Secured Tunnel Server Load Balancing for Microservices
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Solution Overview
Problem
The adoption of microservices-based architectures and operating-system level virtualization technologies in networking systems faces challenges such as inefficient resource utilization, increased downtime, and longer development times due to monolithic architectures and virtualization inefficiencies, leading to lower network efficiency and higher costs.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a secured tunnel server that uses override rules to dynamically route network traffic to the most suitable containerized software components within an orchestrated cluster, optimizing resource usage and load balancing among containerized services, and decoupling the secured tunnel server from controller pods to improve scalability and resource allocation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If monolithic architecture is used, then development and deployment are simple, but development agility and deployment agility are reduced as the application grows in complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the monolithic web application into multiple independent microservices (frontend component service, backend component services, data store services). Each microservice can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently, resolving the contradiction by maintaining deployment simplicity through standardized microservice units while dramatically improving development agility through independent service evolution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic service registration and discovery mechanisms that allow microservices to be added, removed, or updated without redeploying the entire system. The load balancer dynamically adjusts traffic distribution based on service availability and performance metrics, enabling continuous deployment while maintaining system simplicity.
2Ease of manufacture
If monolithic architecture is used, then the system is simple to deploy, but deploying an update requires redeployment of the entire application resulting in downtime
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the monolithic application into independent microservices, the patent enables selective deployment of individual services without affecting others. The load balancer routes traffic away from services undergoing updates and toward healthy services, maintaining system availability during deployments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements service registration and health check mechanisms that prepare the system for updates in advance. New service instances can be registered and tested before traffic is routed to them, and old instances can be gradually phased out, ensuring continuous availability during transitions.
3Productivity
If monolithic architecture scales by running additional instances with load balancer, then traffic distribution is achieved, but computing resources are used inefficiently
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables different microservices to have different resource allocations and scaling characteristics based on their specific requirements. Backend compute-intensive services can be scaled independently from I/O-bound services, allowing each service to use computing resources efficiently according to its local quality requirements rather than forcing uniform scaling across the entire application.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic load balancing that continuously monitors service performance and adjusts traffic distribution in real-time. The load balancer can route traffic to the most efficient service instances based on current resource utilization, response times, and load conditions, optimizing computing resource usage dynamically rather than statically.
4Quantity of substance
If virtualization technologies are adopted, then hardware resource utilization improves, but network efficiency decreases and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a service mesh and API gateway as intermediary layers that manage communication between virtualized microservices. These intermediaries optimize network traffic flow, implement efficient service-to-service communication protocols, and provide centralized security and monitoring, thereby maintaining network efficiency despite the complexity of virtualized environments.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and devices for using secured tunnels (e.g., SSH tunnels), for example with microservices-based architectures and/or operating-system level virtualization technologies, An example method may include receiving, by a secured tunnel server and via a secured tunnel, network traffic intended for a first original destination of the plurality of original destinations; selecting, using a plurality of override rules that indicate mappings between a plurality of original destinations and respective override destinations, an override destination for the network traffic intended for the first original destination; and forwarding, by the secured tunnel server, the network traffic to the override destination.