage server 500 via the communication control unit 403 and acquires a task every time image processing by the image processing unit 402 is completed. Note that the communication control unit 403 includes communication means based on the first DNS environment and the second DNS environment.

  Next, the functional configuration of the task storage server 500 will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 14, the task storage server 500 according to the present embodiment includes a task storage unit 501 and a communication control unit 502. The task storage unit 501 is a storage medium in which tasks distributed to the task storage server 500 by the task processing unit 301 and image information related to the tasks are stored. The communication control unit 502 includes communication means based on the above-described first DNS environment and second DNS environment.

  With such a configuration, the virtual server management system and the image processing system according to the present embodiment are configured. Next, a general operation of the image processing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 15, first, the user operates the image processing apparatus 3 to transmit an image processing job and image information to be processed to the load balancer server 100 (S1501). In the present embodiment, as an example, a case where an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) of an input image is executed is taken as an example.

  In the load balancer server 100 that has received the job and image information, the task distribution unit 101 executes the distribution process using the received job as a task as described above, and sends the task and image information to the distribution-destination task management server 300. Transmit (S1502). In the task management server 300 that has received the task and image information from the load balancer server 100, the task processing unit 301 stores the received task and image information in the task storage server 500 (S1503). That is, the task storage unit 501 of the task storage server 500 functions as an execution instruction storage unit.

  After the processing of S1503 is completed, as described above, the task acquisition unit 401 of the worker server 400 transmits a task request to the load balancer server 100 (S1504). The load balancer server 100 that has received the task request from the task acquisition unit 401 distributes the task request to the task management server 300 (S1505). Upon receiving the task request distribution, the task management server 300 acquires task information and image information from the task storage server 500 and transmits them to the worker server 400 (S1506).

  In the worker server 400 that has received the task information and the image information from the task management server 300, the image processing unit 402 executes a task, that is, information that includes character information or a recognition result as an execution result in the OCR in this embodiment. (Hereinafter referred to as character information or the like) is requested to the load balancer server 100 (S1507). The load balancer server 100 that has received the execution result storage request from the worker server 400 distributes the storage request to the task management server 300 (S1508).

  The task management server 300 having received the task distribution stores the simultaneously received character information and the like in the task storage unit 501 of the task storage server 500 as an execution result (S1509). On the other hand, after the processing of S1501, the image processing apparatus 3 performs the result confirmation of the transmitted job via the load balancer server 100 for every predetermined period (S1510). Upon receiving the result confirmation (S1510) from the image processing apparatus 3 after the processing of S1509, the task management server 300 stores the character information or the like as an execution result as a response to the result confirmation to the image processing apparatus 3. For example, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is notified. As a result, a user operating the image processing apparatus 3 can access the task storage server 500 and acquire character information or the like as an execution result.

  In such an image processing apparatus, as described above, the monitor server 200 monitors the load states of the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500, and the virtual server that operates as each server according to the situation. The number of servers 6 is increased or decreased. Here, as described in FIG. 15, each server performs processing while communicating with each other. Therefore, when the number of servers changes, the DNS information, specifically, the information described in FIG. Need to be updated according to the number of servers that have changed. This DNS information update mechanism is the gist of the present embodiment.

  With reference to FIG. 16, the update operation of the DNS information according to the present embodiment will be described. In FIG. 16, a case where the monitor server determines that the task management server 300 is in an overload state will be described as an example. In the description of FIG. 16, the load balancer server 100 is described as an example of the DNS information update target, but the same applies to the other monitor servers 200, the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500. .

  As shown in FIG. 16, first, the virtual server change request unit 202 of the monitor server 200 transmits an activation request for the virtual server 6 as the task management server 300 to the virtual management server 4 (S1601). That is, the virtual server change request unit 202 of the monitor server 200 functions as a virtual server activation request unit. In the virtual management server 4 that has received the activation request, the virtual server activation management unit 4a executes the above-described processing to newly activate the virtual server 6 as the task management server 300 (S1602). That is, the virtual server activation management unit 4a of the virtual management server 4 functions as a virtual server management unit. As a result, the identifier and the IP address are set for the newly activated virtual server 6 as described in FIG. 6 and stored in the virtual server information storage unit 4b.

