Dynamic middlebox redirection based on client characteristics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9450878-B2
Application number	US-201213590967-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 21, 2012
Priority date	Aug 21, 2012
Publication date	Sep 20, 2016
Grant date	Sep 20, 2016

Abstract

Traffic redirection methods include determining a quality-affective factor in a connection between a client and a server in a network; comparing the quality-affective factor to a threshold to determine whether the connection would benefit from a network processing function; reconfiguring the network to redirect the connection to or away from a middlebox that performs the network processing function in accordance with the determination of whether the connection would benefit from the network processing function.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A traffic redirection method, comprising:
determining a quality-affective factor comprising a throughput in an existing connection between a client and a server in a network;
comparing the quality-affective factor to a threshold to determine whether the connection would benefit from a network processing function; and
reconfiguring the network to redirect the connection to a middlebox that performs the network processing function in accordance with a determination that the connection would benefit from the network processing function and away from a middlebox already present in the connection, wherein redirecting the connection away from the middlebox comprises configuring a router to exclude the middlebox from the connection in accordance with a determination that the connection would not benefit from the network processing function, to cease operation of the middlebox on the connection.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the throughput is calculated as

2
/
p

t

,

where p is a packet loss rate and t is a measured round trip time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality-affective factor includes a client location.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said determining comprises comparing the client location to a coverage map to determine a signal quality.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality-affective factor includes a media access control (MAC) address for the client.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said determining includes comparing the MAC address to a table of known low-quality chipsets.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising delaying reconfiguration of the network until a condition is met.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein reconfiguration is delayed until the configuration is idle.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining is performed periodically.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining is performed when a second client arrives or departs in the network.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining is performed upon a change in network congestion.

12. A traffic redirection method, comprising:
determining a quality-affective factor in an existing connection between a client and a server in a network, where the quality-affective factor is a measure of a quality of the connection;
comparing the quality-affective factor to a threshold to determine whether the connection would benefit from a network processing function; and
configuring the network based on the result of the comparison, where said configuring comprises:
if the connection would benefit and a middlebox is not already present in the connection, configuring a router to redirect the connection to a middlebox that performs the network processing function; and
if the connection would not benefit and a middlebox is already present in the connection, configuring a router to exclude the middlebox from the connection to cease operation of the middlebox on the connection.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the quality-affective factor includes a throughput.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the throughput is calculated as

2
/
p

t

,

where p is a packet loss rate and t is a measured round trip time.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the quality-affective factor includes a client location.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein said determining comprises comparing the client location to a coverage map to determine a signal quality.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the quality-affective factor includes a media access control (MAC) address for the client.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein said determining includes comparing the MAC address to a table of known low-quality chipsets.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein said determining is performed periodically.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein said determining is performed when a second client arrives or departs in the network.

21. The method of claim 12 , wherein said determining is performed upon a change in network congestion.

22. The method of claim 12 , further comprising delaying reconfiguration of the network until the connection is idle.

23. A traffic redirection method, comprising:
periodically determining a quality-affective factor in an existing connection between a client and a server in a network, where the quality-affective factor is a measure of a quality of the connection;
comparing the quality-affective factor to a threshold to determine whether the connection would benefit from a network processing function; and
configuring the network based on the result of the comparison when the client is idle, where said configuring comprises:
if the connection would benefit and a middlebox is not already present in the connection, configuring a router to redirect the connection to a middlebox that performs the network processing function; and
if the connection would not benefit and a middlebox is already present in the connection, configuring a router to exclude the middlebox from the connection to cease operation of the middlebox on the connection.

Assignees

• Calo Seraphin B
• Cornejo William
• Le Thai F
• Nahum Erich M
• Touma Maroun
• Verma Dinesh C
• IBM

Inventors

• Calo Seraphin B
• Cornejo William
• Le Thai F
• Nahum Erich M
• Touma Maroun
• Verma Dinesh C

Classifications

• H04L47/10

  Flow control; Congestion control · CPC title

• H04L41/0816

  the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events · CPC title

• H04L47/122 Primary

  by diverting traffic away from congested entities · CPC title

• H04L47/127 Primary

  by using congestion prediction · CPC title

• H04L47/12

  Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion · CPC title