DNS Request Tracking for Persistent Connection Consolidation
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Solution Overview
Problem
DNS servers are overwhelmed by repeated DNS requests, leading to saturation and resulting in slow response times or service disruptions, with existing systems unable to identify the sources causing this saturation.
Innovation Solution
An application tracks DNS queries and answers between a first server and one or more target servers, identifying destination ports and network sources, and consolidates multiple connections into persistent connections to alleviate saturation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If DNS requests are sent repeatedly to retrieve IP addresses, then the DNS server can provide name resolution service, but the DNS server becomes overwhelmed and saturated
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary tracking and identification of DNS requests before saturation occurs. By monitoring DNS query patterns, destination ports, and network sources in advance, the system can identify problem applications and establish persistent connections proactively, preventing request saturation before it impacts server capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary tracking mechanism between the client and DNS server. This intermediary monitors DNS requests, identifies repeating patterns, and manages persistent connections, thereby reducing the burden on the DNS server while maintaining service availability
2Measurement precision
If the DNS server processes all incoming requests individually, then each request can be handled accurately, but the server becomes overloaded and response times increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple individual DNS requests into persistent connections. By tracking network sources and consolidating requests from the same source, the system reduces the number of individual connection handshakes while maintaining accurate resolution for each query, thereby reducing response time without sacrificing precision
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes continuous persistent connections instead of repeated individual requests. Once a connection is established, multiple DNS queries can be sent over the same connection without repeated connection setup overhead, maintaining accurate resolution while significantly reducing response time for subsequent queries
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If the system tracks all DNS requests to identify problem sources, then the source of saturation can be identified, but the complexity of the tracking system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the essential tracking information needed to identify problem sources. By focusing on key parameters such as source IP, destination port, and query patterns rather than tracking every detail of each DNS request, the system maintains strong detection capability while minimizing the complexity of the tracking infrastructure
Data Source
AI summary
Assisting in the alleviation of Domain Name Service (DNS) request saturation by tracking and identifying DNS queries sent from a server to at least one target server and DNS answers sent from the at least one target server to the server in response to the DNS queries. In response to identifying the DNS queries and DNS answers, (i) destination ports are determined for each DNS answer, with each destination port being associated with a network source, (ii) the network source associated with each destination port is identified, and (iii) the number of connections made between each destination port and the at least one target server is determined. Determining the number of connections between each destination port and the at least one target server can be used, along with DNS caches, to consolidate multiple connections between a destination port and the at least one target server into one persistent connection.