  FIG. 17 shows an example of information stored in the virtual server information storage unit 4b after the setting of the identifier and the IP address is executed in the state shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 17, “i-0004” is set as a new identifier, and “10.0.1.4” is set as a new IP address. Thus, when the process of S1602 is completed, the virtual management server 4 notifies the newly set information to the monitor server 200 (S1603).

  Upon receiving the notification of S1603, the monitor server 200 that has acquired the identifier of the newly activated virtual server 6 starts the information “i-0004” as the identifier and the new virtual server 6 as the task management server 300. The information “taskmaster”, which is function identification information indicating that it has been registered, is registered in the database server 5 (S1604). As a result, the identifier of the newly activated virtual server 6 and the information indicating its function are registered in association with each other as shown in FIG. That is, the server function information storage unit 5b of the database server 5 functions as a virtual server function management unit.

  When the registration in S1604 is completed, the monitor server 200 transmits a DNS information update request to the load balancer server 100 that is a target for updating the DNS information (S1605). In the load balancer server 100 that has received the update request in S1605, the communication control unit 102 first accesses the virtual management server 4, and information on all virtual servers 6 stored in the virtual server information storage unit 4b, that is, FIG. 18 is acquired (S1606).

  When the information of all the virtual servers 6 is acquired by the processing of S1606, the communication control unit 102 next accesses the database server 5 based on the identifiers of the respective virtual servers 6 to change the functions of the respective virtual servers 6. The function identification information to be identified is acquired (S1607). When the function identification information is acquired by the process of S1607, the communication control unit 102 associates the IP address acquired in S1606 with the function identification information acquired in S1607, classifies the IP address according to each request, and is registered in advance. The DNS information is updated by associating the registered host name with the IP address for each function (S1608). In other words, the communication control unit 102 associates the IP address acquired in S1606 with a host name predetermined for each function of the virtual server 6 in accordance with the function identification information acquired in S1607.

  In the example of FIG. 16, the case where the task management server 300 is increased by one in the state where the information as described in FIG. 10 is held as the DNS information is taken as an example. Accordingly, as a result of the processing of S1608, the DNS information that was in the state shown in FIG. 10 is updated to the state shown in FIG. As a result of the processing of FIG. 16, in addition to “10.0.1.1” that originally existed as the IP address of the virtual server 6 that operates as the task management server 300, “10.0.1.4” is newly added. Was added. Accordingly, in the example shown in FIG. 19, “10.0.1.1” and “10.0.1.4” for the registered host names “taskmaster00”, “taskmaster01”,... And are assigned alternately. As a result, the load balancer server 100 allocates tasks alternately to the two task management servers 300 simply by executing the task allocation according to the order of the registered host names as before the task management server 300 is added. Will be. By such processing, the DNS information update operation according to the present embodiment is completed.

  Note that, as described above, in the example of FIG. 16, the load balancer server 100 updates the DNS information as an example. However, the monitor server 200, the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500 are described. Is the same. All the servers that update the DNS information update the DNS information according to the same rule in S1608, so that the DNS information update results in all the servers are the same.

  For example, when tasks processed in the worker server 400 such as OCR are concentrated and the load on the worker server 400 increases, unprocessed task information is accumulated in the task storage server 500. The monitor server 200 determines an overload of the worker server 400 according to the amount of task information accumulated in the task storage server 500, and requests additional activation of the virtual server 6 functioning as the worker server 400. Thereby, the process of FIG. 16 is executed, the virtual server 6 functioning as the worker server 400 is added, and the overload state of the worker server 400 is eliminated. An example of image processing to be executed by the worker server 400 is shown in FIG.

