Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/28—Data switching networks characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/01—Protocols
  • H04L67/10—Protocols in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network
  • H04L67/1001—Protocols in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers

Definitions

• a form of routing is performed on a request made by a client until it reaches the server that fulfills the request.
• This type of routing can happen for many reasons, such as load balancing among a group of server computers, providing a higher quality of service to certain categories of clients, and others.
• the server that performs the routing and the server that fulfills the client request are the same physical server. In these cases, the server typically routes the client request over the network and back to the same physical server for processing. This type of routing can be inefficient.
• an optimized transport is utilized to carry the client request from the router to the server and to carry back a response.
• the optimized transport might be a local-machine-only transport that does not require the client request to be routed over a network. Rather, the local- machine-only transport provides an optimized mechanism for routing the client request without using a network stack.
• a router module receives a client request.
• the router module obtains a network address of a server module to fulfill the request.
• the router module may query a load balancer to obtain the network address of the server module.
• the router module determines, based upon the network address of the server module, whether it is executing on the same physical computer as the server module.
• the router module compares the network address of the server module to a list of network addresses that the server on which the router module is executing responds to in order to make this determination.
• the router module determines that the server module is not executing on the same physical computer, the router module forwards the client request to the server module utilizing a standard network transport, such as the transmission control protocol / Internet protocol ("TCP/IP"), hyper-text transport protocol ("HTTP”), or another type of transport.
• TCP/IP transmission control protocol / Internet protocol
• HTTP hyper-text transport protocol
• the router module forwards the client request to the server module using an optimized transport.
• the optimized transport may comprise a transport that utilizes binary encoding, such as a TCP transport.
• the optimized transport comprises an optimized local-machine-only transport, such as a named pipe binding, for enabling communication between the router module and the server module without the use of a network stack.
• the optimized transport is also utilized to transmit the response from the server module to the server module.
• FIGURE 1 is a network diagram showing one illustrative operating environment for the embodiments presented herein;
• FIGURE 2 is a network diagram showing aspects of one embodiment presented herein for optimized routing;
• FIGURE 3 is a flow diagram showing one illustrative process for optimized routing of a client request in one embodiment presented herein; and [0012]
• FIGURE 4 is a computer architecture diagram showing an illustrative computer hardware and software architecture for a computing system capable of implementing aspects of the embodiments presented herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• FIGURE 1 shows aspects of a system 100 that forms an illustrative operating environment for the embodiments presented herein.
• a client computer 104 connects to one or more server computers 102A-102B via a network 106.
• the networks discussed herein are merely illustrative and that more or fewer networks may be utilized in the actual implementations of the technologies presented herein.
• the network 106 may span the Internet, for example.
• the client computer 104 may be located on one continent while the servers 102A-102B are located on another.
• the client computer 104 may comprise any type of computing system capable of generating a request to a server computer.
• the client computer 104 may comprise a standard desktop or laptop computer system, a server computer, a handheld computing system, a set top box, or a wireless mobile telephone with data capabilities.
• each of the server computers 102A-102B may be equipped with a router module 108A-108B, respectively, and a server module 1 lOA-11OB, respectively.
• the router modules 108A-108B comprise software programs that receive requests from the client computer 104.
• the router modules 108A-108B also provide functionality for routing requests received from the client computer 104 to an appropriate server module 11 OA-11OB for processing.
• Responses from the respective server modules 11 OA-11OB are returned to the router module 108A-108B that forwarded the original request to the server module.
• the router module then forwards the response to the client computer 104.
• the server module 11 OA-11OB comprises a software component configured to receive and respond to requests.
• the server modules 11 OA-11OB may comprise Web server programs, Web services, and other types of server components.
• the router modules 108A-108B are configured to utilize the services of a load balancer 112.
• the load balancer is a software or hardware component configured to identify one of the server modules 110A- HOB for fulfilling a request from a client computer 104. It should be appreciated that the load balancer 112 may utilize various algorithms to identify the appropriate server module 11 OA-11OB, including but not limited to, the current processing load of the server computers 102A-102B, providing a higher quality of service to certain categories of client computers 104, and other factors.
• the embodiments presented herein are not dependent upon any particular mechanism utilized by the load balancer 112 to identify the server module 11 OA-11OB that should fulfill a particular client request.
• the router module that receives the request will query the load balancer 112 for the network address of the server module 11 OA-11OB to fulfill the client request. Once the router module 108A-108B has the network address of the server module 11 OA-11OB for fulfilling the request, the router module forwards the client request to the appropriate server module 1 lOA-11OB.
• the network connection 114B is established with the server module HOB over an appropriate network connection.
• the router 108B is instructed to forward the client request to the server module HOA
• the client request is forwarded via the network connection 114D.
• the network connection 114A is established between the router module and the server module 11OA for the client request.
• the network connection 114C is established between the router module 108B and the server module HOB and the client request is forwarded thereupon.
