Communication Proxy for Client-Server Connection Overhead
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Solution Overview
Problem
In distributed computing systems, the overhead of common functions such as connection establishment, authentication, and cleanup in client-server communications can consume a significant portion of system resources, especially for short-lived requests, leading to inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a communication proxy that maintains an active, authenticated connection between a client system and a server, allowing multiple short-lived processes to share this connection, thereby reducing the need for repeated authentication and resource-intensive connection management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a new connection is established for each client request, then connection security and authentication are ensured, but system resources are consumed excessively and response time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes and authenticates connections in advance before requests are made. A connection pool is pre-configured with authenticated connections to server endpoints, so when requests arrive, they can immediately use these ready-made connections without performing authentication and connection establishment steps, thus resolving the contradiction between security and efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the connection management function from the request processing function. Connection establishment and authentication are separated into a preliminary setup phase, while request processing uses the pre-established connections. This segmentation allows security operations to be performed once rather than with every request
2Reliability
If authentication is performed for each request, then access control is maintained, but overhead increases and resource consumption rises
Solution Approach 1:
Authentication is performed in advance during connection establishment rather than with each request. The connection pool stores authenticated credentials and uses them to maintain access control throughout the session, eliminating repeated authentication overhead while preserving security
Solution Approach 2:
A single authenticated connection serves multiple requests and multiple clients through the connection pool. The authenticated connection has universal access control permissions that apply to all requests made through it, reducing the need for repeated authentication operations
3Duration of action of moving object
If connections are established and closed for each short-lived request, then connection freshness is maintained, but the overhead of connection management dominates resource usage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains continuous connections in the connection pool that remain open and authenticated for extended periods, serving multiple requests sequentially. This continuous connection approach eliminates the repeated establish-close cycles, reducing management overhead while maintaining connection availability through pool rotation and health checks
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for handling client-server communications. The method may include 1) receiving, at a client system, a first command whose execution involves sending a first request to a server from a first transitory process associated with the first command; 2) initializing, on the client system, a communication proxy configured to relay communications between the server and transitory processes on the client system; 3) establishing a connection between the communication proxy and the server; 4) authenticating the communication proxy with the server; 5) establishing an inter-process communication channel configured to enable communication between the communication proxy and the transitory processes; 6) sending the first request from the first transitory process to the communication proxy over the inter-process communication channel; and 7) relaying the first request to the server via the connection between the communication proxy and the server. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.