  As described above, the virtual server management system according to the present embodiment grasps the function of the virtual server that is increased or decreased when the virtual server is increased or decreased, and assigns the host name according to a predetermined list of host names. Communication. As a result, the load balancer server 100 that distributes tasks in the virtual server can execute task distribution according to a predetermined host name, that is, a list of host names incorporated in a program that implements the task distribution function. Therefore, it is not necessary to refer to a list of host names separately stored when distributing tasks, and tasks can be quickly distributed.

  In the above embodiment, the communication control unit included in each of the load balancer server 100, the monitor server 200, the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500 stores information as shown in FIGS. Although the case where it is held has been described as an example, it is also possible to construct a DNS server by the virtual server 6 and to manage information as shown in FIGS. 10 and 19. In this case, the communication control unit included in the load balancer server 100, the monitor server 200, the task management server 300, the worker server 400, and the task storage server 500 performs host name resolution by accessing the DNS server. The load balancer server 100 executes task allocation according to a host name incorporated as a program, and the DNS server manages DNS information according to the list of incorporated host names. Similar effects can be obtained.

  In the description of FIG. 16, the monitor server 200 registers the identification information and function identification information in the database server 5, transmits a DNS information update request to the load balancer server 100, and responds to the update request. The case where the load balancer server 100 acquires information from the virtual management server 4 and the database server 5 has been described as an example. In this case, since it is not only the load balancer server 100 that updates the DNS information, the monitor server 200 needs to send update requests to many destinations. On the other hand, instead of the monitor server 200 transmitting an update request, the load balancer server 100 periodically acquires information from the virtual management server 4 and the database server 5 and executes DNS information update processing. May be. Thereby, the processing load of the monitor server 200 can be reduced.

1 physical server,
2 client terminals,
3 image processing device,
4 virtual management server,
4a virtual server activation management unit,
4b virtual server information storage unit,
4c communication control unit,
5 Database server,
5a communication control unit,
5b Server function information storage unit,
6 virtual servers,
10 CPU,
20 RAM,
30 ROM,
40 HDD,
50 I / F,
60 LCD,
70 operation unit,
80 bus,
100 load balancer server,
101 Task distribution part,
102 communication control unit,
200 monitor server,
201 load state monitoring unit,
202 Virtual server change request section,
203 communication control unit,
300 task management server,
301 task processing unit,
302 image processing unit,
303 communication control unit,
400 worker servers,
401 task acquisition unit,
402 image processing unit,
403 communication control unit,
500 task storage server,
501 task storage unit,
502 communication control unit

JP 2005-94252 A

Claims (15)