• a network connection 114A is established between the router module 108 A and the server module 11OA even though these components are executing on the same server computer 102A.
• a network connection 114C is established between the router module 108B and the server module HOB even though these components are executing on the same physical server computer 102B. Establishing the network connections 114A and 114C in this manner is very inefficient.
• the various concepts and technologies described below with reference to FIGURES 2-4 address this particular routing scenario.
• FIGURE 2 aspects of an illustrative system 200 for providing optimized routing between a router module 108A and a server module 11OA will be described.
• the router module 108 A has been configured for creating an optimized route to the server module 11OA when the router module 108 A and the server module 11OA are executing on the same physical server computer 102A. Additional details regarding this process will be provided below.
• the router module 108A may receive a client request 202 from the client computer 104.
• the router module 108 A transmits a request 204 to the load balancer 112 for the network address of a server module 11 OA-11OB to fulfill the client request 202.
• the load balancer 112 In response to receiving the request 204, the load balancer 112 returns the target address 206 of the server module 11 OA-11OB to fulfill the client request 202.
• the router module 108 A determines whether the server module that is to fulfill the client request 202 is executing on the same physical computer 102A as the router module 108 A. For instance, in one implementation, the router module 108 A makes this determination by comparing the target address 206 to a list of network addresses 208 to which the server computer 102A responds. If the target address is identified in the list of network addresses 208, then the router module 108A concludes that the server module HOA is executing on the same physical server computer 102 A. If the target address 206 is not contained in the list of network addresses 208, then the router module 108A concludes that the server module to fulfill the client request 202 is executing on another physical computer, such as the server computer 102B.
• the router module 108 A If the router module 108 A concludes that the server module to fulfill the client request 202 is executing on another physical server computer, such as the server module HOB, the router module 108 A forwards the client request 202 to the server module HOB over a standard network transport 212. For instance, a TCP/IP transport mechanism may be utilized to forward the client request 202 to the appropriate server module HOB and to return the response to the client request 202 to the router module 108 A. [0025] If, however, the router module 108 A, determines that the server module to fulfill the client request 202 is executing on the same physical server computer 102A, the router module 108 A forwards the client request 202 to the appropriate server module 11OA via an optimized transport 210. According to one embodiment, the optimized transport 210 comprises a TCP transport that utilizes binary encoding.
• the optimized transport 210 comprises an optimized local-machine-only transport.
• the optimized transport 210 is a transport that does not utilize a network stack and therefore is highly optimized compared to other types of transports.
• the optimized local-machine -only transport comprises a WINDOWS COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDATION ("WCF") named pipe binding.
• WCF WINDOWS COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDATION
• a named pipe binding creates an area of shared memory on the server computer 102A through which the router module 108 A and the server module 11OA can communicate.
• FIGURE 3 is a flow diagram illustrating aspects of the operation of the router modules 108A-108B according to one embodiment presented herein.
• the routine 300 begins at operation 302, where the router module 108A retrieves the list of network addresses 208 that the server computer 102A utilizes for communication. From operation 302, the routine 300 proceeds to operation 304, where the router module 108 A determines if a client request 202 has been received from a computer, such as the client computer 104 for instance.
• routine 300 returns to operation 304 where another such determination is made. It should be appreciated that although the functionality shown in FIGURE 3 is illustrated as being performed in a loop, other embodiments may not utilize a looping mechanism. For instance, in one implementation, the process shown in FIGURE 3 may be initiated when a client request is received. As a result, there is no need for the process to loop in the manner shown in FIGURE 3 in such an implementation.
• the routine 300 proceeds to operation 306.
• the router module 108A transmits a request 204 to the load balancer 112 to obtain the target address 206 of the server module 11 OA-11OB to fulfill the client request 202.
• the router module 108 A compares the target address 206 to the network addresses contained in the list of the network addresses 208 to determine if the router module 108 A and the server module 11 OA-11OB that will fulfill the client request 202 are executing on the same physical computer system.
• the routine 300 proceeds from operation 310 to operation 312.
• the router module 108 A utilizes a standard network transport 212 to forward the client request 202 to the server module, such as the server module HOB, and to receive the response from the server module HOB in response to the client request 202.
• the routine 300 proceeds to operation 304, described above, where another such client request may be processed in a similar manner.
• the routine 300 proceeds from operation 310 to operation 314.
• the router module 108 A utilizes an optimized transport 210 to forward the client request 202 to the server module, such as the server module 11OA, that will fulfill the client request 202 and to receive the response to the client request 202.
• the optimized transport 210 may comprise a transport that utilizes binary encoding in one embodiment.
• the optimized transport 210 may comprise a TCP transport.
• the optimized transport 210 may comprise an optimized local- machine-only transport that utilizes binary encoding, such as a named pipe binding.
• FIGURE 4 shows an illustrative computer architecture for a computer 400 capable of executing the software components described herein for optimized routing in the manner presented above.
• the computer architecture shown in FIGURE 4 illustrates a conventional desktop, laptop, or server computer and may be utilized to execute any aspects of the software components presented herein described as executing on the client computer 104, the server computers 102A-102B, and the load balancer 112.
• the computer architecture shown in FIGURE 4 includes a central processing unit 402 ("CPU"), a system memory 408, including a random access memory 414 (“RAM”) and a read-only memory (“ROM”) 416, and a system bus 404 that couples the memory to the CPU 402.
