Authoritative Name Server Selection with Provider Diversity
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing method of choosing a name server for DNS requests is inefficient, leading to high latency and failed attempts when primary servers are unreachable or unresponsive, often resulting in reliance on servers operated by the same service provider, which can cause significant delays and failures.
Innovation Solution
A method that selects a first server based on specific measurements and switches to a second server associated with a different service provider if the first server is unresponsive, ensuring that multiple servers from different providers are tried to quickly resolve DNS queries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the next-most-responsive authoritative name server is contacted, then DNS resolution can continue, but the resolution time increases significantly when multiple servers from the same provider fail
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the name server selection process into two distinct phases: first attempting servers from the most-responsive provider, then switching to servers from different providers. This segmentation allows the system to optimize for speed initially while maintaining reliability through provider diversity, resolving the contradiction between fast resolution and reliable fallback options.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary measurements of name server responsiveness before actual DNS resolution occurs. By pre-ranking providers based on their name server response times and storing this information, the system prepares an optimized selection strategy in advance, enabling faster and more reliable DNS resolution without waiting for multiple failures during the actual query process.
2Speed
If multiple name servers from the same service provider are used, then DNS resolution can be faster, but the system becomes vulnerable to provider outages affecting all servers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the selection parameter from purely speed-based (most-responsive provider) to a hybrid approach that incorporates both speed and provider diversity. By measuring and storing responsiveness data and using it to select among different providers, the system achieves both fast resolution through optimized provider selection and reliability through diversification, preventing single-point-of-failure vulnerabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for intelligently choosing an authoritative name server from among a group of name servers for resolving Domain Name System requests. Systems and methods are provided that enable choosing of a first server associated with and/or operated by a first service provider based on a first measurement associated with that first server. The systems and methods further comprise requesting first data from that first server, determining that the first server is unresponsive, and choosing a second server. The second server is chosen based on a second measurement, and chosen contingent on it being associated with and/or operated by to a different service provider than that associated with the first server. The systems and methods then comprise requesting second data from the second server.