Patent ID: 6167446
Filing Date: 2000-12-26
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
In a network of digital computers that includes:A. a network;B. client workstations that connect to the network for exchanging network communications between the client workstations; andC. a name server (""NS"") that:i. receives from the network network-name-resolution requests sent by client workstations for network-name resolution; andii. responds to network-name-resolution requests by sending to the requesting client workstation, via the network, a network address;an automatic network-name-services configuration improvement comprising:D. a traffic-monitor module that receives, via the network, network communications which permits the traffic-monitor module to:i. identify specific network resources that are shared by client workstations connected to the network; andii. collect data about network resources that are shared by the client workstations;E. a dynamic redirection service (""DRS"") module that:i. receives data collected by the traffic-monitor module; andii. extracts from the collected data:1) identities of the client workstations and network resources that form client workstation/network resource pairs;2) an order for client workstation/network resource pairs based upon a performance metric determined from data collected for each client workstation/network resource pair; and3) a list of:A) proxy servers that can provide a proxy service for network resources; andB) based upon the performance metric determined for each client workstation/network resource pair, at least one client workstation for which the proxy server is assigned to provide the proxy service; andF. a name resolution filter (""NRF"") module that:i. receives from the DRS module the list extracted by the DRS module from collected data;ii. receives network-name-resolution requests sent by client workstations for network-name resolution before the NS receives the network-name-resolution request; andiii. when enabled by data present in the list, responds to network-name-resolution requests by sending to the requesting client workstation, via the network, the network address of the proxy server specified by the list.