Patent ID: 6052718
Filing Date: 2000-04-18
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
An internetwork replica routing system comprising:a plurality of server replicas, at least one replica router, and at least one client computer interconnected by a communications internetwork;the client computer being programmed to cause a network request, including a source interwork address of the network request, to be transmitted over the communications internetwork;at least one replica router being programmed to receive the network request and the source internetwork address of the network request and to calculate a performance metric value for each of at least some of the server replicas that specifies estimated communication performance between the client computer and the server replica, based upon the client computer's location in the internetwork as evidenced by the source internetwork address of the network request, and based upon a replica routing database that contains performance metric information with respect to a plurality of IP address portions sufficient to make routing decisions based upon the network request, and being programmed to cause the client computer to be directed to at least one server replica that is estimated to provide good performance based upon the client computer's location in the internetwork, the replica router selecting the at least one server replica to which it causes the client computer to be directed based on the performance metric values of the server replicas as calculated by the replica router, the replica router further being programmed to update dynamically the replica routing database based on internetwork performance information periodically received by the replica router in the form of advertisements, wherein the period of updates may dynamically change;the server replica to which the client computer is directed being programmed to respond to the network request from the client computer.