Transparent Endpoint Migration Bypassing Intermediate Servers
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Solution Overview
Problem
In advanced request routing services, such as load balancers, the intermediate request router handles both incoming and outgoing data, leading to unnecessary network activity and increased bandwidth consumption, as it must process and cache return data, even when this traffic is not required.
Innovation Solution
The architecture migrates the connection state from an intermediate server to a target server, allowing the target server to respond directly to the client, thereby bypassing the intermediate server and reducing unnecessary network traffic by capturing and forwarding connection state at the transport layer without duplicating packets or requiring changes to the client's operating system or network infrastructure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the request router handles both incoming and outgoing data, then request routing functionality is provided, but network bandwidth consumption increases unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the connection state information from the data path, separating control plane operations (connection state capture and migration) from the data plane (actual request/response traffic). This allows the request router to provide routing functionality while extracting unnecessary data traffic from its path, reducing network bandwidth consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces connection state as an intermediary mechanism that enables the target server to respond directly to the client without requiring the request router to handle the return traffic. The connection state acts as a mediator that transfers the necessary information for direct communication between the target server and client.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the request router processes all return data, then data caching and processing capabilities are provided, but device bandwidth and computational resources are consumed unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by capturing and migrating the connection state before the actual data transmission occurs. This allows the target server to be pre-configured with the necessary connection information to respond directly to the client, eliminating the need for the request router to process return data through caching and processing operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The target server serves itself by using the migrated connection state to establish direct communication with the client, without requiring the request router to mediate the return traffic. This self-service approach eliminates unnecessary processing at the request router while maintaining data caching and processing capabilities when needed.
3Productivity
If connection state is migrated without duplicating packets, then network efficiency is improved, but migration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a copy of the connection state information (such as TCP session state, port numbers, and IP addresses) and transfers it to the target server. This copying approach allows the target server to reconstruct the necessary connection context without duplicating the actual data packets, improving network efficiency while managing migration complexity through selective state replication.
Data Source
AI summary
Architecture that facilitates the capture of connection state of a connection established between a client and an intermediate server and forwards the state to one or more target servers. A software component at the target server (as well as the intermediate server) uses this connection state to reply back to the client directly, thereby bypassing the intermediate server. All packets from the client related to the request are received at the intermediate server and then forwarded to the target server. The migration can be accomplished without any change in the client operating system and client applications, without assistance from a gateway device such as a load balancer or the network, without duplication of all packets between the multiple servers, and without changes to the transport layer stack of the intermediate and target servers.