Systems and methods for SSL session management in a cluster system

The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for managing one or more SSL sessions. A first node from a cluster of nodes intermediary between a client and a server may receive a first request from the client to use a first session established with the server. The first request may include a session identifier of the first session. The first node may determine that the first session is not identified in a cache of the first node. The first node may identify, via a hash table responsive to the determination, an owner node of the first session from the cluster using a key. The key may be determined based on the session identifier. The first node may send a second request to the identified owner node for session data of the first session. The session data may be for establishing a second session with the server.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present application generally relates to the management of secure sockets layer (SSL) sessions. In particular, the present application relates to systems and methods for SSL session management in a cluster system.

BACKGROUND

Remote computing and centralized management of computing environments have converged to provide remote access to resources such as data and application resources, but also to incorporate management aspects including multi-level security (e.g., authentication and firewall policies), support for a variety of access points and client environments, and uniform presentation of resources. Systems, such as network appliances that help to provision applications and/or data to remote users may deliver computing and/or application services in a variety of ways. For example, dedicated servers may provide access to particular software applications by delivering application components to a remote client for execution. Network appliances may provide proxy functions such as secured session establishment. As application and computing needs evolve, such systems may have to provide a higher level of service in both delivery and performance. Accordingly, some of these systems may provide increased levels of parallel processing or multi-tasking by incorporating multiple hardware and software engines to process packets.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure is directed towards methods and systems for SSL session management in a cluster system. A device or appliance, intermediary between one or more client and servers, may include a cluster system that comprises a group of nodes. Each of these nodes may comprise a multi-core system and may host one or more processing engines for handling packets. The present disclosure provides methods and systems to efficiently manage SSL sessions established across nodes and/or cores, including nodes having symmetric or asymmetric configuration. By interoperating between nodes within the cluster system, the nodes can present a single node image to a user or device interfacing with the appliance. These methods and systems can use a distributed hash table (DHT), that may allow any core receiving a session resume/reuse request, to identify an owner code of the requested session. The distributed hash table can receive as input a key derived from a session identifier, to output information about the owner core. Copies of the distributed hash table may be available to each core and/or node, and can be used to mark particular sessions that may be invalid or non-resumable. Based on the identification of the owner core, the owner core may be requested to provide a response that includes session information for the requested data. The receiving core may then establish a local cloned session of the requested session, responsive to the session resume/reuse request.

In one aspect, the disclosure is directed to a method for managing one or more secure socket layer (SSL) sessions. The method may include receiving, by a first node from a cluster of nodes intermediary between a client and a server, a first request from the client to use a first session established with the server. The first request may include a session identifier of the first session. The first node may determine that the first session is not identified in a cache of the first node. The first node may identify, via a hash table responsive to the determination, an owner node of the first session from the cluster of nodes using a key. The key may be determined based on the session identifier. The first node may send a second request to the identified owner node for session data of the first session. The session data may be for establishing a second session with the server.

In some embodiments, the first node may receive a request to reuse, resume or clone the first session. The first node may receive the request from the client as part of a handshaking process for establishing a SSL session with the server. The first node may determine that the first session is not identified in the cache based on the session identifier of the first session. The first node may determine that the first node is not the owner node of the first session. The first node may determine generate the key based on at least one of the session identifier or a unique identifier of an entity from which the first request is received. The first node may receive a response to the second request, the response indicating that the requested first session is invalid, expired or not resumable.

In certain embodiments, the first node may establish a new session if there is no response to the second request, or if a response to the second request does not include the requested session data. The first node may establish the second session if a response to the second request includes the requested session data, the second session comprising a session cloned from the first session. The first node may store information about the second session in at least one of the hash table or the cache of the first node.

In another aspect, the disclosure is directed to a system for managing one or more secure socket layer (SSL) sessions. The system may include a cluster of nodes intermediary between a client and a server. A first node from the cluster of nodes may be configured to receive a first request from the client to use a first session established with the server. The first request may include a session identifier of the first session. The first node may be configured to determine whether the first session is identified in a cache of the first core. The first node may be configured to identify, via a hash table responsive to the determination, an owner core of the first session using a key, the key determined based on the session identifier. The first node may be configured to send a second request to the identified owner core for session data of the first session. The session data may be for establishing a second session with the server.

In some embodiments, the first node is configured to receive a request to reuse, resume or clone the first session. The first node may be configured to receive the request from the client as part of a handshaking process for establishing a SSL session with the server. The first node may be configured to determine whether the first session is identified in the cache based on the session identifier of the first session. The first node may be configured to determine whether the first node is the owner node of the first session. The first node may be configured to generate the key based on at least one of the session identifier or a unique identifier of an entity from which the first request is received.

In certain embodiments, the first node is configured to receive a response to the second request, the response indicating that the requested first session is invalid, expired or not resumable. The first node may be configured to establish a new session if there is no response to the second request, or if a response to the second request does not include the requested session data. The first node may be configured to establish the second session if a response to the second request includes the requested session data, the second session comprising a session cloned from the first session. The first node may be configured to store information about the second session in at least one of the hash table or the cache of the first node.

The details of various embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For purposes of reading the description of the various embodiments below, the following descriptions of the sections of the specification and their respective contents may be helpful:Section A describes a network environment and computing environment which may be useful for practicing embodiments described herein;Section B describes embodiments of systems and methods for delivering a computing environment to a remote user;Section C describes embodiments of systems and methods for accelerating communications between a client and a server;Section D describes embodiments of systems and methods for virtualizing an application delivery controller;Section E describes embodiments of systems and methods for providing a multi-core architecture and environment;Section F describes embodiments of systems and methods for managing SSL session persistence and reuse in a multi-core system;Section G describes embodiments of systems and methods for providing a clustered appliance architecture environment; andSection H describes embodiments of systems and methods for managing one or more secure socket layer (SSL) sessions.
A. Network and Computing Environment

Prior to discussing the specifics of embodiments of the systems and methods of an appliance and/or client, it may be helpful to discuss the network and computing environments in which such embodiments may be deployed. Referring now toFIG. 1A, an embodiment of a network environment is depicted. In brief overview, the network environment comprises one or more clients102a-102n(also generally referred to as local machine(s)102, or client(s)102) in communication with one or more servers106a-106n(also generally referred to as server(s)106, or remote machine(s)106) via one or more networks104,104′ (generally referred to as network104). In some embodiments, a client102communicates with a server106via an appliance200.

AlthoughFIG. 1Ashows a network104and a network104′ between the clients102and the servers106, the clients102and the servers106may be on the same network104. The networks104and104′ can be the same type of network or different types of networks. The network104and/or the network104′ can be a local-area network (LAN), such as a company Intranet, a metropolitan area network (MAN), or a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet or the World Wide Web. In one embodiment, network104′ may be a private network and network104may be a public network. In some embodiments, network104may be a private network and network104′ a public network. In another embodiment, networks104and104′ may both be private networks. In some embodiments, clients102may be located at a branch office of a corporate enterprise communicating via a WAN connection over the network104to the servers106located at a corporate data center.

The network104and/or104′ be any type and/or form of network and may include any of the following: a point to point network, a broadcast network, a wide area network, a local area network, a telecommunications network, a data communication network, a computer network, an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) network, a SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) network, a SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) network, a wireless network and a wireline network. In some embodiments, the network104may comprise a wireless link, such as an infrared channel or satellite band. The topology of the network104and/or104′ may be a bus, star, or ring network topology. The network104and/or104′ and network topology may be of any such network or network topology as known to those ordinarily skilled in the art capable of supporting the operations described herein.

As shown inFIG. 1A, the appliance200, which also may be referred to as an interface unit200or gateway200, is shown between the networks104and104′. In some embodiments, the appliance200may be located on network104. For example, a branch office of a corporate enterprise may deploy an appliance200at the branch office. In other embodiments, the appliance200may be located on network104′. For example, an appliance200may be located at a corporate data center. In yet another embodiment, a plurality of appliances200may be deployed on network104. In some embodiments, a plurality of appliances200may be deployed on network104′. In one embodiment, a first appliance200communicates with a second appliance200′. In other embodiments, the appliance200could be a part of any client102or server106on the same or different network104,104′ as the client102. One or more appliances200may be located at any point in the network or network communications path between a client102and a server106.

In some embodiments, the appliance200comprises any of the network devices manufactured by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale Fla., referred to as Citrix NetScaler devices. In other embodiments, the appliance200includes any of the product embodiments referred to as WebAccelerator and BigIP manufactured by F5 Networks, Inc. of Seattle, Wash. In another embodiment, the appliance205includes any of the DX acceleration device platforms and/or the SSL VPN series of devices, such as SA 700, SA 2000, SA 4000, and SA 6000 devices manufactured by Juniper Networks, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. In yet another embodiment, the appliance200includes any application acceleration and/or security related appliances and/or software manufactured by Cisco Systems, Inc. of San Jose, Calif., such as the Cisco ACE Application Control Engine Module service software and network modules, and Cisco AVS Series Application Velocity System.

In one embodiment, the system may include multiple, logically-grouped servers106. In these embodiments, the logical group of servers may be referred to as a server farm38. In some of these embodiments, the serves106may be geographically dispersed. In some cases, a farm38may be administered as a single entity. In other embodiments, the server farm38comprises a plurality of server farms38. In one embodiment, the server farm executes one or more applications on behalf of one or more clients102.

The servers106within each farm38can be heterogeneous. One or more of the servers106can operate according to one type of operating system platform (e.g., WINDOWS NT, manufactured by Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash.), while one or more of the other servers106can operate on according to another type of operating system platform (e.g., Unix or Linux). The servers106of each farm38do not need to be physically proximate to another server106in the same farm38. Thus, the group of servers106logically grouped as a farm38may be interconnected using a wide-area network (WAN) connection or medium-area network (MAN) connection. For example, a farm38may include servers106physically located in different continents or different regions of a continent, country, state, city, campus, or room. Data transmission speeds between servers106in the farm38can be increased if the servers106are connected using a local-area network (LAN) connection or some form of direct connection.

Servers106may be referred to as a file server, application server, web server, proxy server, or gateway server. In some embodiments, a server106may have the capacity to function as either an application server or as a master application server. In one embodiment, a server106may include an Active Directory. The clients102may also be referred to as client nodes or endpoints. In some embodiments, a client102has the capacity to function as both a client node seeking access to applications on a server and as an application server providing access to hosted applications for other clients102a-102n.

In some embodiments, a client102communicates with a server106. In one embodiment, the client102communicates directly with one of the servers106in a farm38. In another embodiment, the client102executes a program neighborhood application to communicate with a server106in a farm38. In still another embodiment, the server106provides the functionality of a master node. In some embodiments, the client102communicates with the server106in the farm38through a network104. Over the network104, the client102can, for example, request execution of various applications hosted by the servers106a-106nin the farm38and receive output of the results of the application execution for display. In some embodiments, only the master node provides the functionality for identifying and providing address information associated with a server106′ hosting a requested application.

In one embodiment, the server106provides functionality of a web server. In another embodiment, the server106areceives requests from the client102, forwards the requests to a second server106band responds to the request by the client102with a response to the request from the server106b. In still another embodiment, the server106acquires an enumeration of applications available to the client102and address information associated with a server106hosting an application identified by the enumeration of applications. In yet another embodiment, the server106presents the response to the request to the client102using a web interface. In one embodiment, the client102communicates directly with the server106to access the identified application. In another embodiment, the client102receives application output data, such as display data, generated by an execution of the identified application on the server106.

Referring now toFIG. 1B, an embodiment of a network environment deploying multiple appliances200is depicted. A first appliance200may be deployed on a first network104and a second appliance200′ on a second network104′. For example a corporate enterprise may deploy a first appliance200at a branch office and a second appliance200′ at a data center. In another embodiment, the first appliance200and second appliance200′ are deployed on the same network104or network104. For example, a first appliance200may be deployed for a first server farm38, and a second appliance200may be deployed for a second server farm38′. In another example, a first appliance200may be deployed at a first branch office while the second appliance200′ is deployed at a second branch office'. In some embodiments, the first appliance200and second appliance200′ work in cooperation or in conjunction with each other to accelerate network traffic or the delivery of application and data between a client and a server

Referring now toFIG. 1C, another embodiment of a network environment deploying the appliance200with one or more other types of appliances, such as between one or more WAN optimization appliance205,205′ is depicted. For example a first WAN optimization appliance205is shown between networks104and104′ and a second WAN optimization appliance205′ may be deployed between the appliance200and one or more servers106. By way of example, a corporate enterprise may deploy a first WAN optimization appliance205at a branch office and a second WAN optimization appliance205′ at a data center. In some embodiments, the appliance205may be located on network104′. In other embodiments, the appliance205′ may be located on network104. In some embodiments, the appliance205′ may be located on network104′ or network104″. In one embodiment, the appliance205and205′ are on the same network. In another embodiment, the appliance205and205′ are on different networks. In another example, a first WAN optimization appliance205may be deployed for a first server farm38and a second WAN optimization appliance205′ for a second server farm38′.

In one embodiment, the appliance205is a device for accelerating, optimizing or otherwise improving the performance, operation, or quality of service of any type and form of network traffic, such as traffic to and/or from a WAN connection. In some embodiments, the appliance205is a performance enhancing proxy. In other embodiments, the appliance205is any type and form of WAN optimization or acceleration device, sometimes also referred to as a WAN optimization controller. In one embodiment, the appliance205is any of the product embodiments referred to as WANScaler manufactured by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. In other embodiments, the appliance205includes any of the product embodiments referred to as BIG-IP link controller and WANjet manufactured by F5 Networks, Inc. of Seattle, Wash. In another embodiment, the appliance205includes any of the WX and WXC WAN acceleration device platforms manufactured by Juniper Networks, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. In some embodiments, the appliance205includes any of the steelhead line of WAN optimization appliances manufactured by Riverbed Technology of San Francisco, Calif. In other embodiments, the appliance205includes any of the WAN related devices manufactured by Expand Networks Inc. of Roseland, N.J. In one embodiment, the appliance205includes any of the WAN related appliances manufactured by Packeteer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., such as the PacketShaper, iShared, and SkyX product embodiments provided by Packeteer. In yet another embodiment, the appliance205includes any WAN related appliances and/or software manufactured by Cisco Systems, Inc. of San Jose, Calif., such as the Cisco Wide Area Network Application Services software and network modules, and Wide Area Network engine appliances.

In one embodiment, the appliance205provides application and data acceleration services for branch-office or remote offices. In one embodiment, the appliance205includes optimization of Wide Area File Services (WAFS). In another embodiment, the appliance205accelerates the delivery of files, such as via the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol. In other embodiments, the appliance205provides caching in memory and/or storage to accelerate delivery of applications and data. In one embodiment, the appliance205provides compression of network traffic at any level of the network stack or at any protocol or network layer. In another embodiment, the appliance205provides transport layer protocol optimizations, flow control, performance enhancements or modifications and/or management to accelerate delivery of applications and data over a WAN connection. For example, in one embodiment, the appliance205provides Transport Control Protocol (TCP) optimizations. In other embodiments, the appliance205provides optimizations, flow control, performance enhancements or modifications and/or management for any session or application layer protocol.

In another embodiment, the appliance205encoded any type and form of data or information into custom or standard TCP and/or IP header fields or option fields of network packet to announce presence, functionality or capability to another appliance205′. In another embodiment, an appliance205′ may communicate with another appliance205′ using data encoded in both TCP and/or IP header fields or options. For example, the appliance may use TCP option(s) or IP header fields or options to communicate one or more parameters to be used by the appliances205,205′ in performing functionality, such as WAN acceleration, or for working in conjunction with each other.

In some embodiments, the appliance200preserves any of the information encoded in TCP and/or IP header and/or option fields communicated between appliances205and205′. For example, the appliance200may terminate a transport layer connection traversing the appliance200, such as a transport layer connection from between a client and a server traversing appliances205and205′. In one embodiment, the appliance200identifies and preserves any encoded information in a transport layer packet transmitted by a first appliance205via a first transport layer connection and communicates a transport layer packet with the encoded information to a second appliance205′ via a second transport layer connection.

Referring now toFIG. 1D, a network environment for delivering and/or operating a computing environment on a client102is depicted. In some embodiments, a server106includes an application delivery system190for delivering a computing environment or an application and/or data file to one or more clients102. In brief overview, a client10is in communication with a server106via network104,104′ and appliance200. For example, the client102may reside in a remote office of a company, e.g., a branch office, and the server106may reside at a corporate data center. The client102comprises a client agent120, and a computing environment15. The computing environment15may execute or operate an application that accesses, processes or uses a data file. The computing environment15, application and/or data file may be delivered via the appliance200and/or the server106.

In some embodiments, the appliance200accelerates delivery of a computing environment15, or any portion thereof, to a client102. In one embodiment, the appliance200accelerates the delivery of the computing environment15by the application delivery system190. For example, the embodiments described herein may be used to accelerate delivery of a streaming application and data file processable by the application from a central corporate data center to a remote user location, such as a branch office of the company. In another embodiment, the appliance200accelerates transport layer traffic between a client102and a server106. The appliance200may provide acceleration techniques for accelerating any transport layer payload from a server106to a client102, such as: 1) transport layer connection pooling, 2) transport layer connection multiplexing, 3) transport control protocol buffering, 4) compression and 5) caching. In some embodiments, the appliance200provides load balancing of servers106in responding to requests from clients102. In other embodiments, the appliance200acts as a proxy or access server to provide access to the one or more servers106. In another embodiment, the appliance200provides a secure virtual private network connection from a first network104of the client102to the second network104′ of the server106, such as an SSL VPN connection. It yet other embodiments, the appliance200provides application firewall security, control and management of the connection and communications between a client102and a server106.

In some embodiments, the application delivery management system190provides application delivery techniques to deliver a computing environment to a desktop of a user, remote or otherwise, based on a plurality of execution methods and based on any authentication and authorization policies applied via a policy engine195. With these techniques, a remote user may obtain a computing environment and access to server stored applications and data files from any network connected device100. In one embodiment, the application delivery system190may reside or execute on a server106. In another embodiment, the application delivery system190may reside or execute on a plurality of servers106a-106n. In some embodiments, the application delivery system190may execute in a server farm38. In one embodiment, the server106executing the application delivery system190may also store or provide the application and data file. In another embodiment, a first set of one or more servers106may execute the application delivery system190, and a different server106nmay store or provide the application and data file. In some embodiments, each of the application delivery system190, the application, and data file may reside or be located on different servers. In yet another embodiment, any portion of the application delivery system190may reside, execute or be stored on or distributed to the appliance200, or a plurality of appliances.

The client102may include a computing environment15for executing an application that uses or processes a data file. The client102via networks104,104′ and appliance200may request an application and data file from the server106. In one embodiment, the appliance200may forward a request from the client102to the server106. For example, the client102may not have the application and data file stored or accessible locally. In response to the request, the application delivery system190and/or server106may deliver the application and data file to the client102. For example, in one embodiment, the server106may transmit the application as an application stream to operate in computing environment15on client102.

In some embodiments, the application delivery system190comprises any portion of the Citrix Access Suite™ by Citrix Systems, Inc., such as the MetaFrame or Citrix Presentation Server™ and/or any of the Microsoft® Windows Terminal Services manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation. In one embodiment, the application delivery system190may deliver one or more applications to clients102or users via a remote-display protocol or otherwise via remote-based or server-based computing. In another embodiment, the application delivery system190may deliver one or more applications to clients or users via steaming of the application.

In one embodiment, the application delivery system190includes a policy engine195for controlling and managing the access to, selection of application execution methods and the delivery of applications. In some embodiments, the policy engine195determines the one or more applications a user or client102may access. In another embodiment, the policy engine195determines how the application should be delivered to the user or client102, e.g., the method of execution. In some embodiments, the application delivery system190provides a plurality of delivery techniques from which to select a method of application execution, such as a server-based computing, streaming or delivering the application locally to the client120for local execution.

In one embodiment, a client102requests execution of an application program and the application delivery system190comprising a server106selects a method of executing the application program. In some embodiments, the server106receives credentials from the client102. In another embodiment, the server106receives a request for an enumeration of available applications from the client102. In one embodiment, in response to the request or receipt of credentials, the application delivery system190enumerates a plurality of application programs available to the client102. The application delivery system190receives a request to execute an enumerated application. The application delivery system190selects one of a predetermined number of methods for executing the enumerated application, for example, responsive to a policy of a policy engine. The application delivery system190may select a method of execution of the application enabling the client102to receive application-output data generated by execution of the application program on a server106. The application delivery system190may select a method of execution of the application enabling the local machine10to execute the application program locally after retrieving a plurality of application files comprising the application. In yet another embodiment, the application delivery system190may select a method of execution of the application to stream the application via the network104to the client102.

A client102may execute, operate or otherwise provide an application, which can be any type and/or form of software, program, or executable instructions such as any type and/or form of web browser, web-based client, client-server application, a thin-client computing client, an ActiveX control, or a Java applet, or any other type and/or form of executable instructions capable of executing on client102. In some embodiments, the application may be a server-based or a remote-based application executed on behalf of the client102on a server106. In one embodiments the server106may display output to the client102using any thin-client or remote-display protocol, such as the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocol manufactured by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. or the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. The application can use any type of protocol and it can be, for example, an HTTP client, an FTP client, an Oscar client, or a Telnet client. In other embodiments, the application comprises any type of software related to VoIP communications, such as a soft IP telephone. In further embodiments, the application comprises any application related to real-time data communications, such as applications for streaming video and/or audio.

In some embodiments, the server106or a server farm38may be running one or more applications, such as an application providing a thin-client computing or remote display presentation application. In one embodiment, the server106or server farm38executes as an application, any portion of the Citrix Access Suite™ by Citrix Systems, Inc., such as the MetaFrame or Citrix Presentation Server™, and/or any of the Microsoft® Windows Terminal Services manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation. In one embodiment, the application is an ICA client, developed by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In other embodiments, the application includes a Remote Desktop (RDP) client, developed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Also, the server106may run an application, which for example, may be an application server providing email services such as Microsoft Exchange manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., a web or Internet server, or a desktop sharing server, or a collaboration server. In some embodiments, any of the applications may comprise any type of hosted service or products, such as GoToMeeting™ provided by Citrix Online Division, Inc. of Santa Barbara, Calif., WebEx™ provided by WebEx, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., or Microsoft Office Live Meeting provided by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.

Still referring toFIG. 1D, an embodiment of the network environment may include a monitoring server106A. The monitoring server106A may include any type and form performance monitoring service198. The performance monitoring service198may include monitoring, measurement and/or management software and/or hardware, including data collection, aggregation, analysis, management and reporting. In one embodiment, the performance monitoring service198includes one or more monitoring agents197. The monitoring agent197includes any software, hardware or combination thereof for performing monitoring, measurement and data collection activities on a device, such as a client102, server106or an appliance200,205. In some embodiments, the monitoring agent197includes any type and form of script, such as Visual Basic script, or Javascript. In one embodiment, the monitoring agent197executes transparently to any application and/or user of the device. In some embodiments, the monitoring agent197is installed and operated unobtrusively to the application or client. In yet another embodiment, the monitoring agent197is installed and operated without any instrumentation for the application or device.

In some embodiments, the monitoring agent197monitors, measures and collects data on a predetermined frequency. In other embodiments, the monitoring agent197monitors, measures and collects data based upon detection of any type and form of event. For example, the monitoring agent197may collect data upon detection of a request for a web page or receipt of an HTTP response. In another example, the monitoring agent197may collect data upon detection of any user input events, such as a mouse click. The monitoring agent197may report or provide any monitored, measured or collected data to the monitoring service198. In one embodiment, the monitoring agent197transmits information to the monitoring service198according to a schedule or a predetermined frequency. In another embodiment, the monitoring agent197transmits information to the monitoring service198upon detection of an event.

