US6424992B2 — Affinity-based router and routing method

Claim 1

Independent Claim 169 words

In a computer network including an encapsulated cluster of nodes, an affinity-based method for routing a plurality of client connections to one of a plurality of server nodes in the cluster, wherein a connection comprises at least one packet, said method comprising the steps of: communicating from the client to a router node, one or more packets associated with a first connection to be established with one of said plurality of server nodes in said cluster; routing the packets of said first connection to a first server from the client; storing state information about said first connection to said first server at said router; terminating said first connection; communicating from the client to the router node, one or more packets associated with a separate subsequent connection to be established with one of said plurality of server nodes in said cluster; and routing the packets of the subsequent connection from the same client to the first server having affinity with the client according to state information maintained by the router.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 169 words

In a computer network including an encapsulated cluster of nodes, an affinity-based method for routing a plurality of client connections to one of a plurality of server nodes in the cluster, wherein a connection comprises at least one packet, said method comprising the steps of: communicating from the client to a router node, one or more packets associated with a first connection to be established with one of said plurality of server nodes in said cluster; routing the packets of said first connection to a first server from the client; storing state information about said first connection to said first server at said router; terminating said first connection; communicating from the client to the router node, one or more packets associated with a separate subsequent connection to be established with one of said plurality of server nodes in said cluster; and routing the packets of the subsequent connection from the same client to the first server having affinity with the client according to state information maintained by the router.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 104 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the state information includes information on at least one previous connection to one of the server nodes, said step of routing the packets of a separate subsequent connection further comprising the steps of: determining from the state information if one of the packets is associated with a previous connection; and if one of the packets is associated with a previous connection, routing the packet to said first server associated with the previous connection; and if none of the packets are associated with a previous, creating and storing by the router, state information associated with the new connection.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 132 words

In a computer network including an encapsulated cluster of nodes, an affinity-based method for routing a plurality of client connections to one of a plurality of server nodes in the cluster, wherein a connection comprises at least one packet, said method comprising the steps of: communicating from the client to a router node, one or more packets associated with a first connection to be established with one of said plurality of servers in the cluster; routing the packets of the first connection to a first server node in said encapsulated cluster; and said server communicating to the router information for a start of an affinity requirement wherein one or more separate subsequent connections from the same client are routed to a server belonging to the set S associated with the affinity requirement.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 132 words

In a computer network including an encapsulated cluster of nodes, an affinity-based method for routing a plurality of client connections to one of a plurality of server nodes in the cluster, wherein a connection comprises at least one packet, said method comprising the steps of: communicating from the client to a router node, one or more packets associated with a first connection to be established with one of said plurality of servers in the cluster; routing the packets of the first connection to a first server node in said encapsulated cluster; and said server communicating to the router information for a start of an affinity requirement wherein one or more separate subsequent connections from the same client are routed to a server belonging to the set S associated with the affinity requirement.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 125 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the router includes an affinity table for associating one or more client connections with one or more preferred server nodes, the table including one or more affinity records, each record including one or more preferred server node identifiers, one or more client addresses and one or more affinity indices, and wherein the client connection includes one or more affinity indices and wherein said step of routing the packets to a preferred server further comprises the steps of: determining if there is an affinity record having a matching client address and matching affinity index for the client connection; and if such an affinity record is found, communicating the client connection to a server node identified in said affinity record.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 107 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of routing depends on one or both of a static state and a dynamic state at the server nodes, and wherein the network address of the router is provided to the client, further comprising the steps of: (i) selecting a preferred server node to service the client connection; (ii) creating an affinity record including the client address, an identifier for the preferred server node, and the time at which the affinity record was created; and (iii) sending the client connection to the preferred server node, such that responses from the preferred server node go directly to the client.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 83 words

The method of claim 5 , wherein the affinity record further includes a time stamp associated with one or more of the client connections for the creation or modification of the affinity record, the method further comprising the steps of: identifying an affinity record with a matching client address wherein the difference between the current time and the affinity record time stamp is less than a predetermined threshold; and sending the client connection to a server node indicated in an identified affinity record.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 12 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the router is a TCP-router.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 76 words

