DNS Intermediary for Overlapping IP Address Spaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional server hosting systems prevent tenants from assigning specific Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and fully-qualified domain names (FQDNs to managed servers, disrupting the illusion of isolated server environments and limiting tenant flexibility in using managed servers similar to on-premises servers.
Innovation Solution
The system allows tenants to select IP addresses and FQDNs for their managed servers by forwarding DNS data messages to a management system, which establishes unique IP addresses and FQDNs for each server, enabling communication and maintaining the illusion of isolated environments even when multiple servers share the same addresses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the server hosting system allows tenants to assign arbitrary IP addresses and FQDNs to managed servers, then tenant flexibility and usability are improved, but address conflicts between multiple tenants occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a DNS server as an intermediary component that mediates between multiple tenants and the managed servers. The DNS server receives DNS update requests from tenants, processes them through a coordinated protocol involving multiple DNS servers, and resolves address conflicts by maintaining a centralized mapping of tenant-side addresses to unique server-side addresses. This intermediary mechanism allows tenants to use arbitrary addresses while ensuring unique communication paths to the actual servers.
2Reliability
If the system maintains unique IP addresses for each managed server, then communication reliability is improved, but tenant ability to use arbitrary addresses is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates an additional abstraction dimension by introducing the DNS translation layer between the tenant's address space and the actual server address space. Instead of directly mapping tenant addresses to server addresses, the system operates in two dimensions: the tenant-visible dimension where arbitrary addresses can be used, and the actual server dimension where unique addresses are maintained. The DNS server translates between these two dimensions, allowing tenants to work with arbitrary addresses while the system maintains unique server addresses for reliable communication.
3Reliability
If the system prevents address conflicts by enforcing unique IP addresses per tenant, then network reliability is improved, but the illusion of isolated server environments is broken
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the address space into tenant-specific logical domains, where each tenant operates with their own set of IP addresses and FQDNs that are isolated from other tenants. The DNS server maintains separate mappings for each tenant, allowing Tenant A to use addresses 192.168.1.1-10 while Tenant B can also use the same address range without conflict. This segmentation creates the illusion of isolated environments for each tenant while the underlying physical infrastructure maintains unique communication paths through the DNS translation mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
A server hosting system provides managed servers for tenants of the server hosting system. Managed servers for different tenants can have the same IP addresses and fully-qualified domain names (FQDNs). Furthermore, the server hosting system provides routers for the tenants. The router for a tenant can receive a Domain Name System (DNS) update message. The DNS update message is a request for a DNS server to associate a tenant-side FQDN with a tenant-side IP address. This tenant-side IP address can concurrently be an IP address of a managed server of another tenant. In response to receiving the DNS update request, the router sends a DNS data message to a management system for the server hosting system. The DNS data message indicates the IP address, the tenant-side FQDN, and an IP address only associated with the given tenant.