In some embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197performs monitoring and performance measurement of any network resource or network infrastructure element, such as a client, server, server farm, appliance200, appliance205, or network connection. In one embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197performs monitoring and performance measurement of any transport layer connection, such as a TCP or UDP connection. In another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures network latency. In yet one embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures bandwidth utilization.

In other embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures end-user response times. In some embodiments, the monitoring service198performs monitoring and performance measurement of an application. In another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197performs monitoring and performance measurement of any session or connection to the application. In one embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of a browser. In another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of HTTP based transactions. In some embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of a Voice over IP (VoIP) application or session. In other embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of a remote display protocol application, such as an ICA client or RDP client. In yet another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of any type and form of streaming media. In still a further embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of a hosted application or a Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) delivery model.

In some embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197performs monitoring and performance measurement of one or more transactions, requests or responses related to application. In other embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures any portion of an application layer stack, such as any .NET or J2EE calls. In one embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures database or SQL transactions. In yet another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures any method, function or application programming interface (API) call.

In one embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197performs monitoring and performance measurement of a delivery of application and/or data from a server to a client via one or more appliances, such as appliance200and/or appliance205. In some embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of delivery of a virtualized application. In other embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of delivery of a streaming application. In another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of delivery of a desktop application to a client and/or the execution of the desktop application on the client. In another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of a client/server application.

In one embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197is designed and constructed to provide application performance management for the application delivery system190. For example, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197may monitor, measure and manage the performance of the delivery of applications via the Citrix Presentation Server. In this example, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors individual ICA sessions. The monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197may measure the total and per session system resource usage, as well as application and networking performance. The monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197may identify the active servers for a given user and/or user session. In some embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197monitors back-end connections between the application delivery system190and an application and/or database server. The monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197may measure network latency, delay and volume per user-session or ICA session.

In some embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors memory usage for the application delivery system190, such as total memory usage, per user session and/or per process. In other embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors CPU usage the application delivery system190, such as total CPU usage, per user session and/or per process. In another embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors the time to log-in to an application, a server, or the application delivery system, such as Citrix Presentation Server. In one embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors the duration a user is logged into an application, a server, or the application delivery system190. In some embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors active and inactive session counts for an application, server or application delivery system session. In yet another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors user session latency.

In yet further embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors measures and monitors any type and form of server metrics. In one embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors metrics related to system memory, CPU usage, and disk storage. In another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors metrics related to page faults, such as page faults per second. In other embodiments, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors round-trip time metrics. In yet another embodiment, the monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent197measures and monitors metrics related to application crashes, errors and/or hangs.

In some embodiments, the monitoring service198and monitoring agent198includes any of the product embodiments referred to as EdgeSight manufactured by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. In another embodiment, the performance monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent198includes any portion of the product embodiments referred to as the TrueView product suite manufactured by the Symphoniq Corporation of Palo Alto, Calif. In one embodiment, the performance monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent198includes any portion of the product embodiments referred to as the TeaLeaf CX product suite manufactured by the TeaLeaf Technology Inc. of San Francisco, Calif. In other embodiments, the performance monitoring service198and/or monitoring agent198includes any portion of the business service management products, such as the BMC Performance Manager and Patrol products, manufactured by BMC Software, Inc. of Houston, Tex.

The client102, server106, and appliance200may be deployed as and/or executed on any type and form of computing device, such as a computer, network device or appliance capable of communicating on any type and form of network and performing the operations described herein.FIGS. 1E and 1Fdepict block diagrams of a computing device100useful for practicing an embodiment of the client102, server106or appliance200. As shown inFIGS. 1E and 1F, each computing device100includes a central processing unit101, and a main memory unit122. As shown inFIG. 1E, a computing device100may include a visual display device124, a keyboard126and/or a pointing device127, such as a mouse. Each computing device100may also include additional optional elements, such as one or more input/output devices130a-130b(generally referred to using reference numeral130), and a cache memory140in communication with the central processing unit101.

The central processing unit101is any logic circuitry that responds to and processes instructions fetched from the main memory unit122. In many embodiments, the central processing unit is provided by a microprocessor unit, such as: those manufactured by Intel Corporation of Mountain View, Calif.; those manufactured by Motorola Corporation of Schaumburg, Ill.; those manufactured by Transmeta Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif.; the RS/6000 processor, those manufactured by International Business Machines of White Plains, N.Y.; or those manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale, Calif. The computing device100may be based on any of these processors, or any other processor capable of operating as described herein.

Main memory unit122may be one or more memory chips capable of storing data and allowing any storage location to be directly accessed by the microprocessor101, such as Static random access memory (SRAM), Burst SRAM or SynchBurst SRAM (BSRAM), Dynamic random access memory (DRAM), Fast Page Mode DRAM (FPM DRAM), Enhanced DRAM (EDRAM), Extended Data Output RAM (EDO RAM), Extended Data Output DRAM (EDO DRAM), Burst Extended Data Output DRAM (BEDO DRAM), Enhanced DRAM (EDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), JEDEC SRAM, PC100 SDRAM, Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), SyncLink DRAM (SLDRAM), Direct Rambus DRAM (DRDRAM), or Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM). The main memory122may be based on any of the above described memory chips, or any other available memory chips capable of operating as described herein. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 1E, the processor101communicates with main memory122via a system bus150(described in more detail below).FIG. 1Fdepicts an embodiment of a computing device100in which the processor communicates directly with main memory122via a memory port103. For example, inFIG. 1Fthe main memory122may be DRDRAM.

FIG. 1Fdepicts an embodiment in which the main processor101communicates directly with cache memory140via a secondary bus, sometimes referred to as a backside bus. In other embodiments, the main processor101communicates with cache memory140using the system bus150. Cache memory140typically has a faster response time than main memory122and is typically provided by SRAM, BSRAM, or EDRAM. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 1F, the processor101communicates with various I/O devices130via a local system bus150. Various busses may be used to connect the central processing unit101to any of the I/O devices130, including a VESA VL bus, an ISA bus, an EISA bus, a MicroChannel Architecture (MCA) bus, a PCI bus, a PCI-X bus, a PCI-Express bus, or a NuBus. For embodiments in which the I/O device is a video display124, the processor101may use an Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) to communicate with the display124.FIG. 1Fdepicts an embodiment of a computer100in which the main processor101communicates directly with I/O device130bvia HyperTransport, Rapid I/O, or InfiniBand.FIG. 1Falso depicts an embodiment in which local busses and direct communication are mixed: the processor101communicates with I/O device130busing a local interconnect bus while communicating with I/O device130adirectly. The computing device100may support any suitable installation device116, such as a floppy disk drive for receiving floppy disks such as 3.5-inch, 5.25-inch disks or ZIP disks, a CD-ROM drive, a CD-R/RW drive, a DVD-ROM drive, tape drives of various formats, USB device, hard-drive or any other device suitable for installing software and programs such as any client agent120, or portion thereof. The computing device100may further include a storage device, such as one or more hard disk drives or redundant arrays of independent disks, for storing an operating system and other related software, and for storing application software programs such as any program or software120for implementing (e.g., software120configured, designed and/or customized for) the systems and methods described herein. Optionally, any of the installation devices116could also be used as the storage device128. Additionally, the operating system and the software can be run from a bootable medium, for example, a bootable CD, such as KNOPPIX®, a bootable CD for GNU/Linux that is available as a GNU/Linux distribution from knoppix.net.

Furthermore, the computing device100may include a network interface118to interface to a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) or the Internet through a variety of connections including, but not limited to, standard telephone lines, LAN or WAN links (e.g., 802.11, T1, T3, 56 kb, X.25), broadband connections (e.g., ISDN, Frame Relay, ATM), wireless connections, or some combination of any or all of the above. The network interface118may comprise a built-in network adapter, network interface card, PCMCIA network card, card bus network adapter, wireless network adapter, USB network adapter, modem or any other device suitable for interfacing the computing device100to any type of network capable of communication and performing the operations described herein.

A wide variety of I/O devices130a-130nmay be present in the computing device100. Input devices include keyboards, mice, trackpads, trackballs, microphones, and drawing tablets. Output devices include video displays, speakers, inkjet printers, laser printers, and dye-sublimation printers. The I/O devices130may be controlled by an I/O controller123as shown inFIG. 1E. The I/O controller may control one or more I/O devices such as a keyboard126and a pointing device127, e.g., a mouse or optical pen. Furthermore, an I/O device may also provide storage128and/or an installation medium116for the computing device100. In still other embodiments, the computing device100may provide USB connections to receive handheld USB storage devices such as the USB Flash Drive line of devices manufactured by Twintech Industry, Inc. of Los Alamitos, Calif.

In some embodiments, the computing device100may comprise or be connected to multiple display devices124a-124n, which each may be of the same or different type and/or form. As such, any of the I/O devices130a-130nand/or the I/O controller123may comprise any type and/or form of suitable hardware, software, or combination of hardware and software to support, enable or provide for the connection and use of multiple display devices124a-124nby the computing device100. For example, the computing device100may include any type and/or form of video adapter, video card, driver, and/or library to interface, communicate, connect or otherwise use the display devices124a-124n. In one embodiment, a video adapter may comprise multiple connectors to interface to multiple display devices124a-124n. In other embodiments, the computing device100may include multiple video adapters, with each video adapter connected to one or more of the display devices124a-124n. In some embodiments, any portion of the operating system of the computing device100may be configured for using multiple displays124a-124n. In other embodiments, one or more of the display devices124a-124nmay be provided by one or more other computing devices, such as computing devices100aand100bconnected to the computing device100, for example, via a network. These embodiments may include any type of software designed and constructed to use another computer's display device as a second display device124afor the computing device100. One ordinarily skilled in the art will recognize and appreciate the various ways and embodiments that a computing device100may be configured to have multiple display devices124a-124n.

In other embodiments, the computing device100may have different processors, operating systems, and input devices consistent with the device. For example, in one embodiment the computer100is a Treo 180, 270, 1060, 600 or 650 smart phone manufactured by Palm, Inc. In this embodiment, the Treo smart phone is operated under the control of the PalmOS operating system and includes a stylus input device as well as a five-way navigator device. Moreover, the computing device100can be any workstation, desktop computer, laptop or notebook computer, server, handheld computer, mobile telephone, any other computer, or other form of computing or telecommunications device that is capable of communication and that has sufficient processor power and memory capacity to perform the operations described herein.

As shown inFIG. 1G, the computing device100may comprise multiple processors and may provide functionality for simultaneous execution of instructions or for simultaneous execution of one instruction on more than one piece of data. In some embodiments, the computing device100may comprise a parallel processor with one or more cores. In one of these embodiments, the computing device100is a shared memory parallel device, with multiple processors and/or multiple processor cores, accessing all available memory as a single global address space. In another of these embodiments, the computing device100is a distributed memory parallel device with multiple processors each accessing local memory only. In still another of these embodiments, the computing device100has both some memory which is shared and some memory which can only be accessed by particular processors or subsets of processors. In still even another of these embodiments, the computing device100, such as a multi-core microprocessor, combines two or more independent processors into a single package, often a single integrated circuit (IC). In yet another of these embodiments, the computing device100includes a chip having a CELL BROADBAND ENGINE architecture and including a Power processor element and a plurality of synergistic processing elements, the Power processor element and the plurality of synergistic processing elements linked together by an internal high speed bus, which may be referred to as an element interconnect bus.

In some embodiments, the processors provide functionality for execution of a single instruction simultaneously on multiple pieces of data (SIMD). In other embodiments, the processors provide functionality for execution of multiple instructions simultaneously on multiple pieces of data (MIMD). In still other embodiments, the processor may use any combination of SIMD and MIMD cores in a single device.

In some embodiments, the computing device100may comprise a graphics processing unit. In one of these embodiments, depicted inFIG. 1H, the computing device100includes at least one central processing unit101and at least one graphics processing unit. In another of these embodiments, the computing device100includes at least one parallel processing unit and at least one graphics processing unit. In still another of these embodiments, the computing device100includes a plurality of processing units of any type, one of the plurality of processing units comprising a graphics processing unit.

In some embodiments, a first computing device100aexecutes an application on behalf of a user of a client computing device100b. In other embodiments, a computing device100aexecutes a virtual machine, which provides an execution session within which applications execute on behalf of a user or a client computing devices100b. In one of these embodiments, the execution session is a hosted desktop session. In another of these embodiments, the computing device100executes a terminal services session. The terminal services session may provide a hosted desktop environment. In still another of these embodiments, the execution session provides access to a computing environment, which may comprise one or more of: an application, a plurality of applications, a desktop application, and a desktop session in which one or more applications may execute.

B. Appliance Architecture

FIG. 2Aillustrates an example embodiment of the appliance200. The architecture of the appliance200inFIG. 2Ais provided by way of illustration only and is not intended to be limiting. As shown inFIG. 2, appliance200comprises a hardware layer206and a software layer divided into a user space202and a kernel space204.

Hardware layer206provides the hardware elements upon which programs and services within kernel space204and user space202are executed. Hardware layer206also provides the structures and elements which allow programs and services within kernel space204and user space202to communicate data both internally and externally with respect to appliance200. As shown inFIG. 2, the hardware layer206includes a processing unit262for executing software programs and services, a memory264for storing software and data, network ports266for transmitting and receiving data over a network, and an encryption processor260for performing functions related to Secure Sockets Layer processing of data transmitted and received over the network. In some embodiments, the central processing unit262may perform the functions of the encryption processor260in a single processor. Additionally, the hardware layer206may comprise multiple processors for each of the processing unit262and the encryption processor260. The processor262may include any of the processors101described above in connection withFIGS. 1E and 1F. For example, in one embodiment, the appliance200comprises a first processor262and a second processor262′. In other embodiments, the processor262or262′ comprises a multi-core processor.

Although the hardware layer206of appliance200is generally illustrated with an encryption processor260, processor260may be a processor for performing functions related to any encryption protocol, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. In some embodiments, the processor260may be a general purpose processor (GPP), and in further embodiments, may have executable instructions for performing processing of any security related protocol.

Although the hardware layer206of appliance200is illustrated with certain elements inFIG. 2, the hardware portions or components of appliance200may comprise any type and form of elements, hardware or software, of a computing device, such as the computing device100illustrated and discussed herein in conjunction withFIGS. 1E and 1F. In some embodiments, the appliance200may comprise a server, gateway, router, switch, bridge or other type of computing or network device, and have any hardware and/or software elements associated therewith.

The operating system of appliance200allocates, manages, or otherwise segregates the available system memory into kernel space204and user space204. In example software architecture200, the operating system may be any type and/or form of Unix operating system although the invention is not so limited. As such, the appliance200can be running any operating system such as any of the versions of the Microsoft® Windows operating systems, the different releases of the Unix and Linux operating systems, any version of the Mac OS® for Macintosh computers, any embedded operating system, any network operating system, any real-time operating system, any open source operating system, any proprietary operating system, any operating systems for mobile computing devices or network devices, or any other operating system capable of running on the appliance200and performing the operations described herein.

The kernel space204is reserved for running the kernel230, including any device drivers, kernel extensions or other kernel related software. As known to those skilled in the art, the kernel230is the core of the operating system, and provides access, control, and management of resources and hardware-related elements of the application104. In accordance with an embodiment of the appliance200, the kernel space204also includes a number of network services or processes working in conjunction with a cache manager232, sometimes also referred to as the integrated cache, the benefits of which are described in detail further herein. Additionally, the embodiment of the kernel230will depend on the embodiment of the operating system installed, configured, or otherwise used by the device200.

In one embodiment, the device200comprises one network stack267, such as a TCP/IP based stack, for communicating with the client102and/or the server106. In one embodiment, the network stack267is used to communicate with a first network, such as network108, and a second network110. In some embodiments, the device200terminates a first transport layer connection, such as a TCP connection of a client102, and establishes a second transport layer connection to a server106for use by the client102, e.g., the second transport layer connection is terminated at the appliance200and the server106. The first and second transport layer connections may be established via a single network stack267. In other embodiments, the device200may comprise multiple network stacks, for example267and267′, and the first transport layer connection may be established or terminated at one network stack267, and the second transport layer connection on the second network stack267′. For example, one network stack may be for receiving and transmitting network packet on a first network, and another network stack for receiving and transmitting network packets on a second network. In one embodiment, the network stack267comprises a buffer243for queuing one or more network packets for transmission by the appliance200.

As shown inFIG. 2, the kernel space204includes the cache manager232, a high-speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240, an encryption engine234, a policy engine236and multi-protocol compression logic238. Running these components or processes232,240,234,236and238in kernel space204or kernel mode instead of the user space202improves the performance of each of these components, alone and in combination. Kernel operation means that these components or processes232,240,234,236and238run in the core address space of the operating system of the device200. For example, running the encryption engine234in kernel mode improves encryption performance by moving encryption and decryption operations to the kernel, thereby reducing the number of transitions between the memory space or a kernel thread in kernel mode and the memory space or a thread in user mode. For example, data obtained in kernel mode may not need to be passed or copied to a process or thread running in user mode, such as from a kernel level data structure to a user level data structure. In another aspect, the number of context switches between kernel mode and user mode are also reduced. Additionally, synchronization of and communications between any of the components or processes232,240,235,236and238can be performed more efficiently in the kernel space204.

In some embodiments, any portion of the components232,240,234,236and238may run or operate in the kernel space204, while other portions of these components232,240,234,236and238may run or operate in user space202. In one embodiment, the appliance200uses a kernel-level data structure providing access to any portion of one or more network packets, for example, a network packet comprising a request from a client102or a response from a server106. In some embodiments, the kernel-level data structure may be obtained by the packet engine240via a transport layer driver interface or filter to the network stack267. The kernel-level data structure may comprise any interface and/or data accessible via the kernel space204related to the network stack267, network traffic or packets received or transmitted by the network stack267. In other embodiments, the kernel-level data structure may be used by any of the components or processes232,240,234,236and238to perform the desired operation of the component or process. In one embodiment, a component232,240,234,236and238is running in kernel mode204when using the kernel-level data structure, while in another embodiment, the component232,240,234,236and238is running in user mode when using the kernel-level data structure. In some embodiments, the kernel-level data structure may be copied or passed to a second kernel-level data structure, or any desired user-level data structure.

The cache manager232may comprise software, hardware or any combination of software and hardware to provide cache access, control and management of any type and form of content, such as objects or dynamically generated objects served by the originating servers106. The data, objects or content processed and stored by the cache manager232may comprise data in any format, such as a markup language, or communicated via any protocol. In some embodiments, the cache manager232duplicates original data stored elsewhere or data previously computed, generated or transmitted, in which the original data may need longer access time to fetch, compute or otherwise obtain relative to reading a cache memory element. Once the data is stored in the cache memory element, future use can be made by accessing the cached copy rather than refetching or recomputing the original data, thereby reducing the access time. In some embodiments, the cache memory element may comprise a data object in memory264of device200. In other embodiments, the cache memory element may comprise memory having a faster access time than memory264. In another embodiment, the cache memory element may comprise any type and form of storage element of the device200, such as a portion of a hard disk. In some embodiments, the processing unit262may provide cache memory for use by the cache manager232. In yet further embodiments, the cache manager232may use any portion and combination of memory, storage, or the processing unit for caching data, objects, and other content.

Furthermore, the cache manager232includes any logic, functions, rules, or operations to perform any embodiments of the techniques of the appliance200described herein. For example, the cache manager232includes logic or functionality to invalidate objects based on the expiration of an invalidation time period or upon receipt of an invalidation command from a client102or server106. In some embodiments, the cache manager232may operate as a program, service, process or task executing in the kernel space204, and in other embodiments, in the user space202. In one embodiment, a first portion of the cache manager232executes in the user space202while a second portion executes in the kernel space204. In some embodiments, the cache manager232can comprise any type of general purpose processor (GPP), or any other type of integrated circuit, such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).

The policy engine236may include, for example, an intelligent statistical engine or other programmable application(s). In one embodiment, the policy engine236provides a configuration mechanism to allow a user to identify, specify, define or configure a caching policy. Policy engine236, in some embodiments, also has access to memory to support data structures such as lookup tables or hash tables to enable user-selected caching policy decisions. In other embodiments, the policy engine236may comprise any logic, rules, functions or operations to determine and provide access, control and management of objects, data or content being cached by the appliance200in addition to access, control and management of security, network traffic, network access, compression or any other function or operation performed by the appliance200. Further examples of specific caching policies are further described herein.

The encryption engine234comprises any logic, business rules, functions or operations for handling the processing of any security related protocol, such as SSL or TLS, or any function related thereto. For example, the encryption engine234encrypts and decrypts network packets, or any portion thereof, communicated via the appliance200. The encryption engine234may also setup or establish SSL or TLS connections on behalf of the client102a-102n, server106a-106n, or appliance200. As such, the encryption engine234provides offloading and acceleration of SSL processing. In one embodiment, the encryption engine234uses a tunneling protocol to provide a virtual private network between a client102a-102nand a server106a-106n. In some embodiments, the encryption engine234is in communication with the Encryption processor260. In other embodiments, the encryption engine234comprises executable instructions running on the Encryption processor260.

The multi-protocol compression engine238comprises any logic, business rules, function or operations for compressing one or more protocols of a network packet, such as any of the protocols used by the network stack267of the device200. In one embodiment, multi-protocol compression engine238compresses bi-directionally between clients102a-102nand servers106a-106nany TCP/IP based protocol, including Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) (email), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol (file transfer), Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocol, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Mobile IP protocol, and Voice Over IP (VoIP) protocol. In other embodiments, multi-protocol compression engine238provides compression of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) based protocols and in some embodiments, provides compression of any markup languages, such as the Extensible Markup Language (XML). In one embodiment, the multi-protocol compression engine238provides compression of any high-performance protocol, such as any protocol designed for appliance200to appliance200communications. In another embodiment, the multi-protocol compression engine238compresses any payload of or any communication using a modified transport control protocol, such as Transaction TCP (T/TCP), TCP with selection acknowledgements (TCP-SACK), TCP with large windows (TCP-LW), a congestion prediction protocol such as the TCP-Vegas protocol, and a TCP spoofing protocol.

As such, the multi-protocol compression engine238accelerates performance for users accessing applications via desktop clients, e.g., Microsoft Outlook and non-Web thin clients, such as any client launched by popular enterprise applications like Oracle, SAP and Siebel, and even mobile clients, such as the Pocket PC. In some embodiments, the multi-protocol compression engine238by executing in the kernel mode204and integrating with packet processing engine240accessing the network stack267is able to compress any of the protocols carried by the TCP/IP protocol, such as any application layer protocol.

High speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240, also generally referred to as a packet processing engine or packet engine, is responsible for managing the kernel-level processing of packets received and transmitted by appliance200via network ports266. The high speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240may comprise a buffer for queuing one or more network packets during processing, such as for receipt of a network packet or transmission of a network packet. Additionally, the high speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240is in communication with one or more network stacks267to send and receive network packets via network ports266. The high speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240works in conjunction with encryption engine234, cache manager232, policy engine236and multi-protocol compression logic238. In particular, encryption engine234is configured to perform SSL processing of packets, policy engine236is configured to perform functions related to traffic management such as request-level content switching and request-level cache redirection, and multi-protocol compression logic238is configured to perform functions related to compression and decompression of data.

