Server Traffic Shaping via Dynamic Response Delays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing server systems face challenges in protecting themselves from unusually heavy users without adversely affecting legitimate users, as hard limits can either lock out legitimate users or leave the system inadequately protected.
Innovation Solution
Implementing traffic shaping techniques that delay responses to requests based on server resources used, with a budget system that tracks and manages user profiles' server usage, introducing micro-delays to correct usage trends and prevent overuse while allowing for bursty operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hard limits are set to protect server resources, then server protection is improved, but user experience deteriorates when legitimate users reach the limits
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic traffic shaping that adjusts response delays in real-time based on current server resource usage and user profile consumption patterns. Instead of static hard limits, the system continuously monitors and adapts delay parameters to balance server protection with legitimate user needs, allowing flexible response to varying conditions without locking out users.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of response delay time based on server resource usage metrics and user profile characteristics. By dynamically adjusting this parameter rather than using fixed thresholds, the system can differentiate between malicious overload and legitimate high usage, protecting server resources while maintaining acceptable user experience for legitimate users.
2Ease of operation
If hard limits are set to very high values to avoid locking out legitimate users, then user experience is improved, but server protection deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism that continuously monitors server resource usage and user profile consumption patterns. This feedback loop allows the system to detect when usage patterns indicate potential abuse versus legitimate high usage, enabling dynamic adjustment of traffic shaping parameters to maintain both user experience and server protection.
Solution Approach 2:
Rather than using fixed high limits, the system dynamically adjusts response delays based on real-time monitoring of server resource usage and user behavior patterns. This dynamic approach allows the system to provide high limits for legitimate users while automatically increasing delays or applying stricter controls when abuse patterns are detected.
3Reliability
If traffic shaping delays are introduced to protect server resources, then server protection is improved, but response time deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies traffic shaping delays selectively rather than uniformly to all requests. The system analyzes user profile characteristics and request patterns to apply delays only where necessary for server protection, while allowing requests from legitimate users with acceptable patterns to proceed without delay, thus minimizing overall response time impact.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial traffic shaping by introducing delays only for specific requests or user profiles that exhibit problematic patterns, rather than applying delays to all traffic. This partial action approach protects server resources from abuse while minimizing the impact on legitimate users whose requests do not trigger the traffic shaping mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
A current request for a server to perform work for a user profile can be received and processed at the server. It can be determined whether server usage by the profile exhibits a sufficient trend toward a threshold value to warrant performing traffic shaping for the user profile. If so, then a delay time can be calculated based on, or as a function of, server resources used in processing the current request, and a response to the current request can be delayed by the delay time.