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: a server S determining that the client connections should be serviced by a server belonging to a particular set of one or more server nodes; and said server S causing the state information maintained by the router to be modified, enabling one or more subsequent connections from the client to be routed to a server belonging to said set of one or more server nodes.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 101 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the encapsulated cluster includes a database partitioned across a plurality of the nodes, further comprising the steps of: routing one or more packets associated with a connection for which the router does not have affinity information, to a server node S in the encapsulated cluster; said server S determining the preferred server to handle connections from said client based on a database partitioning; and said server S causing the state information maintained by the router to be modified, enabling one or more subsequent connections from the client to be routed to the preferred server.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 204 words

In a multi-node server environment wherein client connections can be satisfied by routing a client connection to a subset of the servers and wherein one or a subset of the servers may be preferred for handling a connection from a client, a preference based on one or both of static and dynamic state at the servers, wherein a client connection comprises at least one packet and has an associated affinity index, wherein a node is designated as a router, and wherein the network address of the router is given out to clients, a method for the router to send client connections to a server node, said method comprising the steps of: (a) determining if there is an affinity record for the client and said affinity index, and if there is no affinity record, performing the additional steps of: (i) selecting one of said server nodes to service the client connection; (ii) creating an affinity record containing the client address and the server node selected to handle the connection; (iii) sending the connection to the selected server node, such that responses from the server go directly to the client; and (iv) establishing subsequent separate connections from the same client directly to the selected server node.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 204 words

In a multi-node server environment wherein client connections can be satisfied by routing a client connection to a subset of the servers and wherein one or a subset of the servers may be preferred for handling a connection from a client, a preference based on one or both of static and dynamic state at the servers, wherein a client connection comprises at least one packet and has an associated affinity index, wherein a node is designated as a router, and wherein the network address of the router is given out to clients, a method for the router to send client connections to a server node, said method comprising the steps of: (a) determining if there is an affinity record for the client and said affinity index, and if there is no affinity record, performing the additional steps of: (i) selecting one of said server nodes to service the client connection; (ii) creating an affinity record containing the client address and the server node selected to handle the connection; (iii) sending the connection to the selected server node, such that responses from the server go directly to the client; and (iv) establishing subsequent separate connections from the same client directly to the selected server node.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 28 words

The method of claim 10 , wherein the affinity record includes one or more of the affinity index and the time at which the affinity record was created.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 12 words

The method of claim 10 , wherein the router is a TCP-router.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 59 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the client connection includes one or more affinity indices, and wherein said step of routing the packets to a preferred server further comprises the step of identifying the preferred server from an address of the client communicating to the router and the one or more affinity indices included with the client connection.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 42 words

The method of claim 3 , further comprising the step of: communicating to the router, information for an end of affinity requirement, wherein one or more subsequent connection for the client are not routed to a server belonging to said set S.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 50 words

The method of claim 4 , wherein the client request includes multiple affinity indices, and said determining if there is an affinity record, further comprises the step of: comparing the affinity indices associated with the client connection with at least one set of affinity indices associated with the affinity record.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 14 words

The method of claim 8 , wherein said server S is the preferred server.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 14 , further comprising the step of terminating the affinity requirement by deleting information maintained by the router for said affinity requirement.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 54 words

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for an affinity-based method of routing client connections to one of a plurality of server nodes in an encapsulated cluster of nodes in a computer network as claimed in claim 1 .

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 54 words

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for an affinity-based method of routing client connections to one of a plurality of server nodes in an encapsulated cluster of nodes in a computer network as claimed in claim 10 .

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2005-07-22	2006-01-21	2006-07-23	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2009-07-22	2010-01-21	2010-07-23	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2013-07-22	2014-01-21	2014-07-23	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Affinity-based router and routing method

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