The high speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240includes a packet processing timer242. In one embodiment, the packet processing timer242provides one or more time intervals to trigger the processing of incoming, i.e., received, or outgoing, i.e., transmitted, network packets. In some embodiments, the high speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240processes network packets responsive to the timer242. The packet processing timer242provides any type and form of signal to the packet engine240to notify, trigger, or communicate a time related event, interval or occurrence. In many embodiments, the packet processing timer242operates in the order of milliseconds, such as for example 100 ms, 50 ms or 25 ms. For example, in some embodiments, the packet processing timer242provides time intervals or otherwise causes a network packet to be processed by the high speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240at a 10 ms time interval, while in other embodiments, at a 5 ms time interval, and still yet in further embodiments, as short as a 3, 2, or 1 ms time interval. The high speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240may be interfaced, integrated or in communication with the encryption engine234, cache manager232, policy engine236and multi-protocol compression engine238during operation. As such, any of the logic, functions, or operations of the encryption engine234, cache manager232, policy engine236and multi-protocol compression logic238may be performed responsive to the packet processing timer242and/or the packet engine240. Therefore, any of the logic, functions, or operations of the encryption engine234, cache manager232, policy engine236and multi-protocol compression logic238may be performed at the granularity of time intervals provided via the packet processing timer242, for example, at a time interval of less than or equal to 10 ms. For example, in one embodiment, the cache manager232may perform invalidation of any cached objects responsive to the high speed layer 2-7 integrated packet engine240and/or the packet processing timer242. In another embodiment, the expiry or invalidation time of a cached object can be set to the same order of granularity as the time interval of the packet processing timer242, such as at every 10 ms.

In contrast to kernel space204, user space202is the memory area or portion of the operating system used by user mode applications or programs otherwise running in user mode. A user mode application may not access kernel space204directly and uses service calls in order to access kernel services. As shown inFIG. 2, user space202of appliance200includes a graphical user interface (GUI)210, a command line interface (CLI)212, shell services214, health monitoring program216, and daemon services218. GUI210and CLI212provide a means by which a system administrator or other user can interact with and control the operation of appliance200, such as via the operating system of the appliance200. The GUI210or CLI212can comprise code running in user space202or kernel space204. The GUI210may be any type and form of graphical user interface and may be presented via text, graphical or otherwise, by any type of program or application, such as a browser. The CLI212may be any type and form of command line or text-based interface, such as a command line provided by the operating system. For example, the CLI212may comprise a shell, which is a tool to enable users to interact with the operating system. In some embodiments, the CLI212may be provided via a bash, csh, tcsh, or ksh type shell. The shell services214comprises the programs, services, tasks, processes or executable instructions to support interaction with the appliance200or operating system by a user via the GUI210and/or CLI212.

Health monitoring program216is used to monitor, check, report and ensure that network systems are functioning properly and that users are receiving requested content over a network. Health monitoring program216comprises one or more programs, services, tasks, processes or executable instructions to provide logic, rules, functions or operations for monitoring any activity of the appliance200. In some embodiments, the health monitoring program216intercepts and inspects any network traffic passed via the appliance200. In other embodiments, the health monitoring program216interfaces by any suitable means and/or mechanisms with one or more of the following: the encryption engine234, cache manager232, policy engine236, multi-protocol compression logic238, packet engine240, daemon services218, and shell services214. As such, the health monitoring program216may call any application programming interface (API) to determine a state, status, or health of any portion of the appliance200. For example, the health monitoring program216may ping or send a status inquiry on a periodic basis to check if a program, process, service or task is active and currently running. In another example, the health monitoring program216may check any status, error or history logs provided by any program, process, service or task to determine any condition, status or error with any portion of the appliance200.

Daemon services218are programs that run continuously or in the background and handle periodic service requests received by appliance200. In some embodiments, a daemon service may forward the requests to other programs or processes, such as another daemon service218as appropriate. As known to those skilled in the art, a daemon service218may run unattended to perform continuous or periodic system wide functions, such as network control, or to perform any desired task. In some embodiments, one or more daemon services218run in the user space202, while in other embodiments, one or more daemon services218run in the kernel space.

Referring now toFIG. 2B, another embodiment of the appliance200is depicted. In brief overview, the appliance200provides one or more of the following services, functionality or operations: SSL VPN connectivity280, switching/load balancing284, Domain Name Service resolution286, acceleration288and an application firewall290for communications between one or more clients102and one or more servers106. Each of the servers106may provide one or more network related services270a-270n(referred to as services270). For example, a server106may provide an http service270. The appliance200comprises one or more virtual servers or virtual internet protocol servers, referred to as a vServer, VIP server, or just VIP275a-275n(also referred herein as vServer275). The vServer275receives, intercepts or otherwise processes communications between a client102and a server106in accordance with the configuration and operations of the appliance200.

The vServer275may comprise software, hardware or any combination of software and hardware. The vServer275may comprise any type and form of program, service, task, process or executable instructions operating in user mode202, kernel mode204or any combination thereof in the appliance200. The vServer275includes any logic, functions, rules, or operations to perform any embodiments of the techniques described herein, such as SSL VPN280, switching/load balancing284, Domain Name Service resolution286, acceleration288and an application firewall290. In some embodiments, the vServer275establishes a connection to a service270of a server106. The service275may comprise any program, application, process, task or set of executable instructions capable of connecting to and communicating to the appliance200, client102or vServer275. For example, the service275may comprise a web server, http server, ftp, email or database server. In some embodiments, the service270is a daemon process or network driver for listening, receiving and/or sending communications for an application, such as email, database or an enterprise application. In some embodiments, the service270may communicate on a specific IP address, or IP address and port.

In some embodiments, the vServer275applies one or more policies of the policy engine236to network communications between the client102and server106. In one embodiment, the policies are associated with a vServer275. In another embodiment, the policies are based on a user, or a group of users. In yet another embodiment, a policy is global and applies to one or more vServers275a-275n, and any user or group of users communicating via the appliance200. In some embodiments, the policies of the policy engine have conditions upon which the policy is applied based on any content of the communication, such as internet protocol address, port, protocol type, header or fields in a packet, or the context of the communication, such as user, group of the user, vServer275, transport layer connection, and/or identification or attributes of the client102or server106.

In other embodiments, the appliance200communicates or interfaces with the policy engine236to determine authentication and/or authorization of a remote user or a remote client102to access the computing environment15, application, and/or data file from a server106. In another embodiment, the appliance200communicates or interfaces with the policy engine236to determine authentication and/or authorization of a remote user or a remote client102to have the application delivery system190deliver one or more of the computing environment15, application, and/or data file. In yet another embodiment, the appliance200establishes a VPN or SSL VPN connection based on the policy engine's236authentication and/or authorization of a remote user or a remote client102In one embodiment, the appliance200controls the flow of network traffic and communication sessions based on policies of the policy engine236. For example, the appliance200may control the access to a computing environment15, application or data file based on the policy engine236.

In some embodiments, the vServer275establishes a transport layer connection, such as a TCP or UDP connection with a client102via the client agent120. In one embodiment, the vServer275listens for and receives communications from the client102. In other embodiments, the vServer275establishes a transport layer connection, such as a TCP or UDP connection with a client server106. In one embodiment, the vServer275establishes the transport layer connection to an internet protocol address and port of a server270running on the server106. In another embodiment, the vServer275associates a first transport layer connection to a client102with a second transport layer connection to the server106. In some embodiments, a vServer275establishes a pool of transport layer connections to a server106and multiplexes client requests via the pooled transport layer connections.

In some embodiments, the appliance200provides a SSL VPN connection280between a client102and a server106. For example, a client102on a first network102requests to establish a connection to a server106on a second network104′. In some embodiments, the second network104′ is not routable from the first network104. In other embodiments, the client102is on a public network104and the server106is on a private network104′, such as a corporate network. In one embodiment, the client agent120intercepts communications of the client102on the first network104, encrypts the communications, and transmits the communications via a first transport layer connection to the appliance200. The appliance200associates the first transport layer connection on the first network104to a second transport layer connection to the server106on the second network104. The appliance200receives the intercepted communication from the client agent102, decrypts the communications, and transmits the communication to the server106on the second network104via the second transport layer connection. The second transport layer connection may be a pooled transport layer connection. As such, the appliance200provides an end-to-end secure transport layer connection for the client102between the two networks104,104′.

In one embodiment, the appliance200hosts an intranet internet protocol or IntranetIP282address of the client102on the virtual private network104. The client102has a local network identifier, such as an internet protocol (IP) address and/or host name on the first network104. When connected to the second network104′ via the appliance200, the appliance200establishes, assigns or otherwise provides an IntranetIP address282, which is a network identifier, such as IP address and/or host name, for the client102on the second network104′. The appliance200listens for and receives on the second or private network104′ for any communications directed towards the client102using the client's established IntranetIP282. In one embodiment, the appliance200acts as or on behalf of the client102on the second private network104. For example, in another embodiment, a vServer275listens for and responds to communications to the IntranetIP282of the client102. In some embodiments, if a computing device100on the second network104′ transmits a request, the appliance200processes the request as if it were the client102. For example, the appliance200may respond to a ping to the client's IntranetIP282. In another example, the appliance may establish a connection, such as a TCP or UDP connection, with computing device100on the second network104requesting a connection with the client's IntranetIP282.

In some embodiments, the appliance200provides one or more of the following acceleration techniques288to communications between the client102and server106: 1) compression; 2) decompression; 3) Transmission Control Protocol pooling; 4) Transmission Control Protocol multiplexing; 5) Transmission Control Protocol buffering; and 6) caching. In one embodiment, the appliance200relieves servers106of much of the processing load caused by repeatedly opening and closing transport layers connections to clients102by opening one or more transport layer connections with each server106and maintaining these connections to allow repeated data accesses by clients via the Internet. This technique is referred to herein as “connection pooling”.

In some embodiments, in order to seamlessly splice communications from a client102to a server106via a pooled transport layer connection, the appliance200translates or multiplexes communications by modifying sequence number and acknowledgment numbers at the transport layer protocol level. This is referred to as “connection multiplexing”. In some embodiments, no application layer protocol interaction may be required. For example, in the case of an in-bound packet (that is, a packet received from a client102), the source network address of the packet is changed to that of an output port of appliance200, and the destination network address is changed to that of the intended server. In the case of an outbound packet (that is, one received from a server106), the source network address is changed from that of the server106to that of an output port of appliance200and the destination address is changed from that of appliance200to that of the requesting client102. The sequence numbers and acknowledgment numbers of the packet are also translated to sequence numbers and acknowledgement numbers expected by the client102on the appliance's200transport layer connection to the client102. In some embodiments, the packet checksum of the transport layer protocol is recalculated to account for these translations.

In another embodiment, the appliance200provides switching or load-balancing functionality284for communications between the client102and server106. In some embodiments, the appliance200distributes traffic and directs client requests to a server106based on layer 4 or application-layer request data. In one embodiment, although the network layer or layer 2 of the network packet identifies a destination server106, the appliance200determines the server106to distribute the network packet by application information and data carried as payload of the transport layer packet. In one embodiment, the health monitoring programs216of the appliance200monitor the health of servers to determine the server106for which to distribute a client's request. In some embodiments, if the appliance200detects a server106is not available or has a load over a predetermined threshold, the appliance200can direct or distribute client requests to another server106.

In some embodiments, the appliance200acts as a Domain Name Service (DNS) resolver or otherwise provides resolution of a DNS request from clients102. In some embodiments, the appliance intercepts a DNS request transmitted by the client102. In one embodiment, the appliance200responds to a client's DNS request with an IP address of or hosted by the appliance200. In this embodiment, the client102transmits network communication for the domain name to the appliance200. In another embodiment, the appliance200responds to a client's DNS request with an IP address of or hosted by a second appliance200′. In some embodiments, the appliance200responds to a client's DNS request with an IP address of a server106determined by the appliance200.

In yet another embodiment, the appliance200provides application firewall functionality290for communications between the client102and server106. In one embodiment, the policy engine236provides rules for detecting and blocking illegitimate requests. In some embodiments, the application firewall290protects against denial of service (DoS) attacks. In other embodiments, the appliance inspects the content of intercepted requests to identify and block application-based attacks. In some embodiments, the rules/policy engine236comprises one or more application firewall or security control policies for providing protections against various classes and types of web or Internet based vulnerabilities, such as one or more of the following: 1) buffer overflow, 2) CGI-BIN parameter manipulation, 3) form/hidden field manipulation, 4) forceful browsing, 5) cookie or session poisoning, 6) broken access control list (ACLs) or weak passwords, 7) cross-site scripting (XSS), 8) command injection, 9) SQL injection, 10) error triggering sensitive information leak, 11) insecure use of cryptography, 12) server misconfiguration, 13) back doors and debug options, 14) website defacement, 15) platform or operating systems vulnerabilities, and 16) zero-day exploits. In an embodiment, the application firewall290provides HTML form field protection in the form of inspecting or analyzing the network communication for one or more of the following: 1) some required fields are returned, 2) no added field allowed, 3) read-only and hidden field enforcement, 4) drop-down list and radio button field conformance, and 5) form-field max-length enforcement. In some embodiments, the application firewall290ensures cookies are not modified. In other embodiments, the application firewall290protects against forceful browsing by enforcing legal URLs.

In still yet other embodiments, the application firewall290protects any confidential information contained in the network communication. The application firewall290may inspect or analyze any network communication in accordance with the rules or polices of the engine236to identify any confidential information in any field of the network packet. In some embodiments, the application firewall290identifies in the network communication one or more occurrences of a credit card number, password, social security number, name, patient code, contact information, and age. The encoded portion of the network communication may comprise these occurrences or the confidential information. Based on these occurrences, in one embodiment, the application firewall290may take a policy action on the network communication, such as prevent transmission of the network communication. In another embodiment, the application firewall290may rewrite, remove or otherwise mask such identified occurrence or confidential information.

Still referring toFIG. 2B, the appliance200may include a performance monitoring agent197as discussed above in conjunction withFIG. 1D. In one embodiment, the appliance200receives the monitoring agent197from the monitoring service198or monitoring server106as depicted inFIG. 1D. In some embodiments, the appliance200stores the monitoring agent197in storage, such as disk, for delivery to any client or server in communication with the appliance200. For example, in one embodiment, the appliance200transmits the monitoring agent197to a client upon receiving a request to establish a transport layer connection. In other embodiments, the appliance200transmits the monitoring agent197upon establishing the transport layer connection with the client102. In another embodiment, the appliance200transmits the monitoring agent197to the client upon intercepting or detecting a request for a web page. In yet another embodiment, the appliance200transmits the monitoring agent197to a client or a server in response to a request from the monitoring server198. In one embodiment, the appliance200transmits the monitoring agent197to a second appliance200′ or appliance205.

In other embodiments, the appliance200executes the monitoring agent197. In one embodiment, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors the performance of any application, program, process, service, task or thread executing on the appliance200. For example, the monitoring agent197may monitor and measure performance and operation of vServers275A-275N. In another embodiment, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors the performance of any transport layer connections of the appliance200. In some embodiments, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors the performance of any user sessions traversing the appliance200. In one embodiment, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors the performance of any virtual private network connections and/or sessions traversing the appliance200, such as an SSL VPN session. In still further embodiments, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors the memory, CPU and disk usage and performance of the appliance200. In yet another embodiment, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors the performance of any acceleration technique288performed by the appliance200, such as SSL offloading, connection pooling and multiplexing, caching, and compression. In some embodiments, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors the performance of any load balancing and/or content switching284performed by the appliance200. In other embodiments, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors the performance of application firewall290protection and processing performed by the appliance200.

C. Client Agent

Referring now toFIG. 3, an embodiment of the client agent120is depicted. The client102includes a client agent120for establishing and exchanging communications with the appliance200and/or server106via a network104. In brief overview, the client102operates on computing device100having an operating system with a kernel mode302and a user mode303, and a network stack310with one or more layers310a-310b. The client102may have installed and/or execute one or more applications. In some embodiments, one or more applications may communicate via the network stack310to a network104. One of the applications, such as a web browser, may also include a first program322. For example, the first program322may be used in some embodiments to install and/or execute the client agent120, or any portion thereof. The client agent120includes an interception mechanism, or interceptor350, for intercepting network communications from the network stack310from the one or more applications.

The network stack310of the client102may comprise any type and form of software, or hardware, or any combinations thereof, for providing connectivity to and communications with a network. In one embodiment, the network stack310comprises a software implementation for a network protocol suite. The network stack310may comprise one or more network layers, such as any networks layers of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communications model as those skilled in the art recognize and appreciate. As such, the network stack310may comprise any type and form of protocols for any of the following layers of the OSI model: 1) physical link layer, 2) data link layer, 3) network layer, 4) transport layer, 5) session layer, 6) presentation layer, and 7) application layer. In one embodiment, the network stack310may comprise a transport control protocol (TCP) over the network layer protocol of the internet protocol (IP), generally referred to as TCP/IP. In some embodiments, the TCP/IP protocol may be carried over the Ethernet protocol, which may comprise any of the family of IEEE wide-area-network (WAN) or local-area-network (LAN) protocols, such as those protocols covered by the IEEE 802.3. In some embodiments, the network stack310comprises any type and form of a wireless protocol, such as IEEE 802.11 and/or mobile internet protocol.

In view of a TCP/IP based network, any TCP/IP based protocol may be used, including Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) (email), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol (file transfer), Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocol, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Mobile IP protocol, and Voice Over IP (VoIP) protocol. In another embodiment, the network stack310comprises any type and form of transport control protocol, such as a modified transport control protocol, for example a Transaction TCP (T/TCP), TCP with selection acknowledgements (TCP-SACK), TCP with large windows (TCP-LW), a congestion prediction protocol such as the TCP-Vegas protocol, and a TCP spoofing protocol. In other embodiments, any type and form of user datagram protocol (UDP), such as UDP over IP, may be used by the network stack310, such as for voice communications or real-time data communications.

Furthermore, the network stack310may include one or more network drivers supporting the one or more layers, such as a TCP driver or a network layer driver. The network drivers may be included as part of the operating system of the computing device100or as part of any network interface cards or other network access components of the computing device100. In some embodiments, any of the network drivers of the network stack310may be customized, modified or adapted to provide a custom or modified portion of the network stack310in support of any of the techniques described herein. In other embodiments, the acceleration program302is designed and constructed to operate with or work in conjunction with the network stack310installed or otherwise provided by the operating system of the client102.

The network stack310comprises any type and form of interfaces for receiving, obtaining, providing or otherwise accessing any information and data related to network communications of the client102. In one embodiment, an interface to the network stack310comprises an application programming interface (API). The interface may also comprise any function call, hooking or filtering mechanism, event or call back mechanism, or any type of interfacing technique. The network stack310via the interface may receive or provide any type and form of data structure, such as an object, related to functionality or operation of the network stack310. For example, the data structure may comprise information and data related to a network packet or one or more network packets. In some embodiments, the data structure comprises a portion of the network packet processed at a protocol layer of the network stack310, such as a network packet of the transport layer. In some embodiments, the data structure325comprises a kernel-level data structure, while in other embodiments, the data structure325comprises a user-mode data structure. A kernel-level data structure may comprise a data structure obtained or related to a portion of the network stack310operating in kernel-mode302, or a network driver or other software running in kernel-mode302, or any data structure obtained or received by a service, process, task, thread or other executable instructions running or operating in kernel-mode of the operating system.

Additionally, some portions of the network stack310may execute or operate in kernel-mode302, for example, the data link or network layer, while other portions execute or operate in user-mode303, such as an application layer of the network stack310. For example, a first portion310aof the network stack may provide user-mode access to the network stack310to an application while a second portion310aof the network stack310provides access to a network. In some embodiments, a first portion310aof the network stack may comprise one or more upper layers of the network stack310, such as any of layers 5-7. In other embodiments, a second portion310bof the network stack310comprises one or more lower layers, such as any of layers 1-4. Each of the first portion310aand second portion310bof the network stack310may comprise any portion of the network stack310, at any one or more network layers, in user-mode203, kernel-mode,202, or combinations thereof, or at any portion of a network layer or interface point to a network layer or any portion of or interface point to the user-mode203and kernel-mode203.

The interceptor350may comprise software, hardware, or any combination of software and hardware. In one embodiment, the interceptor350intercept a network communication at any point in the network stack310, and redirects or transmits the network communication to a destination desired, managed or controlled by the interceptor350or client agent120. For example, the interceptor350may intercept a network communication of a network stack310of a first network and transmit the network communication to the appliance200for transmission on a second network104. In some embodiments, the interceptor350comprises any type interceptor350comprises a driver, such as a network driver constructed and designed to interface and work with the network stack310. In some embodiments, the client agent120and/or interceptor350operates at one or more layers of the network stack310, such as at the transport layer. In one embodiment, the interceptor350comprises a filter driver, hooking mechanism, or any form and type of suitable network driver interface that interfaces to the transport layer of the network stack, such as via the transport driver interface (TDI). In some embodiments, the interceptor350interfaces to a first protocol layer, such as the transport layer and another protocol layer, such as any layer above the transport protocol layer, for example, an application protocol layer. In one embodiment, the interceptor350may comprise a driver complying with the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS), or a NDIS driver. In another embodiment, the interceptor350may comprise a mini-filter or a mini-port driver. In one embodiment, the interceptor350, or portion thereof, operates in kernel-mode202. In another embodiment, the interceptor350, or portion thereof, operates in user-mode203. In some embodiments, a portion of the interceptor350operates in kernel-mode202while another portion of the interceptor350operates in user-mode203. In other embodiments, the client agent120operates in user-mode203but interfaces via the interceptor350to a kernel-mode driver, process, service, task or portion of the operating system, such as to obtain a kernel-level data structure225. In further embodiments, the interceptor350is a user-mode application or program, such as application.

In one embodiment, the interceptor350intercepts any transport layer connection requests. In these embodiments, the interceptor350execute transport layer application programming interface (API) calls to set the destination information, such as destination IP address and/or port to a desired location for the location. In this manner, the interceptor350intercepts and redirects the transport layer connection to a IP address and port controlled or managed by the interceptor350or client agent120. In one embodiment, the interceptor350sets the destination information for the connection to a local IP address and port of the client102on which the client agent120is listening. For example, the client agent120may comprise a proxy service listening on a local IP address and port for redirected transport layer communications. In some embodiments, the client agent120then communicates the redirected transport layer communication to the appliance200.

In some embodiments, the interceptor350intercepts a Domain Name Service (DNS) request. In one embodiment, the client agent120and/or interceptor350resolves the DNS request. In another embodiment, the interceptor transmits the intercepted DNS request to the appliance200for DNS resolution. In one embodiment, the appliance200resolves the DNS request and communicates the DNS response to the client agent120. In some embodiments, the appliance200resolves the DNS request via another appliance200′ or a DNS server106.

In yet another embodiment, the client agent120may comprise two agents120and120′. In one embodiment, a first agent120may comprise an interceptor350operating at the network layer of the network stack310. In some embodiments, the first agent120intercepts network layer requests such as Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) requests (e.g., ping and traceroute). In other embodiments, the second agent120′ may operate at the transport layer and intercept transport layer communications. In some embodiments, the first agent120intercepts communications at one layer of the network stack210and interfaces with or communicates the intercepted communication to the second agent120′.

The client agent120and/or interceptor350may operate at or interface with a protocol layer in a manner transparent to any other protocol layer of the network stack310. For example, in one embodiment, the interceptor350operates or interfaces with the transport layer of the network stack310transparently to any protocol layer below the transport layer, such as the network layer, and any protocol layer above the transport layer, such as the session, presentation or application layer protocols. This allows the other protocol layers of the network stack310to operate as desired and without modification for using the interceptor350. As such, the client agent120and/or interceptor350can interface with the transport layer to secure, optimize, accelerate, route or load-balance any communications provided via any protocol carried by the transport layer, such as any application layer protocol over TCP/IP.

Furthermore, the client agent120and/or interceptor may operate at or interface with the network stack310in a manner transparent to any application, a user of the client102, and any other computing device, such as a server, in communications with the client102. The client agent120and/or interceptor350may be installed and/or executed on the client102in a manner without modification of an application. In some embodiments, the user of the client102or a computing device in communications with the client102are not aware of the existence, execution or operation of the client agent120and/or interceptor350. As such, in some embodiments, the client agent120and/or interceptor350is installed, executed, and/or operated transparently to an application, user of the client102, another computing device, such as a server, or any of the protocol layers above and/or below the protocol layer interfaced to by the interceptor350.