And virtual server management unit which manages by storing virtual server configured by an information processing apparatus connected to the network, in association with the network address of the virtual server identification information for identifying the virtual server,
A virtual server activation request unit that requests the virtual server management unit to activate a virtual server according to a load state of a virtual server activated on the network;
A virtual server function management unit storing information on the function of the virtual server in association with the identification information;
A virtual server management system including a communication control unit that manages a correspondence relationship between a network address of the virtual server and the host name according to a list of host names predetermined for each function of the virtual server,
In response to a request from the virtual server activation request unit, the virtual server management unit newly sets the identification information and the network address of the virtual server to newly start a virtual server, and the set identification information and the Sending the network address to the virtual server activation request unit, sending the stored identification information and network address in response to a request from the communication control unit,
The virtual server activation request unit stores the identification information received by the activation of the virtual server and information on functions to be assigned to the virtual server in the virtual server function management unit,
In response to a request from the communication control unit, the virtual server function management unit transmits information on the function of the activated virtual server to the communication control unit,
The communication control unit acquires the stored identification information and network address from the virtual server management unit, acquires function information of the virtual server from the virtual server function management unit, and acquires the acquired network address. A virtual server management system, wherein the virtual server management system stores information in association with a host name predetermined for each function of the virtual server in accordance with the acquired function information of the virtual server. The virtual server activation request unit stores the identification information and the function information received by activation of the virtual server in the virtual server function management unit, and the communication control unit causes the network address and host name of the virtual server to be stored. Send a request to update the correspondence with
In response to the update request, the communication control unit acquires the stored identification information and network address from the virtual server management unit, and acquires information on the function of the virtual server from the virtual server function management unit. The virtual server management system according to claim 1, wherein:   The communication control unit periodically acquires the stored identification information and network address from the virtual server management unit, and acquires function information of the virtual server from the virtual server function management unit. The virtual server management system according to claim 1 or 2.   The virtual server management system according to claim 1, wherein the communication control unit controls communication on the network in the virtual server.   The communication control unit is configured by at least one of the virtual servers, and the other virtual server acquires the network address based on the host name by accessing a virtual server including the communication control unit. The virtual server management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   2. The communication control unit manages all the host names included in the host name list in association with any one of network addresses of virtual servers running on the network. The virtual server management system in any one of thru | or 5. An execution instruction allocating unit that acquires an execution instruction of information processing that can be processed by the function realized by the virtual server, and that allocates the acquired execution instruction to any of a plurality of virtual servers,
The virtual server management system according to claim 1, wherein the execution instruction allocation unit allocates the execution instruction according to the predetermined host name.   8. The virtual server management system according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined list of host names is a list of character strings composed of information indicating the function of the virtual server and continuous numerical values.   The communication control unit associates and manages the host name and the network address by associating the network address of the virtual server running on the network with the host name in the order of the consecutive numerical values. The virtual server management system according to claim 8. An image processing system configured by the virtual server management system according to claim 7,
An execution instruction storage unit that stores information on the execution instructions allocated by the execution instruction allocation unit;
An image processing system comprising: an image processing unit that acquires information on the stored execution instruction and executes image processing as information processing related to the execution instruction.   The image processing system according to claim 10, wherein the virtual server activation request unit requests activation of the virtual server according to a storage state of the execution instructions stored in the execution instruction storage unit.   11. The virtual server activation request unit requests activation of the virtual server according to a load state of an arithmetic device that controls the virtual server constituting the image processing system. The image processing system according to 11. A virtual server control device that controls a virtual server configured by information processing devices connected to a network,
A communication control unit that manages the correspondence between the network address of the virtual server and the host name according to a list of host names predetermined for each function of the virtual server, and controls communication on the network;
Obtaining the stored identification information and network address from the virtual server management unit that stores the identification information for identifying the virtual server and the network address of the virtual server in association with each other, and the function information of the virtual server An information acquisition unit for acquiring information on the function of the virtual server from a virtual server function management unit stored in association with the identification information;
The correspondence between the network address of the virtual server and the host name is stored by associating and storing the acquired network address in association with a predetermined host name for each function of the virtual server according to the information of the function of the acquired virtual server. A virtual server control device comprising: an information updating unit for updating.   The information acquisition unit stores the identification information stored in response to a notification from a virtual server activation request unit that requests additional activation of the virtual server according to a load state of a virtual server activated on the network. The virtual server control device according to claim 13, wherein information on a network address and function of the virtual server is acquired. A control program that causes an information processing device to function as a virtual server control device that controls a virtual server configured by an information processing device connected to a network,
Managing the correspondence between the network address of the virtual server and the host name according to a list of host names predetermined for each function of the virtual server, and controlling communication on the network;
Obtaining the stored identification information and network address from the virtual server management unit that stores the identification information for identifying the virtual server and the network address of the virtual server in association with each other, and the function information of the virtual server Obtaining information on the function of the virtual server from the virtual server function management unit stored in association with the identification information;
Correspondence between the network address of the virtual server and the host name by storing the acquired network address in association with a host name predetermined for each function of the virtual server according to the function information of the acquired virtual server And a step of updating the information processing apparatus.

Images