• CPU central processing unit
• RAM random access memory
• ROM read-only memory
• the computer 400 further includes a mass storage device 410 for storing an operating system 418, application programs, and other program modules, which are described in greater detail herein.
• the mass storage device 410 is connected to the CPU 402 through a mass storage controller (not shown) connected to the bus 404.
• the mass storage device 410 and its associated computer-readable media provide non- volatile storage for the computer 400.
• computer-readable media can be any available computer storage media that can be accessed by the computer 400.
• computer-readable media may include volatile and non- volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data.
• computer-readable media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks ("DVD”), HD-DVD, BLU-RAY, or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computer 400.
• the computer 400 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to remote computers through a network such as the network 420.
• the computer 400 may connect to the network 420 through a network interface unit 406 connected to the bus 404.
• the network interface unit 406 may also be utilized to connect to other types of networks and remote computer systems.
• the computer 400 may also include an input/output controller 412 for receiving and processing input from a number of other devices, including a keyboard, mouse, or electronic stylus (not shown in FIGURE 4).
• an input/output controller may provide output to a display screen, a printer, or other type of output device (also not shown in FIGURE 4).
• a number of program modules and data files may be stored in the mass storage device 410 and RAM 414 of the computer 400, including an operating system 418 suitable for controlling the operation of a networked desktop, laptop, or server computer.
• the mass storage device 410 and RAM 414 may also store one or more program modules.
• the mass storage device 410 and the RAM 414 may store the router module 108 and the server module 110, each of which was described in detail above with respect to FIGURES 1-3.
• the mass storage device 410 and the RAM 414 may also store other types of program modules and data.
• the software components described herein may, when loaded into the CPU 402 and executed, transform the CPU 402 and the overall computer 400 from a general-purpose computing system into a special-purpose computing system customized to facilitate the functionality presented herein.
• the CPU 402 may be constructed from any number of transistors or other discrete circuit elements, which may individually or collectively assume any number of states. More specifically, the CPU 402 may operate as a finite-state machine, in response to executable instructions contained within the software modules disclosed herein. These computer-executable instructions may transform the CPU 402 by specifying how the CPU 402 transitions between states, thereby transforming the transistors or other discrete hardware elements constituting the CPU 402.
• Encoding the software modules presented herein may also transform the physical structure of the computer-readable media presented herein.
• the specific transformation of physical structure may depend on various factors, in different implementations of this description. Examples of such factors may include, but are not limited to: the technology used to implement the computer-readable media, whether the computer-readable media is characterized as primary or secondary storage, and the like.
• the computer- readable media is implemented as semiconductor-based memory
• the software disclosed herein may be encoded on the computer-readable media by transforming the physical state of the semiconductor memory.
• the software may transform the state of transistors, capacitors, or other discrete circuit elements constituting the semiconductor memory.
• the software may also transform the physical state of such components in order to store data thereupon.
• the computer-readable media disclosed herein may be implemented using magnetic or optical technology.
• the software presented herein may transform the physical state of magnetic or optical media, when the software is encoded therein. These transformations may include altering the magnetic characteristics of particular locations within given magnetic media. These transformations may also include altering the physical features or characteristics of particular locations within given optical media, to change the optical characteristics of those locations. Other transformations of physical media are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the present description, with the foregoing examples provided only to facilitate this discussion. [0042] In light of the above, it should be appreciated that many types of physical transformations take place in the computer 400 in order to store and execute the software components presented herein.
• the computer 400 may comprise other types of computing devices, including hand-held computers, embedded computer systems, personal digital assistants, and other types of computing devices known to those skilled in the art. It is also contemplated that the computer 400 may not include all of the components shown in FIGURE 4, may include other components that are not explicitly shown in FIGURE 4, or may utilize an architecture completely different than that shown in FIGURE 4. [0043] Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that technologies for optimized routing are provided herein. Although the subject matter presented herein has been described in language specific to computer structural features, methodological and transformative acts, specific computing machinery, and computer readable media, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features, acts, or media described herein.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Data Exchanges In Wide-Area Networks (AREA)
• Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Priority Applications (8)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=42785648

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (10)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (22)

• 2009
  • 2009-03-30 US US12/413,607 patent/US8166200B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2010
  • 2010-03-26 SG SG2011060761A patent/SG173821A1/en unknown
  • 2010-03-26 CN CN2010800158034A patent/CN102369691B/zh active Active
  • 2010-03-26 EP EP10762130.2A patent/EP2415213B1/en active Active
  • 2010-03-26 KR KR1020117022956A patent/KR101671549B1/ko active Active
  • 2010-03-26 CA CA2753878A patent/CA2753878C/en active Active
  • 2010-03-26 RU RU2011139714/08A patent/RU2520360C2/ru active
  • 2010-03-26 WO PCT/US2010/028935 patent/WO2010117689A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2010-03-26 BR BRPI1008999A patent/BRPI1008999A2/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2010-03-26 JP JP2012503538A patent/JP2012522318A/ja active Pending

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events