The client agent120includes an acceleration program302, a streaming client306, a collection agent304, and/or monitoring agent197. In one embodiment, the client agent120comprises an Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) client, or any portion thereof, developed by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and is also referred to as an ICA client. In some embodiments, the client120comprises an application streaming client306for streaming an application from a server106to a client102. In some embodiments, the client agent120comprises an acceleration program302for accelerating communications between client102and server106. In another embodiment, the client agent120includes a collection agent304for performing end-point detection/scanning and collecting end-point information for the appliance200and/or server106.

In some embodiments, the acceleration program302comprises a client-side acceleration program for performing one or more acceleration techniques to accelerate, enhance or otherwise improve a client's communications with and/or access to a server106, such as accessing an application provided by a server106. The logic, functions, and/or operations of the executable instructions of the acceleration program302may perform one or more of the following acceleration techniques: 1) multi-protocol compression, 2) transport control protocol pooling, 3) transport control protocol multiplexing, 4) transport control protocol buffering, and 5) caching via a cache manager. Additionally, the acceleration program302may perform encryption and/or decryption of any communications received and/or transmitted by the client102. In some embodiments, the acceleration program302performs one or more of the acceleration techniques in an integrated manner or fashion. Additionally, the acceleration program302can perform compression on any of the protocols, or multiple-protocols, carried as a payload of a network packet of the transport layer protocol. The streaming client306comprises an application, program, process, service, task or executable instructions for receiving and executing a streamed application from a server106. A server106may stream one or more application data files to the streaming client306for playing, executing or otherwise causing to be executed the application on the client102. In some embodiments, the server106transmits a set of compressed or packaged application data files to the streaming client306. In some embodiments, the plurality of application files are compressed and stored on a file server within an archive file such as a CAB, ZIP, SIT, TAR, JAR or other archive. In one embodiment, the server106decompresses, unpackages or unarchives the application files and transmits the files to the client102. In another embodiment, the client102decompresses, unpackages or unarchives the application files. The streaming client306dynamically installs the application, or portion thereof, and executes the application. In one embodiment, the streaming client306may be an executable program. In some embodiments, the streaming client306may be able to launch another executable program.

The collection agent304comprises an application, program, process, service, task or executable instructions for identifying, obtaining and/or collecting information about the client102. In some embodiments, the appliance200transmits the collection agent304to the client102or client agent120. The collection agent304may be configured according to one or more policies of the policy engine236of the appliance. In other embodiments, the collection agent304transmits collected information on the client102to the appliance200. In one embodiment, the policy engine236of the appliance200uses the collected information to determine and provide access, authentication and authorization control of the client's connection to a network104.

In one embodiment, the collection agent304comprises an end-point detection and scanning mechanism, which identifies and determines one or more attributes or characteristics of the client. For example, the collection agent304may identify and determine any one or more of the following client-side attributes: 1) the operating system an/or a version of an operating system, 2) a service pack of the operating system, 3) a running service, 4) a running process, and 5) a file. The collection agent304may also identify and determine the presence or versions of any one or more of the following on the client: 1) antivirus software, 2) personal firewall software, 3) anti-spam software, and 4) internet security software. The policy engine236may have one or more policies based on any one or more of the attributes or characteristics of the client or client-side attributes.

In some embodiments, the client agent120includes a monitoring agent197as discussed in conjunction withFIGS. 1D and 2B. The monitoring agent197may be any type and form of script, such as Visual Basic or Java script. In one embodiment, the monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of any portion of the client agent120. For example, in some embodiments, the monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of the acceleration program302. In another embodiment, the monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of the streaming client306. In other embodiments, the monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of the collection agent304. In still another embodiment, the monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of the interceptor350. In some embodiments, the monitoring agent197monitors and measures any resource of the client102, such as memory, CPU and disk.

The monitoring agent197may monitor and measure performance of any application of the client. In one embodiment, the monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of a browser on the client102. In some embodiments, the monitoring agent197monitors and measures performance of any application delivered via the client agent120. In other embodiments, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors end user response times for an application, such as web-based or HTTP response times. The monitoring agent197may monitor and measure performance of an ICA or RDP client. In another embodiment, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors metrics for a user session or application session. In some embodiments, monitoring agent197measures and monitors an ICA or RDP session. In one embodiment, the monitoring agent197measures and monitors the performance of the appliance200in accelerating delivery of an application and/or data to the client102.

In some embodiments and still referring toFIG. 3, a first program322may be used to install and/or execute the client agent120, or portion thereof, such as the interceptor350, automatically, silently, transparently, or otherwise. In one embodiment, the first program322comprises a plugin component, such an ActiveX control or Java control or script that is loaded into and executed by an application. For example, the first program comprises an ActiveX control loaded and run by a web browser application, such as in the memory space or context of the application. In another embodiment, the first program322comprises a set of executable instructions loaded into and run by the application, such as a browser. In one embodiment, the first program322comprises a designed and constructed program to install the client agent120. In some embodiments, the first program322obtains, downloads, or receives the client agent120via the network from another computing device. In another embodiment, the first program322is an installer program or a plug and play manager for installing programs, such as network drivers, on the operating system of the client102.

D. Systems and Methods for Providing Virtualized Application Delivery Controller

Referring now toFIG. 4A, a block diagram depicts one embodiment of a virtualization environment400. In brief overview, a computing device100includes a hypervisor layer, a virtualization layer, and a hardware layer. The hypervisor layer includes a hypervisor401(also referred to as a virtualization manager) that allocates and manages access to a number of physical resources in the hardware layer (e.g., the processor(s)421, and disk(s)428) by at least one virtual machine executing in the virtualization layer. The virtualization layer includes at least one operating system410and a plurality of virtual resources allocated to the at least one operating system410. Virtual resources may include, without limitation, a plurality of virtual processors432a,432b,432c(generally432), and virtual disks442a,442b,442c(generally442), as well as virtual resources such as virtual memory and virtual network interfaces. The plurality of virtual resources and the operating system410may be referred to as a virtual machine406. A virtual machine406may include a control operating system405in communication with the hypervisor401and used to execute applications for managing and configuring other virtual machines on the computing device100.

In greater detail, a hypervisor401may provide virtual resources to an operating system in any manner which simulates the operating system having access to a physical device. A hypervisor401may provide virtual resources to any number of guest operating systems410a,410b(generally410). In some embodiments, a computing device100executes one or more types of hypervisors. In these embodiments, hypervisors may be used to emulate virtual hardware, partition physical hardware, virtualize physical hardware, and execute virtual machines that provide access to computing environments. Hypervisors may include those manufactured by VMWare, Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif.; the XEN hypervisor, an open source product whose development is overseen by the open source Xen.org community; HyperV, VirtualServer or virtual PC hypervisors provided by Microsoft, or others. In some embodiments, a computing device100executing a hypervisor that creates a virtual machine platform on which guest operating systems may execute is referred to as a host server. In one of these embodiments, for example, the computing device100is a XEN SERVER provided by Citrix Systems, Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

In some embodiments, a hypervisor401executes within an operating system executing on a computing device. In one of these embodiments, a computing device executing an operating system and a hypervisor401may be said to have a host operating system (the operating system executing on the computing device), and a guest operating system (an operating system executing within a computing resource partition provided by the hypervisor401). In other embodiments, a hypervisor401interacts directly with hardware on a computing device, instead of executing on a host operating system. In one of these embodiments, the hypervisor401may be said to be executing on “bare metal,” referring to the hardware comprising the computing device.

In some embodiments, a hypervisor401may create a virtual machine406a-c(generally406) in which an operating system410executes. In one of these embodiments, for example, the hypervisor401loads a virtual machine image to create a virtual machine406. In another of these embodiments, the hypervisor401executes an operating system410within the virtual machine406. In still another of these embodiments, the virtual machine406executes an operating system410.

In some embodiments, the hypervisor401controls processor scheduling and memory partitioning for a virtual machine406executing on the computing device100. In one of these embodiments, the hypervisor401controls the execution of at least one virtual machine406. In another of these embodiments, the hypervisor401presents at least one virtual machine406with an abstraction of at least one hardware resource provided by the computing device100. In other embodiments, the hypervisor401controls whether and how physical processor capabilities are presented to the virtual machine406.

A control operating system405may execute at least one application for managing and configuring the guest operating systems. In one embodiment, the control operating system405may execute an administrative application, such as an application including a user interface providing administrators with access to functionality for managing the execution of a virtual machine, including functionality for executing a virtual machine, terminating an execution of a virtual machine, or identifying a type of physical resource for allocation to the virtual machine. In another embodiment, the hypervisor401executes the control operating system405within a virtual machine406created by the hypervisor401. In still another embodiment, the control operating system405executes in a virtual machine406that is authorized to directly access physical resources on the computing device100. In some embodiments, a control operating system405aon a computing device100amay exchange data with a control operating system405bon a computing device100b, via communications between a hypervisor401aand a hypervisor401b. In this way, one or more computing devices100may exchange data with one or more of the other computing devices100regarding processors and other physical resources available in a pool of resources. In one of these embodiments, this functionality allows a hypervisor to manage a pool of resources distributed across a plurality of physical computing devices. In another of these embodiments, multiple hypervisors manage one or more of the guest operating systems executed on one of the computing devices100.

In one embodiment, the control operating system405executes in a virtual machine406that is authorized to interact with at least one guest operating system410. In another embodiment, a guest operating system410communicates with the control operating system405via the hypervisor401in order to request access to a disk or a network. In still another embodiment, the guest operating system410and the control operating system405may communicate via a communication channel established by the hypervisor401, such as, for example, via a plurality of shared memory pages made available by the hypervisor401.

In some embodiments, the control operating system405includes a network back-end driver for communicating directly with networking hardware provided by the computing device100. In one of these embodiments, the network back-end driver processes at least one virtual machine request from at least one guest operating system110. In other embodiments, the control operating system405includes a block back-end driver for communicating with a storage element on the computing device100. In one of these embodiments, the block back-end driver reads and writes data from the storage element based upon at least one request received from a guest operating system410.

In one embodiment, the control operating system405includes a tools stack404. In another embodiment, a tools stack404provides functionality for interacting with the hypervisor401, communicating with other control operating systems405(for example, on a second computing device100b), or managing virtual machines406b,406con the computing device100. In another embodiment, the tools stack404includes customized applications for providing improved management functionality to an administrator of a virtual machine farm. In some embodiments, at least one of the tools stack404and the control operating system405include a management API that provides an interface for remotely configuring and controlling virtual machines406running on a computing device100. In other embodiments, the control operating system405communicates with the hypervisor401through the tools stack404.

In one embodiment, the hypervisor401executes a guest operating system410within a virtual machine406created by the hypervisor401. In another embodiment, the guest operating system410provides a user of the computing device100with access to resources within a computing environment. In still another embodiment, a resource includes a program, an application, a document, a file, a plurality of applications, a plurality of files, an executable program file, a desktop environment, a computing environment, or other resource made available to a user of the computing device100. In yet another embodiment, the resource may be delivered to the computing device100via a plurality of access methods including, but not limited to, conventional installation directly on the computing device100, delivery to the computing device100via a method for application streaming, delivery to the computing device100of output data generated by an execution of the resource on a second computing device100′ and communicated to the computing device100via a presentation layer protocol, delivery to the computing device100of output data generated by an execution of the resource via a virtual machine executing on a second computing device100′, or execution from a removable storage device connected to the computing device100, such as a USB device, or via a virtual machine executing on the computing device100and generating output data. In some embodiments, the computing device100transmits output data generated by the execution of the resource to another computing device100′.

In one embodiment, the guest operating system410, in conjunction with the virtual machine on which it executes, forms a fully-virtualized virtual machine which is not aware that it is a virtual machine; such a machine may be referred to as a “Domain U HVM (Hardware Virtual Machine) virtual machine”. In another embodiment, a fully-virtualized machine includes software emulating a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) in order to execute an operating system within the fully-virtualized machine. In still another embodiment, a fully-virtualized machine may include a driver that provides functionality by communicating with the hypervisor401. In such an embodiment, the driver may be aware that it executes within a virtualized environment. In another embodiment, the guest operating system410, in conjunction with the virtual machine on which it executes, forms a paravirtualized virtual machine, which is aware that it is a virtual machine; such a machine may be referred to as a “Domain U PV virtual machine”. In another embodiment, a paravirtualized machine includes additional drivers that a fully-virtualized machine does not include. In still another embodiment, the paravirtualized machine includes the network back-end driver and the block back-end driver included in a control operating system405, as described above.

Referring now toFIG. 4B, a block diagram depicts one embodiment of a plurality of networked computing devices in a system in which at least one physical host executes a virtual machine. In brief overview, the system includes a management component404and a hypervisor401. The system includes a plurality of computing devices100, a plurality of virtual machines406, a plurality of hypervisors401, a plurality of management components referred to variously as tools stacks404or management components404, and a physical resource421,428. The plurality of physical machines100may each be provided as computing devices100, described above in connection withFIGS. 1E-1H and 4A.

In greater detail, a physical disk428is provided by a computing device100and stores at least a portion of a virtual disk442. In some embodiments, a virtual disk442is associated with a plurality of physical disks428. In one of these embodiments, one or more computing devices100may exchange data with one or more of the other computing devices100regarding processors and other physical resources available in a pool of resources, allowing a hypervisor to manage a pool of resources distributed across a plurality of physical computing devices. In some embodiments, a computing device100on which a virtual machine406executes is referred to as a physical host100or as a host machine100.

The hypervisor executes on a processor on the computing device100. The hypervisor allocates, to a virtual disk, an amount of access to the physical disk. In one embodiment, the hypervisor401allocates an amount of space on the physical disk. In another embodiment, the hypervisor401allocates a plurality of pages on the physical disk. In some embodiments, the hypervisor provisions the virtual disk442as part of a process of initializing and executing a virtual machine450.

In one embodiment, the management component404ais referred to as a pool management component404a. In another embodiment, a management operating system405a, which may be referred to as a control operating system405a, includes the management component. In some embodiments, the management component is referred to as a tools stack. In one of these embodiments, the management component is the tools stack404described above in connection withFIG. 4A. In other embodiments, the management component404provides a user interface for receiving, from a user such as an administrator, an identification of a virtual machine406to provision and/or execute. In still other embodiments, the management component404provides a user interface for receiving, from a user such as an administrator, the request for migration of a virtual machine406bfrom one physical machine100to another. In further embodiments, the management component404aidentifies a computing device100bon which to execute a requested virtual machine406dand instructs the hypervisor401bon the identified computing device100bto execute the identified virtual machine; such a management component may be referred to as a pool management component.

Referring now toFIG. 4C, embodiments of a virtual application delivery controller or virtual appliance450are depicted. In brief overview, any of the functionality and/or embodiments of the appliance200(e.g., an application delivery controller) described above in connection withFIGS. 2A and 2Bmay be deployed in any embodiment of the virtualized environment described above in connection withFIGS. 4A and 4B. Instead of the functionality of the application delivery controller being deployed in the form of an appliance200, such functionality may be deployed in a virtualized environment400on any computing device100, such as a client102, server106or appliance200.

Referring now toFIG. 4C, a diagram of an embodiment of a virtual appliance450operating on a hypervisor401of a server106is depicted. As with the appliance200ofFIGS. 2A and 2B, the virtual appliance450may provide functionality for availability, performance, offload and security. For availability, the virtual appliance may perform load balancing between layers4and7of the network and may also perform intelligent service health monitoring. For performance increases via network traffic acceleration, the virtual appliance may perform caching and compression. To offload processing of any servers, the virtual appliance may perform connection multiplexing and pooling and/or SSL processing. For security, the virtual appliance may perform any of the application firewall functionality and SSL VPN function of appliance200.

Any of the modules of the appliance200as described in connection withFIG. 2Amay be packaged, combined, designed or constructed in a form of the virtualized appliance delivery controller450deployable as one or more software modules or components executable in a virtualized environment300or non-virtualized environment on any server, such as an off the shelf server. For example, the virtual appliance may be provided in the form of an installation package to install on a computing device. With reference toFIG. 2A, any of the cache manager232, policy engine236, compression238, encryption engine234, packet engine240, GUI210, CLI212, shell services214and health monitoring programs216may be designed and constructed as a software component or module to run on any operating system of a computing device and/or of a virtualized environment300. Instead of using the encryption processor260, processor262, memory264and network stack267of the appliance200, the virtualized appliance400may use any of these resources as provided by the virtualized environment400or as otherwise available on the server106.

Still referring toFIG. 4C, and in brief overview, any one or more vServers275A-275N may be in operation or executed in a virtualized environment400of any type of computing device100, such as any server106. Any of the modules or functionality of the appliance200described in connection withFIG. 2Bmay be designed and constructed to operate in either a virtualized or non-virtualized environment of a server. Any of the vServer275, SSL VPN280, Intranet UP282, Switching284, DNS286, acceleration288, App FW280and monitoring agent may be packaged, combined, designed or constructed in a form of application delivery controller450deployable as one or more software modules or components executable on a device and/or virtualized environment400.

In some embodiments, a server may execute multiple virtual machines406a-406nin the virtualization environment with each virtual machine running the same or different embodiments of the virtual application delivery controller450. In some embodiments, the server may execute one or more virtual appliances450on one or more virtual machines on a core of a multi-core processing system. In some embodiments, the server may execute one or more virtual appliances450on one or more virtual machines on each processor of a multiple processor device.

E. Systems and Methods for Providing A Multi-Core Architecture

In accordance with Moore's Law, the number of transistors that may be placed on an integrated circuit may double approximately every two years. However, CPU speed increases may reach plateaus, for example CPU speed has been around 3.5-4 GHz range since 2005. In some cases, CPU manufacturers may not rely on CPU speed increases to gain additional performance. Some CPU manufacturers may add additional cores to their processors to provide additional performance. Products, such as those of software and networking vendors, that rely on CPUs for performance gains may improve their performance by leveraging these multi-core CPUs. The software designed and constructed for a single CPU may be redesigned and/or rewritten to take advantage of a multi-threaded, parallel architecture or otherwise a multi-core architecture.

A multi-core architecture of the appliance200, referred to as nCore or multi-core technology, allows the appliance in some embodiments to break the single core performance barrier and to leverage the power of multi-core CPUs. In the previous architecture described in connection withFIG. 2A, a single network or packet engine is run. The multiple cores of the nCore technology and architecture allow multiple packet engines to run concurrently and/or in parallel. With a packet engine running on each core, the appliance architecture leverages the processing capacity of additional cores. In some embodiments, this provides up to a 7× increase in performance and scalability.

Illustrated inFIG. 5Aare some embodiments of work, task, load or network traffic distribution across one or more processor cores according to a type of parallelism or parallel computing scheme, such as functional parallelism, data parallelism or flow-based data parallelism. In brief overview,FIG. 5Aillustrates embodiments of a multi-core system such as an appliance200′ with n-cores, a total of cores numbers 1 through N. In one embodiment, work, load or network traffic can be distributed among a first core505A, a second core505B, a third core505C, a fourth core505D, a fifth core505E, a sixth core505F, a seventh core505G, and so on such that distribution is across all or two or more of the n cores505N (hereinafter referred to collectively as cores505.) There may be multiple VIPs275each running on a respective core of the plurality of cores. There may be multiple packet engines240each running on a respective core of the plurality of cores. Any of the approaches used may lead to different, varying or similar work load or performance level515across any of the cores. For a functional parallelism approach, each core may run a different function of the functionalities provided by the packet engine, a VIP275or appliance200. In a data parallelism approach, data may be paralleled or distributed across the cores based on the Network Interface Card (NIC) or VIP275receiving the data. In another data parallelism approach, processing may be distributed across the cores by distributing data flows to each core.

In further detail toFIG. 5A, in some embodiments, load, work or network traffic can be distributed among cores505according to functional parallelism500. Functional parallelism may be based on each core performing one or more respective functions. In some embodiments, a first core may perform a first function while a second core performs a second function. In functional parallelism approach, the functions to be performed by the multi-core system are divided and distributed to each core according to functionality. In some embodiments, functional parallelism may be referred to as task parallelism and may be achieved when each processor or core executes a different process or function on the same or different data. The core or processor may execute the same or different code. In some cases, different execution threads or code may communicate with one another as they work. Communication may take place to pass data from one thread to the next as part of a workflow.

In some embodiments, distributing work across the cores505according to functional parallelism500, can comprise distributing network traffic according to a particular function such as network input/output management (NW I/O)510A, secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption and decryption510B and transmission control protocol (TCP) functions510C. This may lead to a work, performance or computing load515based on a volume or level of functionality being used. In some embodiments, distributing work across the cores505according to data parallelism540, can comprise distributing an amount of work515based on distributing data associated with a particular hardware or software component. In some embodiments, distributing work across the cores505according to flow-based data parallelism520, can comprise distributing data based on a context or flow such that the amount of work515A-N on each core may be similar, substantially equal or relatively evenly distributed.

In the case of the functional parallelism approach, each core may be configured to run one or more functionalities of the plurality of functionalities provided by the packet engine or VIP of the appliance. For example, core1may perform network I/O processing for the appliance200′ while core2performs TCP connection management for the appliance. Likewise, core3may perform SSL offloading while core4may perform layer 7 or application layer processing and traffic management. Each of the cores may perform the same function or different functions. Each of the cores may perform more than one function. Any of the cores may run any of the functionality or portions thereof identified and/or described in conjunction withFIGS. 2A and 2B. In this the approach, the work across the cores may be divided by function in either a coarse-grained or fine-grained manner. In some cases, as illustrated inFIG. 5A, division by function may lead to different cores running at different levels of performance or load515.

In the case of the functional parallelism approach, each core may be configured to run one or more functionalities of the plurality of functionalities provided by the packet engine of the appliance. For example, core1may perform network I/O processing for the appliance200′ while core2performs TCP connection management for the appliance. Likewise, core3may perform SSL offloading while core4may perform layer 7 or application layer processing and traffic management. Each of the cores may perform the same function or different functions. Each of the cores may perform more than one function. Any of the cores may run any of the functionality or portions thereof identified and/or described in conjunction withFIGS. 2A and 2B. In this the approach, the work across the cores may be divided by function in either a coarse-grained or fine-grained manner. In some cases, as illustrated inFIG. 5Adivision by function may lead to different cores running at different levels of load or performance.

The functionality or tasks may be distributed in any arrangement and scheme. For example,FIG. 5Billustrates a first core, Core1505A, processing applications and processes associated with network I/O functionality510A. Network traffic associated with network I/O, in some embodiments, can be associated with a particular port number. Thus, outgoing and incoming packets having a port destination associated with NW PO510A will be directed towards Core1505A which is dedicated to handling all network traffic associated with the NW I/O port. Similarly, Core2505B is dedicated to handling functionality associated with SSL processing and Core4505D may be dedicated handling all TCP level processing and functionality.

WhileFIG. 5Aillustrates functions such as network I/O, SSL and TCP, other functions can be assigned to cores. These other functions can include any one or more of the functions or operations described herein. For example, any of the functions described in conjunction withFIGS. 2A and 2Bmay be distributed across the cores on a functionality basis. In some cases, a first VIP275A may run on a first core while a second VIP275B with a different configuration may run on a second core. In some embodiments, each core505can handle a particular functionality such that each core505can handle the processing associated with that particular function. For example, Core2505B may handle SSL offloading while Core4505D may handle application layer processing and traffic management.

In other embodiments, work, load or network traffic may be distributed among cores505according to any type and form of data parallelism540. In some embodiments, data parallelism may be achieved in a multi-core system by each core performing the same task or functionally on different pieces of distributed data. In some embodiments, a single execution thread or code controls operations on all pieces of data. In other embodiments, different threads or instructions control the operation, but may execute the same code. In some embodiments, data parallelism is achieved from the perspective of a packet engine, vServers (VIPs)275A-C, network interface cards (NIC)542D-E and/or any other networking hardware or software included on or associated with an appliance200. For example, each core may run the same packet engine or VIP code or configuration but operate on different sets of distributed data. Each networking hardware or software construct can receive different, varying or substantially the same amount of data, and as a result may have varying, different or relatively the same amount of load515.

