Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090222564 | Apparatus and Method for Supporting Connection Establishment in an Offload of Network Protocol Processing - A number of improvements in network adapters that offload protocol processing from the host processor are provided. Specifically, a mechanism for improving connection establishment in a system utilizing an offload network adapter is provided. The connection establishment mechanism provides the ability to offload connection establishment and maintenance of connection state information to the offload network adapter. As a result of this offloading of connection establishment and state information maintenance, the number of communications needed between the host system and the offload network adapter may be reduced. In addition, offloading of these functions to the offload network adapter permits bulk notification of established connections and state information to the host system rather than piecemeal notifications as is present in known computing systems. | 09-03-2009 |
20110161456 | Apparatus and Method for Supporting Memory Management in an Offload of Network Protocol Processing - A number of improvements in network adapters that offload protocol processing from the host processor are provided. Specifically, mechanisms for handling memory management and optimization within a system utilizing an offload network adapter are provided. The memory management mechanism permits both buffered sending and receiving of data as well as zero-copy sending and receiving of data. In addition, the memory management mechanism permits grouping of DMA buffers that can be shared among specified connections based on any number of attributes. The memory management mechanism further permits partial send and receive buffer operation, delaying of DMA requests so that they may be communicated to the host system in bulk, and expedited transfer of data to the host system. | 06-30-2011 |
20110167134 | Apparatus and Method for Supporting Memory Management in an Offload of Network Protocol Processing - A number of improvements in network adapters that offload protocol processing from the host processor are provided. Specifically, mechanisms for handling memory management and optimization within a system utilizing an offload network adapter are provided. The memory management mechanism permits both buffered sending and receiving of data as well as zero-copy sending and receiving of data. In addition, the memory management mechanism permits grouping of DMA buffers that can be shared among specified connections based on any number of attributes. The memory management mechanism further permits partial send and receive buffer operation, delaying of DMA requests so that they may be communicated to the host system in bulk, and expedited transfer of data to the host system. | 07-07-2011 |
20110225594 | Method and Apparatus for Determining Resources Consumed by Tasks - In a computer system comprising a plurality of computing devices wherein the plurality of computing devices processes a plurality of tasks and each task has a task type, a method for determining overheads associated with task types comprises the following steps. Overheads are estimated for a plurality of task types. One of the plurality of computing devices is selected to execute one of the plurality of tasks, wherein the selection comprises estimating load on at least a portion of the plurality of computing devices from tasks assigned to at least a portion of the plurality of computing devices and the estimates of overheads of the plurality of task types. One or more of the estimates of overheads of the plurality of task types are varied. | 09-15-2011 |
20110252127 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LOAD BALANCING WITH AFFINITY - A method and system for distributing requests to multiple back-end servers in client-server environments. A front-end load balancer is used to send requests to multiple back-end servers. In appropriate cases, the load balancer will send requests to the servers based on affinity requirements, while maintaining load balance among servers. | 10-13-2011 |
20130170472 | MOBILITY MANAGEMENT OF OSI CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CELL TOWERS - A processor-implemented method, apparatus, and/or computer program product move Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layer 4 connections between wirelessly-connected user equipment to a series of cell-towers, wherein an OSI layer 4 connection is extracted out of the underlying cellular protocols at the series of cell-towers. A detection is made that user equipment, which has a broken-out layer 4 connection, has moved from a first cell-tower to a second cell-tower. Traffic for an existing layer 4 connection from the user equipment is tunnelled between the first cell-tower and the second cell-tower. A predetermined trigger event is identified. In response to the predetermined trigger event occurring, an ongoing bidirectional flow of data packets is migrated from the user equipment over to layer 4 connections maintained at the second cell-tower. | 07-04-2013 |
20140040451 | TRANSPARENT MIDDLEBOX WITH GRACEFUL CONNECTION ENTRY AND EXIT - Methods for inserting a middlebox into a network connection include monitoring network state information in a connection between a client and a server. When the connection is idle, a connection entry is created for each device and is initialized using state information gathered by monitoring the network connection. Redirection of the network connection is activated between the client and the server such that the middlebox mediates the connection. Methods for removing a middlebox from a network connection include determining a degree of mismatch between a sequence number in a first connection between the middlebox and a client and a sequence number in a second connection between the middlebox and a server, delaying acknowledgment signals from the middlebox on a connection to decrease the degree of mismatch, and establishing a direct connection between the client and the server without mediation by the middlebox when the degree of mismatch is zero. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040457 | TRANSPARENT MIDDLEBOX WITH GRACEFUL CONNECTION ENTRY AND EXIT - Middlebox systems that can enter a connection include a monitoring module to monitor information in a connection between a client and a server, a processor to determine that the connection is idle, a table configured to create a first entry for the client and a second entry for the server, where the entries are initialized using information gathered by the monitoring module, and a control module to redirect the connection between the client and server to the middlebox. Middlebox systems that can exit a connection include a processor to determine a mismatch between sequence numbers in a first connection to a client device and in a second connection to a server device. A network control module delays acknowledgment signals from the middlebox on a connection to decrease the degree of mismatch and establishes a direct connection between the client device and the server device when mismatch is zero. | 02-06-2014 |
