TCP Socket State Transfer During Network Node Migration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Migrating TCP socket states between network nodes is burdensome due to the large amount of data associated with queue contents, which imposes significant processing and bandwidth requirements, especially during fail-over scenarios.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a process where network nodes delay acknowledging message packets until receipt is acknowledged by the local application node, allowing only socket state data excluding queue contents to be transferred, thereby reducing processing and bandwidth burdens.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the complete socket state including queue contents is transferred during migration, then the connection state is fully preserved, but the processing burden and bandwidth requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and separates the queue contents from the socket state data that needs to be transferred during migration. Only the essential socket state information (metadata, connection parameters, state flags) is transferred to the target network node, while the actual queue contents remain local or are handled separately. This extraction principle resolves the contradiction by removing the bulky queue data from the migration transfer process, significantly reducing bandwidth consumption and processing burden while preserving the essential connection state information needed for seamless failover.
2Loss of energy
If queue contents are excluded from socket state transfer, then processing and bandwidth requirements are reduced, but the completeness of the transferred state information is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the socket state into distinct components: essential state information (metadata, connection parameters, state flags) and queue contents. The segmentation allows selective transfer of only the essential state information to the target network node during migration, while queue contents are either retained locally or transferred separately through different mechanisms. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by clearly distinguishing between what must be transferred for connection continuity and what can be handled separately, ensuring both reduced bandwidth usage and preservation of critical connection state.
3Productivity
If message packets are acknowledged immediately upon receipt, then network throughput is optimized, but the complexity of maintaining state consistency during migration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary actions by pre-establishing the socket state transfer mechanism and configuring the migration protocol before actual migration events occur. The target network node is pre-configured to accept socket state transfers, and the source node maintains a prepared state for transferring connection information. This preliminary setup allows the system to handle migration events efficiently without complex real-time state synchronization, as the framework is already in place to manage state consistency while maintaining normal acknowledgment throughput.
Data Source
AI summary
In response to receiving TCP inbound message packets from a remote node, a network node buffers the received TCP message packets in a receive queue. The network node forwards the inbound message packets to an application node. Socket states, excluding receive-queue contents, are sent to a backup node. In response to receiving acknowledgements corresponding to respective inbound message packets from the application node, the network node sends respective acknowledgements from the network node to the remote node.