In the case of a data parallelism approach, the work may be divided up and distributed based on VIPs, NICs and/or data flows of the VIPs or NICs. In one of these approaches, the work of the multi-core system may be divided or distributed among the VIPs by having each VIP work on a distributed set of data. For example, each core may be configured to run one or more VIPs. Network traffic may be distributed to the core for each VIP handling that traffic. In another of these approaches, the work of the appliance may be divided or distributed among the cores based on which NIC receives the network traffic. For example, network traffic of a first NIC may be distributed to a first core while network traffic of a second NIC may be distributed to a second core. In some cases, a core may process data from multiple NICs.

WhileFIG. 5Aillustrates a single vServer associated with a single core505, as is the case for VIP1275A, VIP2275B and VIP3275C. In some embodiments, a single vServer can be associated with one or more cores505. In contrast, one or more vServers can be associated with a single core505. Associating a vServer with a core505may include that core505to process all functions associated with that particular vServer. In some embodiments, each core executes a VIP having the same code and configuration. In other embodiments, each core executes a VIP having the same code but different configuration. In some embodiments, each core executes a VIP having different code and the same or different configuration.

Like vServers, NICs can also be associated with particular cores505. In many embodiments, NICs can be connected to one or more cores505such that when a NIC receives or transmits data packets, a particular core505handles the processing involved with receiving and transmitting the data packets. In one embodiment, a single NIC can be associated with a single core505, as is the case with NIC1542D and NIC2542E. In other embodiments, one or more NICs can be associated with a single core505. In other embodiments, a single NIC can be associated with one or more cores505. In these embodiments, load could be distributed amongst the one or more cores505such that each core505processes a substantially similar amount of load. A core505associated with a NIC may process all functions and/or data associated with that particular NIC.

While distributing work across cores based on data of VIPs or NICs may have a level of independency, in some embodiments, this may lead to unbalanced use of cores as illustrated by the varying loads515ofFIG. 5A.

In some embodiments, load, work or network traffic can be distributed among cores505based on any type and form of data flow. In another of these approaches, the work may be divided or distributed among cores based on data flows. For example, network traffic between a client and a server traversing the appliance may be distributed to and processed by one core of the plurality of cores. In some cases, the core initially establishing the session or connection may be the core for which network traffic for that session or connection is distributed. In some embodiments, the data flow is based on any unit or portion of network traffic, such as a transaction, a request/response communication or traffic originating from an application on a client. In this manner and in some embodiments, data flows between clients and servers traversing the appliance200′ may be distributed in a more balanced manner than the other approaches.

In flow-based data parallelism520, distribution of data is related to any type of flow of data, such as request/response pairings, transactions, sessions, connections or application communications. For example, network traffic between a client and a server traversing the appliance may be distributed to and processed by one core of the plurality of cores. In some cases, the core initially establishing the session or connection may be the core for which network traffic for that session or connection is distributed. The distribution of data flow may be such that each core505carries a substantially equal or relatively evenly distributed amount of load, data or network traffic.

In some embodiments, the data flow is based on any unit or portion of network traffic, such as a transaction, a request/response communication or traffic originating from an application on a client. In this manner and in some embodiments, data flows between clients and servers traversing the appliance200′ may be distributed in a more balanced manner than the other approached. In one embodiment, data flow can be distributed based on a transaction or a series of transactions. This transaction, in some embodiments, can be between a client and a server and can be characterized by an IP address or other packet identifier. For example, Core 1505A can be dedicated to transactions between a particular client and a particular server, therefore the load515A on Core1505A may be comprised of the network traffic associated with the transactions between the particular client and server. Allocating the network traffic to Core1505A can be accomplished by routing all data packets originating from either the particular client or server to Core1505A.

While work or load can be distributed to the cores based in part on transactions, in other embodiments load or work can be allocated on a per packet basis. In these embodiments, the appliance200can intercept data packets and allocate them to a core505having the least amount of load. For example, the appliance200could allocate a first incoming data packet to Core 1505A because the load515A on Core1is less than the load515B-N on the rest of the cores505B-N. Once the first data packet is allocated to Core1505A, the amount of load515A on Core1505A is increased proportional to the amount of processing resources needed to process the first data packet. When the appliance200intercepts a second data packet, the appliance200will allocate the load to Core4505D because Core4505D has the second least amount of load. Allocating data packets to the core with the least amount of load can, in some embodiments, ensure that the load515A-N distributed to each core505remains substantially equal.

In other embodiments, load can be allocated on a per unit basis where a section of network traffic is allocated to a particular core505. The above-mentioned example illustrates load balancing on a per/packet basis. In other embodiments, load can be allocated based on a number of packets such that every 10, 100 or 1000 packets are allocated to the core505having the least amount of load. The number of packets allocated to a core505can be a number determined by an application, user or administrator and can be any number greater than zero. In still other embodiments, load can be allocated based on a time metric such that packets are distributed to a particular core505for a predetermined amount of time. In these embodiments, packets can be distributed to a particular core505for five milliseconds or for any period of time determined by a user, program, system, administrator or otherwise. After the predetermined time period elapses, data packets are transmitted to a different core505for the predetermined period of time.

Flow-based data parallelism methods for distributing work, load or network traffic among the one or more cores505can comprise any combination of the above-mentioned embodiments. These methods can be carried out by any part of the appliance200, by an application or set of executable instructions executing on one of the cores505, such as the packet engine, or by any application, program or agent executing on a computing device in communication with the appliance200.

The functional and data parallelism computing schemes illustrated inFIG. 5Acan be combined in any manner to generate a hybrid parallelism or distributed processing scheme that encompasses function parallelism500, data parallelism540, flow-based data parallelism520or any portions thereof. In some cases, the multi-core system may use any type and form of load balancing schemes to distribute load among the one or more cores505. The load balancing scheme may be used in any combination with any of the functional and data parallelism schemes or combinations thereof.

Illustrated inFIG. 5Bis an embodiment of a multi-core system545, which may be any type and form of one or more systems, appliances, devices or components. This system545, in some embodiments, can be included within an appliance200having one or more processing cores505A-N. The system545can further include one or more packet engines (PE) or packet processing engines (PPE)548A-N communicating with a memory bus556. The memory bus may be used to communicate with the one or more processing cores505A-N. Also included within the system545can be one or more network interface cards (NIC)552and a flow distributor550which can further communicate with the one or more processing cores505A-N. The flow distributor550can comprise a Receive Side Scaler (RSS) or Receive Side Scaling (RSS) module560.

Further referring toFIG. 5B, and in more detail, in one embodiment the packet engine(s)548A-N can comprise any portion of the appliance200described herein, such as any portion of the appliance described inFIGS. 2A and 2B. The packet engine(s)548A-N can, in some embodiments, comprise any of the following elements: the packet engine240, a network stack267; a cache manager232; a policy engine236; a compression engine238; an encryption engine234; a GUI210; a CLI212; shell services214; monitoring programs216; and any other software or hardware element able to receive data packets from one of either the memory bus556or the one of more cores505A-N. In some embodiments, the packet engine(s)548A-N can comprise one or more vServers275A-N, or any portion thereof. In other embodiments, the packet engine(s)548A-N can provide any combination of the following functionalities: SSL VPN280; Intranet UP282; switching284; DNS286; packet acceleration288; App FW280; monitoring such as the monitoring provided by a monitoring agent197; functionalities associated with functioning as a TCP stack; load balancing; SSL offloading and processing; content switching; policy evaluation; caching; compression; encoding; decompression; decoding; application firewall functionalities; XML processing and acceleration; and SSL VPN connectivity.

The packet engine(s)548A-N can, in some embodiments, be associated with a particular server, user, client or network. When a packet engine548becomes associated with a particular entity, that packet engine548can process data packets associated with that entity. For example, should a packet engine548be associated with a first user, that packet engine548will process and operate on packets generated by the first user, or packets having a destination address associated with the first user. Similarly, the packet engine548may choose not to be associated with a particular entity such that the packet engine548can process and otherwise operate on any data packets not generated by that entity or destined for that entity.

In some instances, the packet engine(s)548A-N can be configured to carry out the any of the functional and/or data parallelism schemes illustrated inFIG. 5A. In these instances, the packet engine(s)548A-N can distribute functions or data among the processing cores505A-N so that the distribution is according to the parallelism or distribution scheme. In some embodiments, a single packet engine(s)548A-N carries out a load balancing scheme, while in other embodiments one or more packet engine(s)548A-N carry out a load balancing scheme. Each core505A-N, in one embodiment, can be associated with a particular packet engine548such that load balancing can be carried out by the packet engine. Load balancing may in this embodiment, provide that each packet engine548A-N associated with a core505communicate with the other packet engines associated with cores so that the packet engines548A-N can collectively determine where to distribute load. One embodiment of this process can include an arbiter that receives votes from each packet engine for load. The arbiter can distribute load to each packet engine548A-N based in part on the age of the engine's vote and in some cases a priority value associated with the current amount of load on an engine's associated core505.

Any of the packet engines running on the cores may run in user mode, kernel or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the packet engine operates as an application or program running is user or application space. In these embodiments, the packet engine may use any type and form of interface to access any functionality provided by the kernel. In some embodiments, the packet engine operates in kernel mode or as part of the kernel. In some embodiments, a first portion of the packet engine operates in user mode while a second portion of the packet engine operates in kernel mode. In some embodiments, a first packet engine on a first core executes in kernel mode while a second packet engine on a second core executes in user mode. In some embodiments, the packet engine or any portions thereof operates on or in conjunction with the NIC or any drivers thereof.

In some embodiments the memory bus556can be any type and form of memory or computer bus. While a single memory bus556is depicted inFIG. 5B, the system545can comprise any number of memory buses556. In one embodiment, each packet engine548can be associated with one or more individual memory buses556.

The NIC552can in some embodiments be any of the network interface cards or mechanisms described herein. The NIC552can have any number of ports. The NIC can be designed and constructed to connect to any type and form of network104. While a single NIC552is illustrated, the system545can comprise any number of NICs552. In some embodiments, each core505A-N can be associated with one or more single NICs552. Thus, each core505can be associated with a single NIC552dedicated to a particular core505.

The cores505A-N can comprise any of the processors described herein. Further, the cores505A-N can be configured according to any of the core505configurations described herein. Still further, the cores505A-N can have any of the core505functionalities described herein. WhileFIG. 5Billustrates seven cores505A-G, any number of cores505can be included within the system545. In particular, the system545can comprise “N” cores, where “N” is a whole number greater than zero.

A core may have or use memory that is allocated or assigned for use to that core. The memory may be considered private or local memory of that core and only accessible by that core. A core may have or use memory that is shared or assigned to multiple cores. The memory may be considered public or shared memory that is accessible by more than one core. A core may use any combination of private and public memory. With separate address spaces for each core, some level of coordination is eliminated from the case of using the same address space. With a separate address space, a core can perform work on information and data in the core's own address space without worrying about conflicts with other cores. Each packet engine may have a separate memory pool for TCP and/or SSL connections.

Further referring toFIG. 5B, any of the functionality and/or embodiments of the cores505described above in connection withFIG. 5Acan be deployed in any embodiment of the virtualized environment described above in connection withFIGS. 4A and 4B. Instead of the functionality of the cores505being deployed in the form of a physical processor505, such functionality may be deployed in a virtualized environment400on any computing device100, such as a client102, server106or appliance200. In other embodiments, instead of the functionality of the cores505being deployed in the form of an appliance or a single device, the functionality may be deployed across multiple devices in any arrangement. For example, one device may comprise two or more cores and another device may comprise two or more cores. For example, a multi-core system may include a cluster of computing devices, a server farm or network of computing devices. In some embodiments, instead of the functionality of the cores505being deployed in the form of cores, the functionality may be deployed on a plurality of processors, such as a plurality of single core processors.

In one embodiment, the cores505may be any type and form of processor. In some embodiments, a core can function substantially similar to any processor or central processing unit described herein. In some embodiment, the cores505may comprise any portion of any processor described herein. WhileFIG. 5Aillustrates seven cores, there can exist any “N” number of cores within an appliance200, where “N” is any whole number greater than one. In some embodiments, the cores505can be installed within a common appliance200, while in other embodiments the cores505can be installed within one or more appliance(s)200communicatively connected to one another. The cores505can in some embodiments comprise graphics processing software, while in other embodiments the cores505provide general processing capabilities. The cores505can be installed physically near each other and/or can be communicatively connected to each other. The cores may be connected by any type and form of bus or subsystem physically and/or communicatively coupled to the cores for transferring data between to, from and/or between the cores.

While each core505can comprise software for communicating with other cores, in some embodiments a core manager (not shown) can facilitate communication between each core505. In some embodiments, the kernel may provide core management. The cores may interface or communicate with each other using a variety of interface mechanisms. In some embodiments, core to core messaging may be used to communicate between cores, such as a first core sending a message or data to a second core via a bus or subsystem connecting the cores. In some embodiments, cores may communicate via any type and form of shared memory interface. In one embodiment, there may be one or more memory locations shared among all the cores. In some embodiments, each core may have separate memory locations shared with each other core. For example, a first core may have a first shared memory with a second core and a second share memory with a third core. In some embodiments, cores may communicate via any type of programming or API, such as function calls via the kernel. In some embodiments, the operating system may recognize and support multiple core devices and provide interfaces and API for inter-core communications.

The flow distributor550can be any application, program, library, script, task, service, process or any type and form of executable instructions executing on any type and form of hardware. In some embodiments, the flow distributor550may any design and construction of circuitry to perform any of the operations and functions described herein. In some embodiments, the flow distributor distribute, forwards, routes, controls and/or manage the distribution of data packets among the cores505and/or packet engine or VIPs running on the cores. The flow distributor550, in some embodiments, can be referred to as an interface master. In one embodiment, the flow distributor550comprises a set of executable instructions executing on a core or processor of the appliance200. In another embodiment, the flow distributor550comprises a set of executable instructions executing on a computing machine in communication with the appliance200. In some embodiments, the flow distributor550comprises a set of executable instructions executing on a NIC, such as firmware. In still other embodiments, the flow distributor550comprises any combination of software and hardware to distribute data packets among cores or processors. In one embodiment, the flow distributor550executes on at least one of the cores505A-N, while in other embodiments a separate flow distributor550assigned to each core505A-N executes on an associated core505A-N. The flow distributor may use any type and form of statistical or probabilistic algorithms or decision making to balance the flows across the cores. The hardware of the appliance, such as a NIC, or the kernel may be designed and constructed to support sequential operations across the NICs and/or cores.

In embodiments where the system545comprises one or more flow distributors550, each flow distributor550can be associated with a processor505or a packet engine548. The flow distributors550can comprise an interface mechanism that allows each flow distributor550to communicate with the other flow distributors550executing within the system545. In one instance, the one or more flow distributors550can determine how to balance load by communicating with each other. This process can operate substantially similarly to the process described above for submitting votes to an arbiter which then determines which flow distributor550should receive the load. In other embodiments, a first flow distributor550′ can identify the load on an associated core and determine whether to forward a first data packet to the associated core based on any of the following criteria: the load on the associated core is above a predetermined threshold; the load on the associated core is below a predetermined threshold; the load on the associated core is less than the load on the other cores; or any other metric that can be used to determine where to forward data packets based in part on the amount of load on a processor.

The flow distributor550can distribute network traffic among the cores505according to a distribution, computing or load balancing scheme such as those described herein. In one embodiment, the flow distributor can distribute network traffic according to any one of a functional parallelism distribution scheme550, a data parallelism load distribution scheme540, a flow-based data parallelism distribution scheme520, or any combination of these distribution scheme or any load balancing scheme for distributing load among multiple processors. The flow distributor550can therefore act as a load distributor by taking in data packets and distributing them across the processors according to an operative load balancing or distribution scheme. In one embodiment, the flow distributor550can comprise one or more operations, functions or logic to determine how to distribute packers, work or load accordingly. In still other embodiments, the flow distributor550can comprise one or more sub operations, functions or logic that can identify a source address and a destination address associated with a data packet, and distribute packets accordingly.

In some embodiments, the flow distributor550can comprise a receive-side scaling (RSS) network driver, module560or any type and form of executable instructions which distribute data packets among the one or more cores505. The RSS module560can comprise any combination of hardware and software. In some embodiments, the RSS module560works in conjunction with the flow distributor550to distribute data packets across the cores505A-N or among multiple processors in a multi-processor network. The RSS module560can execute within the NIC552in some embodiments, and in other embodiments can execute on any one of the cores505.

In some embodiments, the RSS module560uses the MICROSOFT receive-side-scaling (RSS) scheme. In one embodiment, RSS is a Microsoft Scalable Networking initiative technology that enables receive processing to be balanced across multiple processors in the system while maintaining in-order delivery of the data. The RSS may use any type and form of hashing scheme to determine a core or processor for processing a network packet.

The RSS module560can apply any type and form hash function such as the Toeplitz hash function. The hash function may be applied to the hash type or any the sequence of values. The hash function may be a secure hash of any security level or is otherwise cryptographically secure. The hash function may use a hash key. The size of the key is dependent upon the hash function. For the Toeplitz hash, the size may be 40 bytes for IPv6 and 16 bytes for IPv4.

The hash function may be designed and constructed based on any one or more criteria or design goals. In some embodiments, a hash function may be used that provides an even distribution of hash result for different hash inputs and different hash types, including TCP/IPv4, TCP/IPv6, IPv4, and IPv6 headers. In some embodiments, a hash function may be used that provides a hash result that is evenly distributed when a small number of buckets are present (for example, two or four). In some embodiments, hash function may be used that provides a hash result that is randomly distributed when a large number of buckets were present (for example, 64 buckets). In some embodiments, the hash function is determined based on a level of computational or resource usage. In some embodiments, the hash function is determined based on ease or difficulty of implementing the hash in hardware. In some embodiments, the hash function is determined based on the ease or difficulty of a malicious remote host to send packets that would all hash to the same bucket.

The RSS may generate hashes from any type and form of input, such as a sequence of values. This sequence of values can include any portion of the network packet, such as any header, field or payload of network packet, or portions thereof. In some embodiments, the input to the hash may be referred to as a hash type and include any tuples of information associated with a network packet or data flow, such as any of the following: a four tuple comprising at least two IP addresses and two ports; a four tuple comprising any four sets of values; a six tuple; a two tuple; and/or any other sequence of numbers or values. The following are example of hash types that may be used by RSS:4-tuple of source TCP Port, source IP version 4 (IPv4) address, destination TCP Port, and destination IPv4 address.4-tuple of source TCP Port, source IP version 6 (IPv6) address, destination TCP Port, and destination IPv6 address.2-tuple of source IPv4 address, and destination IPv4 address.2-tuple of source IPv6 address, and destination IPv6 address.2-tuple of source IPv6 address, and destination IPv6 address, including support for parsing IPv6 extension headers.

The hash result or any portion thereof may used to identify a core or entity, such as a packet engine or VIP, for distributing a network packet. In some embodiments, one or more hash bits or mask are applied to the hash result. The hash bit or mask may be any number of bits or bytes. A NIC may support any number of bits, such as seven bits. The network stack may set the actual number of bits to be used during initialization. The number will be between 1 and 7, inclusive.

The hash result may be used to identify the core or entity via any type and form of table, such as a bucket table or indirection table. In some embodiments, the number of hash-result bits are used to index into the table. The range of the hash mask may effectively define the size of the indirection table. Any portion of the hash result or the hash result itself may be used to index the indirection table. The values in the table may identify any of the cores or processor, such as by a core or processor identifier. In some embodiments, all of the cores of the multi-core system are identified in the table. In other embodiments, a port of the cores of the multi-core system are identified in the table. The indirection table may comprise any number of buckets for example 2 to 128 buckets that may be indexed by a hash mask. Each bucket may comprise a range of index values that identify a core or processor. In some embodiments, the flow controller and/or RSS module may rebalance the network rebalance the network load by changing the indirection table.

In some embodiments, the multi-core system575does not include a RSS driver or RSS module560. In some of these embodiments, a software steering module (not shown) or a software embodiment of the RSS module within the system can operate in conjunction with or as part of the flow distributor550to steer packets to cores505within the multi-core system575.

The flow distributor550, in some embodiments, executes within any module or program on the appliance200, on any one of the cores505and on any one of the devices or components included within the multi-core system575. In some embodiments, the flow distributor550′ can execute on the first core505A, while in other embodiments the flow distributor550″ can execute on the NIC552. In still other embodiments, an instance of the flow distributor550′ can execute on each core505included in the multi-core system575. In this embodiment, each instance of the flow distributor550′ can communicate with other instances of the flow distributor550′ to forward packets back and forth across the cores505. There exist situations where a response to a request packet may not be processed by the same core, i.e. the first core processes the request while the second core processes the response. In these situations, the instances of the flow distributor550′ can intercept the packet and forward it to the desired or correct core505, i.e. a flow distributor instance550′ can forward the response to the first core. Multiple instances of the flow distributor550′ can execute on any number of cores505and any combination of cores505.

The flow distributor may operate responsive to any one or more rules or policies. The rules may identify a core or packet processing engine to receive a network packet, data or data flow. The rules may identify any type and form of tuple information related to a network packet, such as a 4-tuple of source and destination IP address and source and destination ports. Based on a received packet matching the tuple specified by the rule, the flow distributor may forward the packet to a core or packet engine. In some embodiments, the packet is forwarded to a core via shared memory and/or core to core messaging.

AlthoughFIG. 5Billustrates the flow distributor550as executing within the multi-core system575, in some embodiments the flow distributor550can execute on a computing device or appliance remotely located from the multi-core system575. In such an embodiment, the flow distributor550can communicate with the multi-core system575to take in data packets and distribute the packets across the one or more cores505. The flow distributor550can, in one embodiment, receive data packets destined for the appliance200, apply a distribution scheme to the received data packets and distribute the data packets to the one or more cores505of the multi-core system575. In one embodiment, the flow distributor550can be included in a router or other appliance such that the router can target particular cores505by altering meta data associated with each packet so that each packet is targeted towards a sub-node of the multi-core system575. In such an embodiment, CISCO's vn-tag mechanism can be used to alter or tag each packet with the appropriate meta data.

Illustrated inFIG. 5Cis an embodiment of a multi-core system575comprising one or more processing cores505A-N. In brief overview, one of the cores505can be designated as a control core505A and can be used as a control plane570for the other cores505. The other cores may be secondary cores which operate in a data plane while the control core provides the control plane. The cores505A-N may share a global cache580. While the control core provides a control plane, the other cores in the multi-core system form or provide a data plane. These cores perform data processing functionality on network traffic while the control provides initialization, configuration and control of the multi-core system.

Further referring toFIG. 5C, and in more detail, the cores505A-N as well as the control core505A can be any processor described herein. Furthermore, the cores505A-N and the control core505A can be any processor able to function within the system575described inFIG. 5C. Still further, the cores505A-N and the control core505A can be any core or group of cores described herein. The control core may be a different type of core or processor than the other cores. In some embodiments, the control may operate a different packet engine or have a packet engine configured differently than the packet engines of the other cores.

Any portion of the memory of each of the cores may be allocated to or used for a global cache that is shared by the cores. In brief overview, a predetermined percentage or predetermined amount of each of the memory of each core may be used for the global cache. For example, 50% of each memory of each code may be dedicated or allocated to the shared global cache. That is, in the illustrated embodiment, 2 GB of each core excluding the control plane core or core1may be used to form a 28 GB shared global cache. The configuration of the control plane such as via the configuration services may determine the amount of memory used for the shared global cache. In some embodiments, each core may provide a different amount of memory for use by the global cache. In other embodiments, any one core may not provide any memory or use the global cache. In some embodiments, any of the cores may also have a local cache in memory not allocated to the global shared memory. Each of the cores may store any portion of network traffic to the global shared cache. Each of the cores may check the cache for any content to use in a request or response. Any of the cores may obtain content from the global shared cache to use in a data flow, request or response.