20140059190 | DYNAMIC MIDDLEBOX REDIRECTION BASED ON CLIENT CHARACTERISTICS - Traffic redirection methods include determining a quality-affective factor in a connection between a client and a server in a network; comparing the quality-affective factor to a threshold to determine whether the connection would benefit from a network processing function; reconfiguring the network to redirect the connection to or away from a middlebox that performs the network processing function in accordance with the determination of whether the connection would benefit from the network processing function. | 02-27-2014 |
20140059191 | DYNAMIC MIDDLEBOX REDIRECTION BASED ON CLIENT CHARACTERISTICS - Dynamic middleboxes include a network monitor module configured to determine a quality-affective factor in a connection between a client and a server in a network; a processor configured to compare the quality-affective factor to a threshold to determine whether the connection would benefit from a network processing function; and a network control module configured to reconfigure the network to redirect the connection to a middlebox that performs the network processing function if the connection would benefit and further configured to reconfigure the network to exclude the middlebox from the connection if the connection would not benefit. | 02-27-2014 |
20140108626 | Virtual Consolidated Appliance - Techniques for managing network traffic in a virtual consolidated appliance so as to avoid interruptions in existing network connections during reconfiguration of the virtual consolidated appliance are provided. In one aspect, a method for operating a virtual consolidated appliance having a plurality of servers is provided. The method includes the following steps. An assignment for load balancing is computed based on a status of the virtual consolidated appliance. A reconfiguration of the virtual consolidated appliance is discovered. A new assignment is computed for load balancing based on a new status of the virtual consolidated appliance based on the reconfiguration of the virtual consolidated appliance. Existing network connections are redirected according to the assignment during the reconfiguration of the virtual consolidated appliance. New network connections are served according to the new assignment. | 04-17-2014 |
20140108638 | Virtual Consolidated Appliance - Techniques for managing network traffic in a virtual consolidated appliance so as to avoid interruptions in existing network connections during reconfiguration of the virtual consolidated appliance are provided. In one aspect, a method for operating a virtual consolidated appliance having a plurality of servers is provided. The method includes the following steps. An assignment for load balancing is computed based on a status of the virtual consolidated appliance. A reconfiguration of the virtual consolidated appliance is discovered. A new assignment is computed for load balancing based on a new status of the virtual consolidated appliance based on the reconfiguration of the virtual consolidated appliance. Existing network connections are redirected according to the assignment during the reconfiguration of the virtual consolidated appliance. New network connections are served according to the new assignment. | 04-17-2014 |
20140126378 | Wireless Network Optimization Appliance - Methods and apparatus are provided for wireless network optimization. Wireless network traffic is optimized by receiving redirected traffic based on one or more configuration rules; and applying the redirected traffic to a protocol optimizer that optimizes the wireless network traffic based on one or more optimization rules. A management interface is optionally provided to manage the network optimization appliance. A process monitor is optionally provided to monitor one or more process threads to determine if the process threads have stalled. The process monitor can monitor other components and can be monitored by at least one other component. | 05-08-2014 |
20140126379 | Wireless Network Optimization Appliance - Methods and apparatus are provided for wireless network optimization. Wireless network traffic is optimized by receiving redirected traffic based on one or more configuration rules; and applying the redirected traffic to a protocol optimizer that optimizes the wireless network traffic based on one or more optimization rules. A management interface is optionally provided to manage the network optimization appliance. A process monitor is optionally provided to monitor one or more process threads to determine if the process threads have stalled. The process monitor can monitor other components and can be monitored by at least one other component. | 05-08-2014 |
20140307579 | SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION OF NETWORK SWITCH/ROUTER - A network switching system and method and a computer program product for operating a network switch are disclosed. The network switch includes a multitude of input ports and a multitude of output ports. In one embodiment, one processing device is assigned to each of the input ports and output ports to process data packets received at the input ports and transferred to the output ports. In one embodiment, the method comprises creating an intermediate adjustable configuration of processing devices functionally between the input ports and the output ports, and assigning the processing devices of the intermediate configuration to forward the data packets from the input ports to the output ports to obtain a balance between latency and synchronization of the transfer of the data packets from the input ports to the output ports. In an embodiment, software is used to create and to adjust dynamically the intermediate configuration. | 10-16-2014 |