Distributing service sessions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018295182-A1
Application number	US-201816004265-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 8, 2018
Priority date	Sep 25, 2012
Publication date	Oct 11, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided are methods and systems for dynamically distributing a service session from a client device. The method may commence with receiving a packet associated with the service session from the client device by a gateway node. The method may include determining that the packet matches a service address in a forwarding policy. The method may continue with selecting one of a plurality of forwarding nodes for sending the packet to the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes. The method may include receiving the packet of the service session by the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes. The method may continue with determining that the packet matches the service address serviced by a servicing node of a plurality of servicing nodes. The method may further include sending the packet to the servicing node for forwarding the packet to a server by the servicing node.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for dynamically distributing a service session from a client device, the system comprising:
a plurality of forwarding nodes; and a gateway node configured to:
receive, from the client device, a packet of the service session;
determine that the packet matches a service address in a forwarding policy;
based on the determining, select, based on the forwarding policy, one of the plurality of forwarding nodes for sending the packet to the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes;
wherein the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes is configured to:
receive the packet of the service session from the gateway node;
determine, based on the forwarding policy, that the packet matches the service address serviced by a servicing node of a plurality of servicing nodes; and
send the packet to the servicing node for forwarding the packet, by the servicing node, to a server of a plurality of servers.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the forwarding policy comprises a source network address.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes is further configured to:
retrieve a packet source network address associated with the packet; and compare the packet source network address to the source network address in the forwarding policy.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the source network address comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the client device.

5 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of servicing nodes, wherein the servicing node of the plurality of servicing nodes is configured to:
receive the packet from the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes; determine whether the packet is a service request packet; and select the server to serve the service session.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the servicing node selects the server based on a service policy.

7 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the gateway node is further configured to receive, from a network controller, the forwarding policy, the forwarding policy comprising the service address serviced by one or more of the plurality of forwarding nodes;
wherein each of the plurality of forwarding nodes is configured to receive, from the network controller, the forwarding policy, the forwarding policy further comprising the service address serviced by the plurality of servicing nodes; and wherein each of the plurality of servicing nodes is further configured to receive, from the network controller, a service policy for selecting the server from the plurality of servers.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the service address serviced by the one or more of the plurality of forwarding nodes and the service address serviced by the plurality of servicing nodes represents a network address for servicing the service session between the client device and the server.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the packet comprises at least a destination network address, wherein the gateway node determines that the packet matches the service address by determining that the destination network address of the packet matches the service address included in the forwarding policy.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the gateway node communicates with one or more of the plurality of forwarding nodes over a routing protocol session.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of forwarding nodes includes at least a first forwarding node and a second forwarding node, wherein the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes is the second forwarding node selected by the gateway node based on the forwarding policy, the forwarding policy further including predetermined criteria for selecting one of the first forwarding node and the second forwarding node.

12 . A method for dynamically distributing a service session from a client device, the method comprising:
receiving, by a gateway node, from the client device, a packet of the service session; determining, by the gateway node, that the packet matches a service address in a forwarding policy; based on the determining, selecting, by the gateway node, based on the forwarding policy, one of a plurality of forwarding nodes for sending, by the gateway node, the packet to the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes; receiving, by the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes, the packet of the service session from the gateway node; determining, by the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes, based on the forwarding policy, that the packet matches the service address serviced by a servicing node of a plurality of servicing nodes; and sending, by the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes, the packet to the servicing node for forwarding the packet, by the servicing node, to a server of a plurality of servers.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the forwarding policy comprises a source network address.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the selecting the servicing node from the plurality of servicing nodes based on the forwarding policy comprises:
retrieving a packet source network address associated with the packet; and comparing the packet source network address to the source network address in the forwarding policy.

15 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving the packet by the servicing node; determining, by the servicing node, whether the packet is a service request packet; and selecting, by the servicing node, the server to serve the service session, wherein the server is selected by the servicing node based on a service policy.

16 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving, by the gateway node, from a network controller, the forwarding policy, the forwarding policy comprising the service address serviced by one or more of the plurality of forwarding nodes; receiving, by each of the plurality of forwarding nodes, from the network controller, the forwarding policy, the forwarding policy further comprising the service address serviced by the plurality of servicing nodes; and receiving, by each of the plurality of servicing nodes, from the network controller, a service policy for selecting the server from the plurality of servers.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein each of the service address serviced by the one or more of the plurality of forwarding nodes and the service address serviced by the plurality of servicing nodes represents a network address for servicing the service session between the client device and the server.

18 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the packet comprises at least a destination network address, wherein the determining, by the gateway node, that the packet matches the service address includes determining that the destination network address of the packet matches the service address included in the forwarding policy.

19 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of forwarding nodes includes at least a first forwarding node and a second forwarding node, wherein the one of the plurality of forwarding nodes is the second forwarding node selected by the gateway node based on the forwarding policy, the forwarding policy further including predetermined criteria for selecting one of the first forwarding node and the second forwarding node.

20 . A system for dynamically distributing a service session from a client device, the system comprising:
a plurality of forwarding nodes; a plurality of servicing nodes; and a gateway node configured to:
receive, from a network controller, a forwarding policy, the forw

Assignees

• A10 Networks Inc

Inventors

• Sankar Swaminathan
• Karampurwala Hasnain
• Gupta Rahul
• Kamat Gurudeep
• Jalan Rajkumar

Classifications

• H04L45/306

  Route determination based on the nature of the carried application · CPC title

• H04L67/1004 Primary

  Server selection for load balancing · CPC title

• H04L67/1012

  based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources · CPC title