The global cache580can be any type and form of memory or storage element, such as any memory or storage element described herein. In some embodiments, the cores505may have access to a predetermined amount of memory (i.e. 32 GB or any other memory amount commensurate with the system575). The global cache580can be allocated from that predetermined amount of memory while the rest of the available memory can be allocated among the cores505. In other embodiments, each core505can have a predetermined amount of memory. The global cache580can comprise an amount of the memory allocated to each core505. This memory amount can be measured in bytes, or can be measured as a percentage of the memory allocated to each core505. Thus, the global cache580can comprise 1 GB of memory from the memory associated with each core505, or can comprise 20 percent or one-half of the memory associated with each core505. In some embodiments, only a portion of the cores505provide memory to the global cache580, while in other embodiments the global cache580can comprise memory not allocated to the cores505.

Each core505can use the global cache580to store network traffic or cache data. In some embodiments, the packet engines of the core use the global cache to cache and use data stored by the plurality of packet engines. For example, the cache manager ofFIG. 2Aand cache functionality ofFIG. 2Bmay use the global cache to share data for acceleration. For example, each of the packet engines may store responses, such as HTML data, to the global cache. Any of the cache managers operating on a core may access the global cache to server caches responses to client requests.

In some embodiments, the cores505can use the global cache580to store a port allocation table which can be used to determine data flow based in part on ports. In other embodiments, the cores505can use the global cache580to store an address lookup table or any other table or list that can be used by the flow distributor to determine where to direct incoming and outgoing data packets. The cores505can, in some embodiments read from and write to cache580, while in other embodiments the cores505can only read from or write to cache580. The cores may use the global cache to perform core to core communications.

The global cache580may be sectioned into individual memory sections where each section can be dedicated to a particular core505. In one embodiment, the control core505A can receive a greater amount of available cache, while the other cores505can receiving varying amounts or access to the global cache580.

In some embodiments, the system575can comprise a control core505A. WhileFIG. 5Cillustrates core1505A as the control core, the control core can be any core within the appliance200or multi-core system. Further, while only a single control core is depicted, the system575can comprise one or more control cores each having a level of control over the system. In some embodiments, one or more control cores can each control a particular aspect of the system575. For example, one core can control deciding which distribution scheme to use, while another core can determine the size of the global cache580.

The control plane of the multi-core system may be the designation and configuration of a core as the dedicated management core or as a master core. This control plane core may provide control, management and coordination of operation and functionality the plurality of cores in the multi-core system. This control plane core may provide control, management and coordination of allocation and use of memory of the system among the plurality of cores in the multi-core system, including initialization and configuration of the same. In some embodiments, the control plane includes the flow distributor for controlling the assignment of data flows to cores and the distribution of network packets to cores based on data flows. In some embodiments, the control plane core runs a packet engine and in other embodiments, the control plane core is dedicated to management and control of the other cores of the system.

The control core505A can exercise a level of control over the other cores505such as determining how much memory should be allocated to each core505or determining which core505should be assigned to handle a particular function or hardware/software entity. The control core505A, in some embodiments, can exercise control over those cores505within the control plan570. Thus, there can exist processors outside of the control plane570which are not controlled by the control core505A. Determining the boundaries of the control plane570can include maintaining, by the control core505A or agent executing within the system575, a list of those cores505controlled by the control core505A. The control core505A can control any of the following: initialization of a core; determining when a core is unavailable; re-distributing load to other cores505when one core fails; determining which distribution scheme to implement; determining which core should receive network traffic; determining how much cache should be allocated to each core; determining whether to assign a particular function or element to a particular core; determining whether to permit cores to communicate with one another; determining the size of the global cache580; and any other determination of a function, configuration or operation of the cores within the system575.

F. Systems and Methods for Managing SSL Session Persistence and Reuse

A SSL session may be allocated private memory address space and associated with a SSL protocol stack that is independent from other SSL sessions. In a single-core system such as a single-core appliance200maintaining a SSL session between a client102and a server106, the SSL session may be resumed if the SSL session is temporarily disrupted and/or inactive. For example, a disruption may occur due to a mobile client disconnecting and reconnecting to a network104, or a server going offline due to inactivity or power loss. A client may send a request to resume the SSL session instead of establishing a new session. This may be more efficient in terms of the time and resources consumed in performing a full handshake process, allocating memory, starting a protocol stack and meeting authentication/authorization requirements. Furthermore, the disrupted SSL session may remain persistent although a connection may be lost. Resuming a SSL session may also maintain some level of continuity in client-server communications.

In some embodiments, a packet engine240maintains a connection between a client102and a core661, directing packets from the client102to the core661. The packet engine240can maintain a TCP connection through a core, for example, by identifying the core based on information from received packets and/or client102. A flow distributor550may direct traffic to a packet engine240of a core by associating a connection based on information from received packets and/or client102. In one embodiment, this information includes a TCP tuple or TCP quadruple. A TCP tuple may include information on a source IP address, a source port number, a destination IP address and a destination port number. The TCP tuple may be extracted from a packet. The TCP tuple may remain the same for a client connection and/or session. In some embodiments, a disruption to a connection of session may cause the TCP tuple to change. For example, the source port number may change if the client attempts to reconnect to the intermediary200.

The flow distributor550may generate a hash index or other identifier based on a TCP tuple to associate the packet traffic with a core. In some embodiments, when a TCP tuple changes, a different hash index or identifier is generated and a second core662is identified instead. Upon a disruption to a connection or session, a client102may attempt to resume transmission of packets. These packets may come from a different application instance of the client102. These packets may provide different source port information. Other components of the TCP tuple may also change. Based on a changed TCP tuple, the flow distributor may generate a second hash index or identifier and direct packet traffic from the client102to a second core662corresponding to the second hash index or identifier.

In some embodiments, use of a flow distributor550and/or packet engines in a multi-core system can result in higher SSL transactions per second (TPS) and/or bulk throughput numbers. Each core may have a virtual IP address (VIP) associated with the core that may or may not be established in relation to a SSL session641. In some embodiments, the flow distributor550identifies each core via the VIP of the core.

Referring now toFIG. 6, an embodiment of a system600for managing SSL session persistence and reuse is depicted. In brief overview, the system includes an intermediary200between a client102and a server106. The intermediary200comprises a multi-core system, a flow distributor550, and a storage or memory module667. In some embodiments, a SSL session641may be established and maintained by one of a plurality of cores in a multi-core system, such as the first core661. This core661is sometimes referred to as the owner of the SSL session641. Upon disruption of the SSL session641, a client102may request resumption of the SSL session by sending a request672to the multi-core system. The flow distributor550may direct the request672to a second core662that will determine if it owns the disrupted SSL session641. The second core662may identify the owner661of the session641and determine if the session can be resumed. The second core662can communicate with the first core661and receive information for cloning the disrupted SSL session for reuse by the second core662. Upon completion of the cloning, the connection between the client and the server is resumed based on the cloned session641′.

Each core661,662of the multi-core system can include a transceiver621,622. The transceiver can receive packets or messages directed from the flow distributor550. The transceiver can also communicate with other cores of the multi-core system. In some embodiments, inter-core communication involves sending a core-to-core messaging (CCM) message from a first core661to a second core662. The transceiver may support packets and messages based on any type or form of communication protocols. The transceiver can also communicate with other components of the intermediary200. For example, a core can access data from memory667using the transceiver as an interface. The transceiver can also transmit a packet or message to another machine such as server106. The transceiver may direct outgoing packets or messages to a destination based on information from the associated TCP tuple.

Each core may include a decoder-encoder pair631,632(hereinafter generally referred to as a “cipher”). A cipher may comprise hardware or any combination of software and hardware. The cipher may include an application, program, library, script, process, task, thread or any type and form of executable instructions. Although the cipher is illustrated as part of a certificate manager, in some embodiments, the cipher may be a separate component or module of the multi-core system. In one embodiment, the cipher may include a general-purpose encoder/decoder. In another embodiment, the cipher is designed and constructed to encode/encrypt or decode/decrypt any type and form of information, such as session identifiers688and/or core identifiers656,658. In one embodiment, the ciphers631,632are block ciphers. Further, the ciphers may include functionality from any embodiment of the encryption engine234described in connection withFIG. 2. In some embodiments, the system600uses data encryption standard (DES) ciphers, such as standard DES ciphers and 3DES ciphers.

The first core661is assigned a core identifier656. The core identifier656may be any type or form of alphanumeric identifier or code string. In addition, this core identifier656may be unique among the plurality of cores of the multi-core system. The core identifier656may be a CPU number of the core661, or incorporate the CPU number of the core661. A core identifier656may be assigned sequentially to each core based on the CPU numbers of the cores. The core identifier656can be of any size. In one embodiment, the core identifier656is one byte in size. In particular, one byte can give 256 (0-255) unique core identifiers.

The first core661can establish a SSL session641between the client102and the server106. The SSL session641may be established in connection with the cipher631and/or functionality from any embodiment of the encryption engine234described in connection withFIG. 2. The SSL session641is assigned a session identifier688which can be any type or form of alphanumeric identifier or code string. The first core661, the backend server106or the client102may issue the session identifier688. The session identifier668may uniquely identify the SSL session among a plurality of SSL sessions associated with the multi-core system. A session identifier688may be a random 16 or 32 byte value. In one embodiment, the X-OR of the byte[0] with byte[1] location of the session identifier688results in a random value. By randomly selecting a one-byte location in the session identifier688for encoding the core identifier656, such as at system boot time, additional security and randomness with respect to the session identifier688may be incorporated. In one embodiment, a SSLv2 session identifier688has a size of 16 bytes and the last 4 bytes may contain a time-stamp. In this embodiment, the one-byte location for the core identifier656is preferably between byte0to byte11. In another embodiment, a session identifier688is 32 bytes for SSLv3 and TLSv1. The lower 4 bytes may be taken up by the timestamp, allowing 28 bytes for encoding a core identifier in SSLv3/TLSv1 protocol. Other than the byte locations reserved for timestamp purposes, the byte location for encoding a core identifier may be selected by any means.

By way of illustration and not limiting in any way, one embodiment of pseudo code for encoding a core identifier may be:

sessionid[0] = coreid;sessionid[0] {circumflex over ( )}= sessionid[1];
and one embodiment of pseudo code for retrieving the core identifier may be:

In some embodiments, a valid-session identifier is encoded with a core identifier. A valid-session identifier is sometimes referred to as a validity identifier. A valid-session identifier can be a string that identifies a valid session. As an example, a cipher may use 8 bytes to encode the valid-session identifier and the core identifier. The intermediary200or the multi-core system can determine whether a session641is valid. In one embodiment, use of a valid-session identifier helps to filter away random or malicious requests to reuse a session. A valid-session identifier may also identify active reused sessions.

In some other embodiments, the core identifier656is not encoded within a byte or a range of bits of a session identifier. Instead, individual bits of a session identifier688can be used to encode a core identifier656. The core identifier656can be encoded as a bit pattern in the session identifier688. Other than the byte locations that are reserved for timestamp purposes, the individual bit locations for encoding a core identifier656may be selected by any means. When a session identifier688is generated by the core661owning the SSL session641, individual bits can be set to encode the core identifier656. The number of bits that are set or unset may depend on the number of cores in the multi-core system. This method may impose a relatively small footprint on session identifiers as the number of bits affected is limited to the number of cores in the multi-core system.

The first core661or the packet engine240of the first core661may store the session identifier688in a session cache of the first core661. In one embodiment, the session cache651is persistent for the duration that the core661is powered up and/or the duration that a session641is maintained. In another embodiment, the session cache651is persistent even when the core6671is powered down, or when a session641has ended. The session cache651can be memory allocated to the first core661and/or the SSL session641. The session cache651may be accessed by one or more cores. In some embodiments, the first core661maintains and/or updates the session cache651. The memory module667may include the session cache651. The memory module667may comprise one or more interconnected storage devices, such as any embodiment of storage devices128,140,122,264,667described above in connection withFIGS. 1E, 1F and 2A.

In some embodiments, the session cache651stores the session identifier688of the SSL session641established by the first core661. The session cache651may store a plurality of session identifiers, such as session identifiers of sessions established by the first core661. The first core661may encode the core identifier656in the session identifier688to form a second session identifier688′. In some embodiments, the cipher631encodes the core identifier656in the session identifier688to form the second session identifier688′. In one embodiment, the cipher631encodes the core identifier656in one byte of the session identifier688. Encoder/decoder routines of the cipher631can securely encode the core identifier656in the second session identifier688′ and/or decode the core identifier656. Encoder/decoder routines of the cipher631can also securely encode/decode a valid-session-identifier in association with the session identifier688. In another embodiment, the core identifier656can be directly stored into bits of the second session identifier688′. The second session identifier688′ can be stored in the session cache651either with the session identifier688or in replacement of the session identifier688.

In some embodiments, the second core662is substantially similar or identical to the first core661in terms of functionality, capability and/or associated elements. For example, the second core includes a transceiver622and a decoder632, and is associated with a session cache652. The second core662can be assigned a unique core identifier658. The second may similarly establish a new SSL session. In addition, the second core662may reuse a SSL session641of the first core661.

The intermediary200includes a set of policies657. These policies657may be any embodiments of the policies described in connection withFIGS. 1D, 2A, 2B and 3. These policies657may be applied to a request, such as a request672to resume a SSL session. The policies657can also determine to which core the flow distributor500directs an incoming message. In addition, an associated policy engine may apply the policies657, for example, to determine whether a session can be resumed or reused. In some embodiments, the policies657are stored in the memory module667. For example, the policies can be stored in a private partition of the memory module667. Some of these policies656may be grouped and associated with a client102and/or a server106.

A core may resume a session that it has established. For example, a core may resume a session that it has established by restarting part of the protocol stack of the session that was disrupted. A core may resume a session that was established by another core, by creating a copy or clone of the session in the core. In some embodiments, the latter case is referred to as a reuse of the session. In these embodiments, resuming a session may have a broader scope than reusing a session. In other embodiments, session resume or reuse can be used interchangeably. In still other embodiments, reuse refers to the reuse of some elements of a session, such as security parameters of the session.

Each SSL session may be associated with a resumable indicator668. The resumable indicator668may be predetermined or dynamically updated. An administrator, the server106or a core661establishing a SSL session641may determine and/or set an associated resumable indicator668. The resumable indicator668may be determined and/or set via analysis of session history and/or statistics, such as via any algorithm or process steps. In other embodiments, a core662reusing the SSL session641may be able to update the resumable indicator668of the SSL session641. In some other embodiments, a core662reusing the SSL session641may send information to the owner661of the SSL session641to update the resumable indicator668of the SSL session641.

The resumable indicator668may indicate whether a request672to resume a SSL session should be allowed. The resumable indicator668may indicate whether a request to resume a SSL session641is allowed subject to a reuse limit678and/or other factors. A resumable indicator668may be set based on the state of the SSL session, for example, whether the session is active and/or is being reused by one or more cores. In one embodiment, the resumable indicator668may be set as non-resumable when the SSL session641is still active. In another embodiment, the resumable indicator668may be set as resumable if an inactive SSL session641has not expired and/or is not corrupted. In one embodiment, if a fatal alert is sent or received in a SSL session641, the corresponding resumable indicator668is set as non-resumable. In some embodiments, if the resumable indicator668is set as non-resumable, all further session resume requests may be rejected or discarded.

A second core662processing a request672to reuse and/or resume a SSL session641may access the resumable indicator668to determine whether the SSL session641is resumable. The resumable indicator668may be stored at a shared location in memory667accessible by a plurality of cores. The resumable indicator668may also be stored at a location in memory667accessible by each core of the multi-core system. In some embodiments, the resumable indicator668of a SSL session established by a core can be stored in the session cache651of that core and/or that session. The resumable indicator668may be stored in a location in shared memory. The resumable indicator668may be one byte in size although other embodiments are supported. In some embodiments, the stored value is a pointer to a larger memory location. In other embodiments, a plurality of cores (e.g., cores requesting reuse of the SSL session641) can each store a copy of the resumable indicator668. In one of these embodiments, the plurality of cores having a copy of the resumable indicator668may check for updates to the resumable indicator668, or receive a notification of an update to the resumable indicator668. An update or notification may be sent as a CCM message from the first core661. An update or notification may be sent to cores identified to be reusing the SSL session641.

In some embodiments, the packet engine240stores a reuse limit678to a memory module667. A reuse limit678is sometimes referred to as a maximum reuse threshold. This reuse limit678may indicate the number of times a session can be resumed or reused. This reuse limit678may be predetermined or dynamically updated. The reuse limit678may be determined and set by an administrator and/or via analysis of session history and/or statistics, such as via any algorithm or process steps. The first core661may specify a reuse limit678adirected to the first core661, to the multi-core system, or to the SSL session641established by the first core661. A second core662reusing a SSL session641owned by the first core661may specify a reuse limit678bdirected to the second core662. The reuse limit678of a session for a core can be stored in the session cache651of that core and/or that session. The reuse limit678may also be stored in a shared location in memory667accessible by a plurality of cores. The reuse limit678of a core may also be stored in memory partitioned or allocated for a core. In some embodiments, a reuse limit678may be set to limit the reuse of a session that may be inherently unstable or prone to disruption. In other embodiments, a reuse limit678may be set to limit cumulative and/or parallel reuse of a SSL session by a plurality of cores.

In some embodiments, if the resumable indicator668for a session indicates that that the session is non-resumable, reuse of the session is not allowed. In one of these embodiments, the reuse limit668is removed. In another of these embodiments, the reuse limit668is set to zero. A core attempting to process a request672to reuse and/or resume a SSL session641may access the reuse limit678to determine whether the SSL session is reusable. If the resumable indicator668for a session indicates that that the session is resumable and the reuse limit678of a core and/or session is not reached, reuse of the session may be allowed. In some embodiments, the reuse limit678and the resumable indicator668are determined and/or set independently. In other embodiments, the reuse limit678and the resumable indicator668are determined and/or set in relation to each another. In some other embodiments, the reuse limit678and/or the resumable indicator668are determined in accordance with other factors such whether the session has expired and/or is corrupted.

To resume a SSL session641, a client may send a request672to the intermediary200. The flow distributor550of the intermediary200can process the request672and/or forward the request to one of the plurality of cores. The request672may include a session identifier688of the SSL session641identified to resume. The request672may also include any information related to the session641, the client102, the server106and the first core661. If a second core662receives the request, the second core662may send a message to the first core661requesting for information about the SSL session641. The second core662can use this information about the SSL session641to copy, clone, reconstruct, duplicate, mirror or otherwise create a SSL session641′ substantially similar to the original SSL session641. This process may be generally referred to as cloning a session. The SSL session641′ is sometimes referred to as a copy of the original session641, or a clone of the original session641.

The information about the SSL session641may include one or more of: protocol stack information, TCP tuple information, a master key, a client certificate, a name of a cipher, a result of client authentication, and an SSL version. Some or all of these information may be held in the SSL session data structure of the SSL session641. The second core662may access some or all of these information via the first core661. Although information for generating an identical SSL session may be available in the session data structure of the SSL session641, a complete copy of the session data structure may not be required to clone and resume the SSL session.

In some embodiments, protocol stack information may be determined from the SSL version information. In other embodiments, information on the state and/or components of the protocol stack, such as that of drivers and agents that may be dynamically installed and/or configured, can be used for cloning the SSL session641. The first core661may use at least some portions of TCP tuple information to clone the SSL session641. The first core661may also obtain TCP tuple information from the request672.

A first core661or a packet processor240of the core can use a master key for the SSL session to manage security, for example data encryption and decryption, and securing transactions though authorization and authentication. The master key can be applied to SSL certificates. The master key can be 48 bits long although other embodiments are also supported. In some embodiments, the master key can be a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) key, such as one generated by a FIPS card. The intermediary200may include a FIPS card in communication with the first core661. The master key can also be created by a certificate authority (CA), such as a local CA residing in the intermediary200. In one embodiment, the CA executes on the first core661and generates certificates, certificate revocation lists (CRLs) and certificate signing requests (CSRs) in addition to the keys. By way of illustration and not limiting in any way, one embodiment of a set of typical commands for a CA is as follows:

create ssl rsakey

create ssl dhParam

create ssl dsaKey

create ssl crl

create ssl certReq

create ssl cert

The second core662may request some or all of the generated information from the first core661to clone the SSL session641. In some embodiments, the second core662requests a minimum set of information to reuse the SSL session641. The first core661may send a minimal set of information to the second core662to clone the SSL session641. The first core661may send one or more messages containing the set of information to clone the SSL session641.

The first core661can use information related to the client certificate, for example, to determine the certificate authority status, issuer identifier of the certificate, and whether the certificate is valid and/or revoked. Client certificate information can facilitate authentication and/or authorization management in the cloned session. In some embodiments, a client certificate is used to support client authentication and/or SSL data insertion. In different embodiments, client certificate information can be of variable size.

The name or type of a cipher, including any configuration of the cipher, can allow the second core662to decode/encode/decrypt/encrypt data consistent with the SSL session641. Cipher information can be sent in 32 bytes of information, although other embodiments can be supported. In addition, client authentication results can facilitate re-authentication of the client and/or allow bypass of some authentication steps. Client authentication results may also be used in policy-based authentication of the client102, such as using one or more of the policies656. Client authentication results can be sent in 4 bytes of information, although other embodiments can be supported.

The second core662may also request for the SSL version to clone a SSL network protocol stack and/or session data structure. The SSL version may also facilitate cloning of connections within the SSL network protocol stack as well as connections between any layer of the protocol stack with the client102, server106, and any other network component. SSL version information can be sent in 4 bytes of information, although other embodiments can be supported. In some embodiments, additional information or arguments for using the master key and/or other keys can be used to clone a SSL session. For example and in one embodiment, SSLv2 protocol may use a 8 bit key argument.

The first core661that owns the SSL session641may store information about session reuse by other cores. This information can be maintained as a bit-pattern, such as a bit pattern representing the cores of the multi-core system, in the session cache651or in memory667. This information may also include a reference count of cloned sessions641′. This information can be used for ageing the cloned sessions for timeout. On timeout of a cloned session641′, the non-owner core (for example, the second core662) may send a message to the first core661indicating that the cloned session641′ has ended. In response to this message, the first core661may update the stored information, e.g., a reference count of cloned sessions. In one embodiment, the SSL session641may not be terminated if cloned sessions are active. In some embodiments, each core processes session ageing irrespective of whether the SSL session is a cloned or original session. Certain operations performed by a core described herein in various embodiments may be performed by a packet engine240of the core.

Referring now toFIGS. 7A and 7B, a flow diagram depicting an embodiment of steps of a method700for maintaining session persistence and reuse in a multi-core system is shown. In brief overview, at step701, a first core of a multi-core system in an intermediary200receives a request671from a client102to establish a secure socket layer (SSL) session641with a server106, the core661assigned a first core identifier656. At step703, the first core661establishes a session identifier for the SSL session641. At step705, the first core encodes the first core identifier656in the session identifier to form a second session identifier688. At step707, the first core661establishes the SSL session641with the client102using the second session identifier688. At step709, the first core661stores the second session identifier688in a session cache651of the first core661. At step711, the first core661indicates whether the SSL session641is resumable. At step713, the first core661sets an indicator668at a location in memory667accessible by each core of the multi-core system, the indicator668indicating whether the SSL session641is resumable. At step715, a flow distributor550of the multi-core system forwards a second request672from the client102to a second core662to reuse and resume the SSL session641. At step717, the second core662receives the second request672from the client102, the request672comprising the second session identifier688. The second core662is assigned a second core identifier658. At step719, the second core662determines that the second session identifier688is not in a session cache652of the second core662.

At step721, the second core662decodes a core identifier656encoded in the second session identifier688. At step723, the second core662determines whether the indicator668in the memory location indicates that the SSL session641is resumable. At step725, the second core662determines whether a reuse limit678for the SSL session641has been exceeded. At step727, the second core662determines whether the core identifier658corresponds to the second core identifier658. At step729, the second core662resumes client communications with the server106in the SSL session641′. At step731, the second core662forwards the request672to the server106. At step733, the second core662transmits a message requesting information about the SSL session641to the first core661identified by the core identifier656. At step735, the first core661identifies the second core662via a second core identifier658included in the message received from the second core662. At step737, the first core661transmits a message to the second core662. At step739, the first core661transmits to the second core662the message indicating that the SSL session641is not reusable. At step741, the second core662determines not to resume the SSL session641based on at least one of: the message from the first core, the identification that the second core is not the establisher of the SSL session641, application of a policy, the indicator668, and the reuse limit678. At step743, the first core661transmits, to the second core662, at least one of: a master key, a client certificate, a name of a cipher631, a result of client authentication, and an SSL version in the message. At step745, the second core662establishes a copy of the SSL session641′ on the second core662based on the information about the SSL session641obtained from the first core661. At step747, the second core662resumes client communications with the server106in the copy of the SSL session641′.

In further details of step701, a first core of a multi-core system in an intermediary receives a request from a client to establish a SSL session with a server. In one embodiment, a first core661of multi-core system deployed as an intermediary200between the client102and a server106receives a request671from a client102to establish a SSL session641with a server106. In some embodiments, the first core661receives a client-hello message671from the client102. The first core661may receive a first request671from the client102via the flow distributor550. The first core661is assigned a first core identifier656. The first core661may be assigned a core identifier656based on an identifier of a processing unit of the first core. In one embodiment, the first core661is assigned a one-byte core identifier656. The multi-core system, the flow distributor550, or other component of the intermediary200may generate and assign the first core identifier656to the first core661. The first core identifier656may be generated via application of at least one policy657.

The flow distributor550may identify the first core661based on information (e.g., TCP tuple) included in the request671. For example, an in one embodiment, the flow distributor550calculates a hash value for the first request671based on information (e.g., TCP tuple) included in the request671. The flow distributor may identify the first core661from the calculated hash value. The flow distributor550may determine that the first core661is active and/or available to handle the request671. The flow distributor550may then forward the request671to the first core661. The first core661can receive the request671via a transceiver621of the first core661.

In further details of step703, the first core establishes a session identifier for the SSL session. Responsive to receiving the request671, the first core may parse, extract or otherwise process information from the request671. The first core661may parse the request671for a session identifier, if available. In some embodiments, an absence of a session identifier in the request671indicates that the request671is a request for establishing a new SSL session. The first core661may perform authentication and/or authorization in connection with request671, for example, by applying at least one policy657.

In some embodiments, the server106generates the session identifier668′ for the SSL session641. The first core661may obtain the session identifier668′ from the server106. In other embodiments, the first core661may generate the session identifier668′ for the SSL session641. The session identifier668′ may be generated via any program code, formulas or algorithms. In one embodiment, the server106and/or the first core661may generate a 16 byte session identifier688′. In one embodiment, the server106and/or the first core661may generate a 32 byte session identifier688′. In some embodiments, the server106and/or the first core661may reserve 4 byte of the session identifier688′ for timestamp information. The server106and/or the first core661may generate a random session identifier688′. The server106and/or the first core661may generate a session identifier688′ using a cipher631and/or a random code generator. The server106and/or the first core661may apply at least one policy657in generating the session identifier688′. During generation of the session identifier688′, The server106and/or the first core661may determine that the session identifier688′ is unique for the multi-core system. In some embodiments, the session identifier668′ is generated after the SSL session641is established. In other embodiments, the session identifier668′ is generated while the SSL session641is established.

In some embodiments, a SSL server or vserver generates the session identifier. In other embodiments, the client102generates the session identifier688′. In some other embodiments, the session identifier668′ may be generated by a cipher631and/or an encryption engine234.

In further details of step705, the first core encodes the first core identifier656in the session identifier688′ to form a second session identifier688. In some embodiments, the first core661uses an encoder/decoder pair or a cipher631to encode the first core identifier656in the session identifier688′ to form a second session identifier688. The first core661may encode a byte of the session identifier688′ with the core identifier656to form the second session identifier688. The first core661may encode the core identifier into a plurality of bits of the session identifier688′ to form the second session identifier688. The first core661may determine at a predetermined frequency a predetermined set of one or more bytes of the session identifier688′ to encode to form the second session identifier688. The first core661may determine a predetermined set of one or more bytes of the session identifier688′ to encode to form the second session identifier688. The first core661may determine a predetermined set of one or more bits of the session identifier688′ to encode to form the second session identifier688. The first core661may encode the core identifier656as a bit pattern in the session identifier688. The first core661may set or unset a number of bits in the session identifier688to encode the core identifier656.

The first core661may encode, with a block cipher, the core identifier656and a validity identifier with the session identifier688′ to form the second session identifier688. The first core661may encode the core identifier656and/or a validity identifier with the session identifier668′ using a DES or 3DES cipher. The first core661may use 7 bytes of the session identifier688′ to encode the validity identifier. The first core661may use 8 bytes of the session identifier688′ to encode both the core identifier656and the validity identifier. The multi-core system, intermediary200, a SSL server or a SSL vserver may generate the validity identifier.

In some embodiments, the first core661uses an encoder/decoder pair or a cipher631to encode the first core identifier and/or a validity identifier in the session identifier688′ to form a second session identifier688. In some embodiments, the first core661executes program codes to encode the first core identifier656and/or a validity identifier in the session identifier688′ to form a second session identifier688. The first core661may also perform mapping or apply hash functions on session identifier688′ before or after encoding. The second session identifier688may be a result of mapping, hash functions and/or encoding applied on the session identifier688′. The first core661may randomly select a byte location in the session identifier to encode the core identifier. The first core661may randomly select byte locations in the session identifier to encode the validity identifier.

In further details of step707, the first core establishes the SSL session641with the client using the second session identifier688. The first core661may establish an SSL session641with a client responsive to the request671. The first core661may establish an SSL session641with a client102responsive to successful authentication and/or authorization. The first core661may initiate handshaking operations with the client102and/or server106, to establish one or more connections between the client102and the server106. The first core661may negotiate a SSL version with the client102and/or the server106. Upon reaching agreement of a SSL version, the first core661may establish a session protocol stack for a SSL session641. The first core661may execute one or more drivers and/or agents in the protocol stack in establishing the protocol stack. The first core661may establish one or more connections between the client102, server106and layers of the session protocol stack. In addition, the first core661may establish a session data structure for the SSL session641.

The first core611may perform any of the steps of establishing the SSL session641via functionality provided by one or more of: the cipher631, the encryption engine234and/or a SSL vserver executing on the first core611or on the multi-core system. In addition, the SSL session641may be generated based on application of at least one policy657. The first core611may allocate memory for establishing and/or maintaining the SSL session641. Further, the first core611may establish the session data structure for the SSL session641. In some embodiment, the backend server106establishes the SSL session641on behalf of the first core661.

In further details of step709, the first core stores the second session identifier688in a session cache651of the first core661. The first core661may create or allocate memory for a session cache651responsive to the request671. The first core661may create or allocate memory for a session cache651responsive to successful authentication and/or authorization.

The first core661may create a session cache651for one or more SSL sessions associated with the first core661. The first core661may create a session cache651in association with establishing a SSL session. In one embodiment, the first core661stores the second identifier688at a location in memory667. The first core661may store the second identifier688in a private memory space of the first core661. In one embodiment, the first core661stores the second identifier688at a location in shared memory667accessible by a plurality of cores.

In further details of step711, the first core indicates whether the SSL session is resumable. In one embodiment, the first core661of a multi-core system indicates that an SSL session641established by the first core661is resumable or non-resumable. In another embodiment, the first core661of the multi-core system deployed as an intermediary200between the client102and a server106receives a notification that the SSL session641is resumable or non-resumable. The multi-core system or the flow distributor550may determine that the SSL session641is resumable or non-resumable. The SSL session641may be resumable or non-resumable based on a setting, preference or configuration associated with the client102, the server106and/or the request671. In still another embodiment, the first core661of the multi-core system deployed as an intermediary200between the client102and a server106determines that the SSL session641is resumable or non-resumable in accordance with a policy656.

In some embodiments, the first core661identifies, via core identifiers included in requests for session information for the SSL session641, one or more cores of the multi-core system that sent the requests. The first core661may receive these requests as CCM messages from other cores. The first core661may receive these requests from other cores responsive to a session disruption. The first core661may parse each request for a core identifier, each core identifier identifying a core that sent the request. The first core661can identify one or more cores based on a bit pattern of data stored on the first core661. The first core661can identify one or more cores based on a bit pattern of data stored in the memory667. The first core661can identify the one or more cores by comparing the core identifiers included in the requests with the bit pattern.

In some embodiments, the first core661transmits to each of the identified one or more cores of the multi-core system a message indicating that the SSL session641is resumable or non-resumable. The first core661may broadcast a message to each of the identified one or more cores indicating that the SSL session641is resumable or non-resumable. In some embodiments, the first core661sends a message to each of the identified one or more cores if a resumable indicator668is not available and/or not set.

In further details of step713, the first core661sets an indicator668at a location in memory667accessible by each core of the multi-core system. The indicator668indicates whether the SSL session641is resumable. In one embodiment, responsive to the indication, the first core661sets an indicator668at a location in memory667accessible by each core of the multi-core system. The indicator668may indicate that the SSL session641is resumable or non-resumable. The indicator668may be referred to as a resumable indicator668. The first core661may store, to the location in the memory667, a value for a resumable field associated with the SSL session641as the indicator.

In further details of step715, a flow distributor550of the multi-core system forwards a second request672from the client102to a second core662to reuse and resume the SSL session641. In some embodiments, a flow distributor550(e.g., receive side scaler) of the multi-core system determines to forward the request672to the second core662based on a source port indicated by the request672. The flow distributor550may receive the second request672from the client102. The flow distributor550may receive the second request672after a disruption related to the SSL session641. The flow distributor550may determine to forward the request672to the second core662based a non-availability of the first core661. The flow distributor550may determine to forward the request672to the second core662based on a TCP tuple indicated by the request672. The flow distributor550may determine to forward the request672to the second core662based on a hash index determined from a TCP tuple indicated by the request672. The flow distributor550may determine to forward the request672to the second core662by associating the hash index with the second core662.

In further details of step717, the second core662receives the second request672from the client102. The request comprises the second session identifier688. In some embodiments, the second core662of the multi-core system deployed as an intermediary200between the client102and a server106receives the request672from the client102to resume the SSL session641with the server. The second core662is assigned a second core identifier658. The multi-core system may assign the second core identifier658to the second core662based on an identifier of a processing unit of the second core662. The multi-core system may assign the core a one-byte core identifier658. The multi-core system may generate for the second core identifier658a random and/or unique core identifier in the multi-core system.

The second core662can receive, via a transceiver622of the second core662, the second request672. The second core662may receive the second request672from the flow distributor550. The second core662may receive the second request672as a client-hello message. The second core662may receive the request672from a client102via a SSL session. For example, a connection between the client and the intermediary200may be maintained but a connection between the intermediary200and the server106may be disrupted. The second core662may receive the request672to resume and/or reuse the SSL session641.

The second request672may comprise a session identifier688. The second core662may parse, extract and/or decode a session identifier688from the second request672. The second core662may parse, extract and/or decode this second session identifier668from the second request672responsive to receiving the second request672. The second core662may decode the second session identifier688to extract a core identifier656and/or validity identifier from the session identifier688. The second core662may apply mapping and/or hash functions on the session identifier688before or after the decoding.

In some embodiments, the decoding process includes applying mapping and/or hash functions on the session identifier688. Application of mapping and/or hash functions may yield the original session identifier generated by the server106for the SSL session641. The second core662may apply this original session identifier in communications with the server106. The second core662may use this original session identifier to identify the server106and/or SSL session641. In some embodiments, the second core662may check the session cache652against this original session identifier.

The second session identifier688may identify the first core661as an establisher or owner of the SSL session641. The second core662, may establish that the validity identifier is valid by accessing related information from memory667, applying at least one policy656, and/or communicating with at least one of: the first core661, the flow distributor550and some other component of the intermediary200.

In further details of step719, and in one embodiment, the second core662determines that the second session identifier688is not in a session cache652of the second core662. In another embodiment, the second core662determines that the second session identifier688is in a session cache652of the second core662. Responsive to obtaining the second session identifier688, the second core662may access at least one session cache652of the second core662. The second core662may retrieve the at least one session cache652from memory667. The second core662may retrieve information from the session cache652, such as a session identifier, to compare against the second session identifier688. Responsive to the comparison, the second core662can determine whether the second session identifier688is in a session cache652of the second core662. In some embodiments, if the second session identifier688is in the session cache652, the corresponding session is already associated with the second core662. Consequently, the second core622can resume the session and resume client communications with the server106if other factors for resuming the session are met.

In further details of step721, the second core decodes a core identifier656encoded in the second session identifier688. The second core662may decode a second core identifier656from a byte of the second session identifier688. The second core662may decode a predetermined byte of the second session identifier688to obtain the second core identifier656. The second core662may apply a decoder to decode the second core identifier656to obtain the second session identifier656. The second core662may apply a cipher632(e.g., a block cipher) to decode the second core identifier656to obtain the second session identifier656. In other embodiments, the second core662may use a DES or a 3DES cipher. The second core662may decode the second core identifier656from a predetermined number of bits in the second session identifier688.

In further details of step723, the second core662determines whether the indicator668in the memory location indicates that the SSL session is resumable. The second core662processing a request672to reuse and/or resume a SSL session641may access the resumable indicator668to determine whether the SSL session641is resumable. The second core662may access the resumable indicator668from memory667. The second core662may access a copy of the resumable indicator668, for example, from the private memory space of the second core662. The second core662may process the resumable indicator field or pointer destination to determine whether the SSL session641is resumable. In one embodiment, the second core662may determine that a resumable indicator668of the SSL session641does not exist or is not set. In some embodiments, the second core622receives a notification or message from the first core661or other component of the multi-core system on whether the SSL session641is resumable.

In one embodiment, the resumable indicator668and/or notification indicates that the SSL session641is non-resumable. In this embodiment, the second core662may determine not to resume the SSL session. Further details are described in connection with step741. In another embodiment, the resumable indicator668and/or notification indicates that the SSL session641is resumable. In this embodiment, the second core622can resume the session and resume client communications with the server106if other requirements for resuming the session are met (see step729).

In further details of step725, the second core determines whether a reuse limit678for the SSL session has been exceeded. The second core662may access the memory667(e.g., shared memory space or private memory space) for a reuse limit678. The second core662may set a reuse limit678for the SSL session641, for example if a reuse limit678does not already exist. The second core662may compare the reuse limit678against a reuse history, counter or tracker. The second core662may access the memory667for the reuse history, counter or tracker.

In one embodiment, the second core662determines that the reuse limit678for the SSL session has been exceeded. In this embodiment, the second core662may determine not to resume the SSL session. Further details are described in connection with step741. In another embodiment, the second core662determines that the reuse limit678for the SSL session has not been exceeded. Consequently, the second core622can resume the session and resume client communications with the server106if other requirements for resuming the session are met (see step729).

In further details of step727, the second core662determines whether the core identifier656corresponds to the second core identifier658. In one embodiment, the second core662identifies from encoding of the second session identifier688that the second core662is not the establisher of the SSL session641. For example, the second core662may determine that the core identifier658does not correspond to the second core identifier656. In another embodiment, the second core662may identify from encoding of the second session identifier688that the first core662is the establisher of the SSL session641. The second core662may send a message to the first core661to verify that the first core662is the establisher of the SSL session641.

In still another embodiment, the second core662identifies from encoding of the second session identifier688that the second core662is the establisher of the SSL session. For example, the second core662may determine that the core identifier in the received session identifier matches the second core identifier656. In this embodiment, the second core622can resume the session and resume client communications with the server106if other requirements for resuming the session are met (see step729).

In further details of step729, the second core662resumes client communications with the server106in the SSL session. If the core identifier658of the second core662corresponds to the second core identifier656, the second core662may resume client communications with the server in the SSL session641if other requirements for resuming the session is met. If the second core662determines that the second core662is the establisher of the SSL session641, the second core662may resume client communications with the server in the SSL session641if other requirements for resuming the session is met. In different embodiments, some or all of the following requirements must be met before the second core662can resume the SSL session641:

i) the resumable indicator668(or a notification) indicates that the session is resumable;

ii) the reuse limit678is not exceeded;

iii) the session is not expired; and

iv) the session is not corrupted.

In connection with resuming the session741, the second core662may update one or more of the: resumable indicator668, the reuse limit678and the associated session cache. The second core662may restart a portion of the session protocol stack and/or restore a connection of the SSL session641(e.g., a disrupted connection between the server106and the protocol stack). In addition, the second core662may send a message to the client102. In some embodiments, the second core662may initiate handshaking with the client to resume the SSL session741, and may include authentication and/or authorization process steps.

In further details of step731, the second core662forwards the request672to the server106. The second core662may resume communications with the server106responsive to resumption of the SSL session641. In one embodiment, the second core662resumes client communications with the server106from the point of disruption of the SSL session641. In some embodiments, the resumption of client communications is transparent or substantially transparent to one or more of: the user of the client, the client102and the server106

In further details of step733, the second core transmits a message requesting information about the SSL session741to the first core identified by the core identifier656. The second core662may transmit to the core identified by the core identifier a message requesting information about the established SSL session641. In some embodiments, the second core662determines that the second core662is not the establisher of the SSL session641. Responsive to the determination, the second core662may transmit a request to the core661that established the SSL session641. The second core662may transmit a request to verify that the first core is the establisher of the SSL session641.

The second core662may transmit a request for information to reuse and clone the SSL session641. The second core662may transmit a request for a minimum set of information to reuse and clone the SSL session641on the second core662. The second core662may transmit a request for at least a partial copy of the session data structure of the SSL session641. The second core662may transmit a request for at least a master key, a client certificate, a name of a cipher, a result of client authentication, and an SSL version to reuse and clone the SSL session641. The second core662may transmit a request for a key processing argument, a CRL and/or TCP tuple information. The second core662may transmit the request or message as a CCM message.

In further details of step735, the first core661identifies the second core662via a core identifier658included in the message received from the second core662. In some embodiments, the first core661receives the message or request from the second core662. The first core661may parse or extract a core identifier658from the message or request to identify the second core662. Based on the identification, the first core661may respond to the second core662.

In further details of step737, the first core661transmits a message to the second core662. The first core661may transmit a message to the second core662responsive to the request or message from the second core662. The first core661may send a confirmation message to the second core662that the first core661is the establisher of the SSL session641. Steps739and743describes other embodiments of the first core's responses.

In further details of step739, the first core661transmits to the second core662the message indicating that the SSL session is not reusable or resumable. In some embodiments, this message is a CCM message. The first core661may transmit the message indicating that the SSL session is non-resumable based on the resumable indicator668. The first core661may transmit the message indicating that the SSL session is non-resumable based on a notification that the first core661have received. The first core661may transmit the message indicating that the SSL session is not reusable based on a reuse limit678of the SSL session641. The first core661may transmit the message indicating that the SSL session is not reusable or resumable based on an expiration of the SSL session641. The first core661may transmit the message indicating that the SSL session is not reusable or resumable based on a determination that the SSL session641is corrupted. The first core661may transmit the message indicating that the SSL session is not reusable or resumable based on detecting an error message in the SSL session641.

In further details of step741, the second core determines not to resume the SSL session based on at least one of: the message from the first core, the identification that the second core is not the establisher of the SSL session, application of a policy, the indicator, and the reuse limit. The second core662may receive a message from the first core661indicating that the SSL session641is not reusable or resumable based on any of the reasons described in connection with step739. The second core662may determine not to resume the SSL session641based on the message from the first core661. The second core662may determine not to resume the SSL session641based on limited resources available on the second core662.

The second core662may determine not to resume the SSL session641based on a determination that the second core662did not establish the SSL session641. The second core662may determine whether a predetermined maximum reuse threshold (e.g., reuse limit678) has been reached. The second core662may determine not to resume the SSL session641if the maximum reuse threshold is reached or exceeded. The second core662may determine not to resume the SSL session641in the absence of a reuse limit678. The second core662may determine not to resume the SSL session641based on a determination that the SSL session641is non-resumable according to the resumable indicator668.

In some embodiments, the second core662removes information about the SSL session641from a session cache652of the second core662. The second core662may remove a session cache652of the second core662. The second core662may remove the information and/or the session cache652responsive to a determination not to resume or reuse the SSL session641. In some embodiments, the second core662establishes a new SSL session responsive to the client request672. The second core may negotiate with the client102for a new SSL version and/or send a new session identifier to the client102. Embodiments of details for establishing a new SSL session is described above in connection step701.

In further details of step743, the first core transmits, to the second core, at least one of: a master key, a client certificate, a name of a cipher, a result of client authentication, and an SSL version in the message. In one embodiment, the first core661transmits to the second core662a master key, a client certificate, a name of a cipher, a result of client authentication, and an SSL version. The first core661may also transmit information associated with key processing arguments, CRLs and TCP tuples. The first core661may send the second core662at least a portion of the session data structure of the SSL session641.

The first core661may send the second core662any other information for resuming or reusing the SSL session641. The first core661may send the second core662a minimum set of information for resuming or reusing the SSL session641in the second core662. The first core661may send the second core662information for cloning or creating a copy of the SSL session641in the second core662. The first core661may send any of these information to the second core662in one or more messages. The one or more messages may be sent via CCM. In some embodiments, the first core661may provide any of these information at a location in memory667for the second core667to access. The first core661may also provide the second core662a pointer or location to any of these information.

In further details of step745, the second core establishes a copy of the SSL session641′ on the second core based on the information about the SSL session obtained from the first core. In some embodiment, the second core662establishes a clone or copy of the SSL session641′ using one or more steps substantially similar to establishing a new SSL session. The second core662may build a session data structure for the SSL session641′ from a partial data structure of the original SSL session641provided by the first core661. The second core662may initiate handshaking steps with the client102and/or server106. The handshaking steps may include any extent and combination of authentication, authorization, certificate validation/renewal, and key validation/renewal depending on the information provided by the first core661.

The second core662may generate a session identifier688′ for the cloned SSL session641′. The second core662may generate a session identifier688′ that is the same as the session identifier688for SSL session641except for the encoded bits for the core identifier. The second core662may encode the core identifier658of the second core662in the session identifier688′. A validity identifier for the SSL session641′ may be issued and encoded in the session identifier688′. The second core662may create a session cache652in connection with establishing the cloned SSL session641′. The second core662may update the session cache652with the session identifier688′. The second core662may create and/or update the session cache according to embodiments of steps described above in connection withFIG. 6and steps701and707.

The second core662may update the resumable indicator668, reuse limit678and/or reuse count. The second core662may also send a message to the first core661indicating that the cloned session641′ is resumed. The first core661may update a record for tracking session reuse of the SSL session641amongst the plurality of cores. The first core661may maintain the original SSL session641if any corresponding cloned sessions641′ are active.

In further details of step747, the second core662resumes client communications with the server106with the copy of the SSL session641′. The second core662may resume client communications with the server106with the cloned SSL session641′ substantially similar to the steps described in connection with steps729and731. The second core662may transmit a message to the client102and/or server106including the new session identifier688′ and core identifier658. In one embodiment, the second core662resumes client communications with the server106from the point of disruption of the original SSL session641. In some embodiments, the resumption of client communications is transparent or substantially transparent to one or more of: the user of the client, the client102and the server106.

Although generally discussed with respect to a first and a second core, the techniques in this disclosure can apply to any cores of the multi-core system. Various embodiments of the methods may include any combination of the steps described. The systems and methods disclosed can apply to homogeneous and heterogeneous system. Homogeneous systems includes but are not limited to i) cores in a multi-core system, ii) a plurality of multi-core systems, and iii) servers in a server farm. Heterogeneous systems includes but are not limited to i) general purpose CPUs and application specific cores, ii) a network of machines of various types, iii) multi-core systems of different types and/or number of cores, and iv) server farms comprising machines of different types and/or number of machines.

In some embodiments, the systems and methods disclosed can be applied to cluster deployment where session cloning is performed across homogenous or heterogeneous systems. In one embodiment, a plurality of sessions in a first multi-core system may be cloned in a second multi-core system. In other embodiments, session information and parameters may be reused across homogenous or heterogeneous systems. In some embodiments, SSL security parameters may be transferred across homogenous or heterogeneous systems. Some or all of a set of SSL security parameters may be copied, regenerated, or otherwise reused in one or more cores or machines. Examples of SSL security parameters include identification of a secure port for SSL connection, the level or strength of encryption, the interval for session renegotiation, enablement of host matching and location of private key. Furthermore, reuse may include, but are not limited to, information and/or parameters related to keys, encryption, certificates, ciphers, authentication results and SSL version. Embodiments of these information and/or parameters are described above in connection withFIG. 6.

The systems and methods disclosed can also be applied to state-full SSL session failover in homogenous or heterogeneous systems. In some embodiments, Active-Standby deployment may be available where a SSL session established on an active node is cloned on a standby node. When failover happens, the standby node can take over as the active node. The SSL clients may not need to re-negotiate the SSL session as the new Active node already have the complete cloned session. The systems and methods disclosed can be further applied to external heterogeneous systems, such as those with well-defined authentication processes in place to identify the external device performing session cloning.

G. Systems and Methods for Providing a Distributed Cluster Architecture

As discussed earlier, to overcome limitations on transistor spacing and CPU speed increases, many CPU manufacturers have incorporated multi-core CPUs to improve performance beyond that capable of even a single, higher speed CPU. Similar or further performance gains may be made by operating a plurality of appliances, either single or multi-core, together as a distributed or clustered appliance. Individual computing devices or appliances may be referred to as nodes of the cluster. A centralized management system may perform load balancing, distribution, configuration, or other tasks to allow the nodes to operate in conjunction as a single computing system. Externally or to other devices, including servers and clients, in many embodiments, the cluster may be viewed as a single virtual appliance or computing device, albeit one with performance exceeding that of a typical individual appliance.

Referring now toFIG. 8, illustrated is an embodiment of a computing device cluster or appliance cluster600. A plurality of appliances200a-200nor other computing devices, sometimes referred to as nodes, such as desktop computers, servers, rackmount servers, blade servers, or any other type and form of computing device may be joined into a single appliance cluster600. Although referred to as an appliance cluster, in many embodiments, the cluster may operate as an application server, network storage server, backup service, or any other type of computing device without limitation. In many embodiments, the appliance cluster600may be used to perform many of the functions of appliances200, WAN optimization devices, network acceleration devices, or other devices discussed above.

In some embodiments, the appliance cluster600may comprise a homogenous set of computing devices, such as identical appliances, blade servers within one or more chassis, desktop or rackmount computing devices, or other devices. In other embodiments, the appliance cluster600may comprise a heterogeneous or mixed set of devices, including different models of appliances, mixed appliances and servers, or any other set of computing devices. This may allow for an appliance cluster600to be expanded or upgraded over time with new models or devices, for example.

In some embodiments, each computing device or appliance200of an appliance cluster600may comprise a multi-core appliance, as discussed above. In many such embodiments, the core management and flow distribution methods discussed above may be utilized by each individual appliance, in addition to the node management and distribution methods discussed herein. This may be thought of as a two-tier distributed system, with one appliance comprising and distributing data to multiple nodes, and each node comprising and distributing data for processing to multiple cores. Accordingly, in such embodiments, the node distribution system need not manage flow distribution to individual cores, as that may be taken care of by a master or control core as discussed above.

In many embodiments, an appliance cluster600may be physically grouped, such as a plurality of blade servers in a chassis or plurality of rackmount devices in a single rack, but in other embodiments, the appliance cluster600may be distributed in a plurality of chassis, plurality of racks, plurality of rooms in a data center, plurality of data centers, or any other physical arrangement. Accordingly, the appliance cluster600may be considered a virtual appliance, grouped via common configuration, management, and purpose, rather than a physical group.

In some embodiments, an appliance cluster600may be connected to one or more networks104,104′. For example, referring briefly back toFIG. 1A, in some embodiments, an appliance200may be deployed between a network104joined to one or more clients102, and a network104′ joined to one or more servers106. An appliance cluster600may be similarly deployed to operate as a single appliance. In many embodiments, this may not require any network topology changes external to appliance cluster600, allowing for ease of installation and scalability from a single appliance scenario. In other embodiments, an appliance cluster600may be similarly deployed as shown inFIGS. 1B-1Dor discussed above. In still other embodiments, an appliance cluster may comprise a plurality of virtual machines or processes executed by one or more servers. For example, in one such embodiment, a server farm may execute a plurality of virtual machines, each virtual machine configured as an appliance200, and a plurality of the virtual machines acting in concert as an appliance cluster600. In yet still other embodiments, an appliance cluster600may comprise a mix of appliances200or virtual machines configured as appliances200. In some embodiments, appliance cluster600may be geographically distributed, with the plurality of appliances200not co-located. For example, referring back toFIG. 8, in one such embodiment, a first appliance200amay be located at a first site, such as a data center and a second appliance200bmay be located at a second site, such as a central office or corporate headquarters. In a further embodiment, such geographically remote appliances may be joined by a dedicated network, such as a T1 or T3 point-to-point connection; a VPN; or any other type and form of network. Accordingly, although there may be additional communications latency compared to co-located appliances200a-200b, there may be advantages in reliability in case of site power failures or communications outages, scalability, or other benefits. In some embodiments, latency issues may be reduced through geographic or network-based distribution of data flows. For example, although configured as an appliance cluster600, communications from clients and servers at the corporate headquarters may be directed to the appliance200bdeployed at the site, load balancing may be weighted by location, or similar steps can be taken to mitigate any latency.

Still referring toFIG. 8, an appliance cluster600may be connected to a network via a client data plane602. In some embodiments, client data plane602may comprise a communication network, such as a network104, carrying data between clients and appliance cluster600. In some embodiments, client data plane602may comprise a switch, hub, router, or other network devices bridging an external network104and the plurality of appliances200a-200nof the appliance cluster600. For example, in one such embodiment, a router may be connected to an external network104, and connected to a network interface of each appliance200a-200n. In some embodiments, this router or switch may be referred to as an interface manager, and may further be configured to distribute traffic evenly across the nodes in the application cluster600. Thus, in many embodiments, the interface master may comprise a flow distributor external to appliance cluster600. In other embodiments, the interface master may comprise one of appliances200a-200n. For example, a first appliance200amay serve as the interface master, receiving incoming traffic for the appliance cluster600and distributing the traffic across each of appliances200b-200n. In some embodiments, return traffic may similarly flow from each of appliances200b-200nvia the first appliance200aserving as the interface master. In other embodiments, return traffic from each of appliances200b-200nmay be transmitted directly to a network104,104′, or via an external router, switch, or other device. In some embodiments, appliances200of the appliance cluster not serving as an interface master may be referred to as interface slaves.

The interface master may perform load balancing or traffic flow distribution in any of a variety of ways. For example, in some embodiments, the interface master may comprise a router performing equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) routing with next hops configured with appliances or nodes of the cluster. The interface master may use an open-shortest path first (OSPF) In some embodiments, the interface master may use a stateless hash-based mechanism for traffic distribution, such as hashes based on IP address or other packet information tuples, as discussed above. Hash keys and/or salt may be selected for even distribution across the nodes. In other embodiments, the interface master may perform flow distribution via link aggregation (LAG) protocols, or any other type and form of flow distribution, load balancing, and routing.

In some embodiments, the appliance cluster600may be connected to a network via a server data plane604. Similar to client data plane602, server data plane604may comprise a communication network, such as a network104′, carrying data between servers and appliance cluster600. In some embodiments, server data plane604may comprise a switch, hub, router, or other network devices bridging an external network104′ and the plurality of appliances200a-200nof the appliance cluster600. For example, in one such embodiment, a router may be connected to an external network104′, and connected to a network interface of each appliance200a-200n. In many embodiments, each appliance200a-200nmay comprise multiple network interfaces, with a first network interface connected to client data plane602and a second network interface connected to server data plane604. This may provide additional security and prevent direct interface of client and server networks by having appliance cluster600server as an intermediary device. In other embodiments, client data plane602and server data plane604may be merged or combined. For example, appliance cluster600may be deployed as a non-intermediary node on a network with clients102and servers106. As discussed above, in many embodiments, an interface master may be deployed on the server data plane604, for routing and distributing communications from the servers and network104′ to each appliance of the appliance cluster. In many embodiments, an interface master for client data plane602and an interface master for server data plane604may be similarly configured, performing ECMP or LAG protocols as discussed above.

In some embodiments, each appliance200a-200nin appliance cluster600may be connected via an internal communication network or back plane606. Back plane606may comprise a communication network for inter-node or inter-appliance control and configuration messages, and for inter-node forwarding of traffic. For example, in one embodiment in which a first appliance200acommunicates with a client via network104, and a second appliance200bcommunicates with a server via network104′, communications between the client and server may flow from client to first appliance, from first appliance to second appliance via back plane606, and from second appliance to server, and vice versa. In other embodiments, back plane606may carry configuration messages, such as interface pause or reset commands; policy updates such as filtering or compression policies; status messages such as buffer status, throughput, or error messages; or any other type and form of inter-node communication. In some embodiments, RSS keys or hash keys may be shared by all nodes in the cluster, and may be communicated via back plane606. For example, a first node or master node may select an RSS key, such as at startup or boot, and may distribute this key for use by other nodes. In some embodiments, back plane606may comprise a network between network interfaces of each appliance200, and may comprise a router, switch, or other network device (not illustrated). Thus, in some embodiments and as discussed above, a router for client data plane602may be deployed between appliance cluster600and network104, a router for server data plane604may be deployed between appliance cluster600and network104′, and a router for back plane606may be deployed as part of appliance cluster600. Each router may connect to a different network interface of each appliance200. In other embodiments, one or more planes602-606may be combined, or a router or switch may be split into multiple LANs or VLANs to connect to different interfaces of appliances200a-200nand serve multiple routing functions simultaneously, to reduce complexity or eliminate extra devices from the system.

In some embodiments, a control plane (not illustrated) may communicate configuration and control traffic from an administrator or user to the appliance cluster600. In some embodiments, the control plane may be a fourth physical network, while in other embodiments, the control plane may comprise a VPN, tunnel, or communication via one of planes602-606. Thus, the control plane may, in some embodiments, be considered a virtual communication plane. In other embodiments, an administrator may provide configuration and control through a separate interface, such as a serial communication interface such as RS-232; a USB communication interface; or any other type and form of communication. In some embodiments, an appliance200may comprise an interface for administration, such as a front panel with buttons and a display; a web server for configuration via network104,104′ or back plane606; or any other type and form of interface.

In some embodiments, as discussed above, appliance cluster600may include internal flow distribution. For example, this may be done to allow nodes to join/leave transparently to external devices. To prevent an external flow distributor from needing to be repeatedly reconfigured on such changes, a node or appliance may act as an interface master or distributor for steering network packets to the correct node within the cluster600. For example, in some embodiments, when a node leaves the cluster (such as on failure, reset, or similar cases), an external ECMP router may identify the change in nodes, and may rehash all flows to redistribute traffic. This may result in dropping and resetting all connections. The same drop and reset may occur when the node rejoins. In some embodiments, for reliability, two appliances or nodes within appliance cluster600may receive communications from external routers via connection mirroring.

In many embodiments, flow distribution among nodes of appliance cluster600may use any of the methods discussed above for flow distribution among cores of an appliance. For example, in one embodiment, a master appliance, master node, or interface master, may compute a RSS hash, such as a Toeplitz hash on incoming traffic and consult a preference list or distribution table for the hash. In many embodiments, the flow distributor may provide the hash to the recipient appliance when forwarding the traffic. This may eliminate the need for the node to recompute the hash for flow distribution to a core. In many such embodiments, the RSS key used for calculating hashes for distribution among the appliances may comprise the same key as that used for calculating hashes for distribution among the cores, which may be referred to as a global RSS key, allowing for reuse of the calculated hash. In some embodiments, the hash may be computed with input tuples of transport layer headers including port numbers, internet layer headers including IP addresses; or any other packet header information. In some embodiments, packet body information may be utilized for the hash. For example, in one embodiment in which traffic of one protocol is encapsulated within traffic of another protocol, such as lossy UDP traffic encapsulated via a lossless TCP header, the flow distributor may calculate the hash based on the headers of the encapsulated protocol (e.g. UDP headers) rather than the encapsulating protocol (e.g. TCP headers). Similarly, in some embodiments in which packets are encapsulated and encrypted or compressed, the flow distributor may calculate the hash based on the headers of the payload packet after decryption or decompression. In still other embodiments, nodes may have internal IP addresses, such as for configuration or administration purposes. Traffic to these IP addresses need not be hashed and distributed, but rather may be forwarded to the node owning the destination address. For example, an appliance may have a web server or other server running for configuration or administration purposes at an IP address of 1.2.3.4, and, in some embodiments, may register this address with the flow distributor as its internal IP address. In other embodiments, the flow distributor may assign internal IP addresses to each node within the appliance cluster600. Traffic arriving from external clients or servers, such as a workstation used by an administrator, directed to the internal IP address of the appliance (1.2.3.4) may be forwarded directly, without requiring hashing.

G. Systems and Methods for SSL Session Management in a Cluster System

In some aspects, the present disclosure is directed towards methods and systems for SSL session management in a cluster system. A device, appliance, network or intermediary between one or more client and servers, may include a cluster or group of nodes (hereafter sometimes generally referred to as an “intermediary”, “cluster” or “cluster system”). Each of these nodes may comprise a multi-core system and may host one or more processing engines (PEs) for handling packets. The present methods and systems can efficiently manage SSL sessions established across nodes and/or cores, including nodes having symmetric or asymmetric configuration. By interoperating between nodes within the cluster system, the nodes can present a single node image to a user or device interfacing with the cluster system. These methods and systems can use a distributed hash table (DHT), that may allow any core receiving a session resume/reuse request, to identify an owner code of the requested session. The distributed hash table can receive as input a key derived from a session identifier, to output information about the owner core. Copies of the distributed hash table may be available to each core and/or node, and can be used to mark particular sessions that may be invalid or non-resumable. Based on the has table, the receiving core may request for session information related to the requested session. The receiving core may then establish a local cloned session of the requested session, responsive to the session resume/reuse request.

Referring now toFIG. 9A, one embodiment of a system for SSL session management in a cluster system is depicted. In brief summary, the system includes an intermediary200, comprising a cluster system, that facilitates and/or processes communications between a client102and a server106over at least one communication session. The cluster may comprise any embodiment of features described above in connection withFIG. 8. Each node of the cluster may include a plurality of cores or packet processing engines (PEs), such as various embodiments of the cores or PEs described above in connection with sections B-G. Each core may include a hash table, which may comprise a copy or a portion of a distributed hash table (DHT) maintained within the cluster.

In some embodiments, each node of the cluster may comprise one or more functionality of an appliance having multi-core features, such as embodiments of appliances200described above in connection with at leastFIGS. 5A-5C, 6 and 7A-7B. A pair of nodes may communicate or exchange messages between themselves using node-to-node (N2N) messages, as discussed in section G. Each core or PE of a node may establish and/or maintain a N2N channel or connection to each of the other nodes. The configuration of the nodes may not be symmetric. For example, some nodes may comprise a larger number of cores and/or have access to different resources, or may comprise cores of different performance and/or features than those of certain other nodes.

In some aspects, SSL session management may require particular attention or handling in a cluster-based system or architecture. A SSL session data structure can hold information that can be used to allow resumption or cloning of existing SSL sessions. A SSL session data structure can be built or replicated using certain session data that may be stored in a DHT. In some embodiments of the present systems, SSL session resumption or reuse may be commonly used, for example, in applications involving secure communication. SSL session resumption or reuse may be used to reduce processing or communications load on a web-server, e.g., by avoiding or reducing full handshake processing.

In certain embodiments of a cluster system, SSL sessions created or established on a particular core of a node may be private to, or reserved for that core. Other cores of the same node, as well as of different nodes, may not be able to have direct access to session data and/or session states of such an SSL session. Certain embodiments of the system may employ or be subject to processes or features that direct or distribute incoming packets or requests across nodes and/or cores of the intermediary. By way of illustration, and not intended to be limiting in any way, the system may comprise RSS features (e.g., as described above in connection with at leastFIG. 5B) and/or CITRIX data flow diagram (DFD) features. Such features may make it likely for, or result in session resume/reuse requests or connections going to a different core, e.g., (node, core) pair, than the one (owner core) which established or allocated the session. For example, RSS and/or DFD may distribute packet or message load across nodes and/or cores of the cluster system, and may do so without regards to (e.g., without the ability to determine) the identity of the corresponding owner nodes and/or cores.

In certain embodiments, the intermediary provides a mechanism to identify the owner (node, core). The latter may sometimes be referred to as an owner node of a session, so that a core of the node may own or handle the session at the core level. The owner (node, core) may sometimes be referred to as an owner core of a session, such that the core (owning or handling the session at the core level) may belong to a node referred as an owner node (owning or handling the session at the node level). More generally, a (node, core) may sometimes be referred to by the corresponding node or core, and it should be understood that a referenced node would have an associated core, and a referenced core would have an associated node.

A (node, core) may receive a session resume/reuse/cloning request (hereafter sometimes generally referred to as a “request”). Such a (node, core) may hereafter sometimes generally be referred to as a “receiving core”. The request may include a session identifier for a requested session. The request may include a request to access a particular session, e.g., established with a server, or to be established with the server. The request may include a request to access features and/or resources provided by or available through a session, but may not necessarily comprise a request to access the requested session itself. The request may include a request to clone, reuse and/or resume a session, e.g., resume a session that was established by another node and/or core, or to reuse a session established at the receiving core. The cloning and/or resumption of a requested session on a non-owner node and/or core may involve having the cloned/reused/resumed session incorporating or making available certain features and/or resources provided by or available through the requested session.

In some embodiments, the request includes a Client-Hello message, or other handshaking message or packet. The request may include a message sent or conveyed from a client to the server and/or intermediary. The request may include a message for accessing and/or establishing a session or connection of any type or form (e.g., a SSL session) with the server and/or intermediary. The request may include a session identifier, which can include any type or form of information for identifying a session and/or a type of session. The request may include a request for information that an owner (node, core) may provide to an non-owner (node, core), e.g., to replicate a session structure consistent or compatible with a particular session or session identifier (hereafter sometimes referred to as “session-ID”).

By identifying the owner (node, core) for a given session-ID, the cluster system can apply its N2N message passing mechanism to receive information, enabling a receiving core to make or establish a copy or clone of the session. The receiving core may establish the copy or clone locally, e.g., in or from the receiving core. The receiving core may establish the copy or clone in or from a cache of the requesting core.

The intermediary may include a hash table mechanism for identifying an owner of a session. The intermediary may, in certain embodiments, include a distributed hash table (DHT). The intermediary may include a shared hash table, e.g., in shared memory, which may be shared or accessible by nodes and/or cores. In some embodiments, a DHT comprises a mechanism, data structure, infrastructure or system for storing and/or retrieving data regarding sessions (e.g., session identifier, ownership information, and session status such as validity, resumability/reusability). Each core of a node may have its own DHT table, or a copy of the DHT. Each data item in a DHT may be indexed by an unique key. The unique key may be specified (e.g., in form and/or in value) by an application which uses the DHT. For example, in an SSL application, a packet engine (PE) establishing or accessing a session may access or interface with a DHT using one or more predefined APIs, which may be provided by the DHT.

In some embodiments, a pair of <data, key> is called a DHT entity. DHT entities may be stored in a DHT table. The data may include any information about a session, such as owner core identification and/or information for cloning a session. A DHT can identify, determine or compute the identity of an owner of an entity (or session) based on the key. By having local or distributed copies of the DHT at each (node, core), applications using DHT may not have to be aware of a location (e.g., shared location) for fetching and/or storing the data that can be accessed. By way of example, various operations can be made on a DHT, including but not limited to the following embodiments:

Dht_put(key, data): Stores the data on (or in association with) the owner (node, core).

Dht_get(key,): Fetches the data from (or in association with) the owner (node, core).

Dht_entry_delete(dht_entry): Deletes the dht_entry associated with the application's structure.

Dht_update(Key, Oldvalue, Newvalue): Updates Oldvalue with Newvalue on all or some of the (node, core), e.g., where ever (Key, Oldvalue) exists.

In some embodiments, a receiving core (sometimes referred to as a requesting core) can form or generate a key based at least in part on a session-ID (e.g., received from the client in the request). The receiving core can form or generate a key based at least in part on a unique identifier value of a vserver, VIP, packet processing engine or PE on which the receiving core received the request. For example, the receiving core may apply a predefined transformation or encoding function/scheme to any of the information to form a key.

In certain embodiments, the data portion of a DHT entity may include one or more of (e.g., at least) the following information, though not limited to these:session->master_key[48]Client certificate, (e.g., if client Authentication along with SSL data insertion is enabled on the SSL vserver/service). Data insertion related to client certificate may require copying of the client certificate. This may be variable in size, and may involve additional overheads.Identification of a method or means to recreate the session->cipher pointer. For example, this may include a name of a cipher passed in the core-to-core (or N2N) message. This information may comprise 32 bytes of data.Session->verify_result: This may hold or specify a result of client authentication, and may be used in policy-based client authentication. This information may comprise 4 bytes of data.Session->ssl_version: This may hold or specify a version of SSL negotiated for the session. This information may comprise u16 bits of data.Session->key_arg[8]: This may be used in SSLv2 protocol.

The following is a non-limiting illustration of one embodiment of formats and/or data structures for keys and data (e.g., that can be used with DHT APIs for SSL):

In certain embodiments, session creation or resumption/reuse using a DHT within a cluster system may involve a number of steps that may be different from that of a mere or typical multi-core system. Some or all of the following steps may be described with respect to a front-end side (e.g., between a client102and the intermediary). In general for example, upon receiving a new SSL connection request (e.g., native Client-Hello, or Client-Hello with no session-ID), the cluster system may create and/or assign a new session-ID responsive to the request. The cluster system may (e.g., call an operation, dht_puhkey, data) to) install the requested session on the owner (node, core), e.g., the core that was assigned or received the request for the (new) session.

On receiving a session resume/reuse request (e.g., a Client-Hello with session-ID), the cluster system or receiving core may perform one or more of the following. If the requested session is present or identified on a local cache of the receiving core, the receiving core may proceed to reuse the session. The receiving core may increment the reuse count, e.g., to indicate the reuse/resumption of the session. If the requested session is not present or identified on a local cache of the receiving core, the cluster system or receiving core may (e.g., call an operation, dht_get(KEY) to) determine if the requested session is present or available on the owner (node, core).

If the requested session is present or available on the owner (node, core) (e.g., if the dht_get response is positive), it may mean that the owner (node, core) still maintains the session, and the owner may provide (e.g., in the response) session information for performing a resumption of the session on the current (node, core). If the requested session is not present or available on the owner (node, core) (e.g., if the dht_get response is negative), the session may have expired on the owner (node, core). In this case, the current or receiving core can issue a new session-ID, may establish a session corresponding to the session-ID, and may add the session-ID to the core's own cache. The receiving core may (e.g., invoke an operation, dht_put(KEY,DATA) to) install the session on the owner (node, core).

Each session structure may be associated with a DHT entry in a DHT. If a session is to be freed or to expire, the cluster system or owner core may (e.g., use the DHT API to) delete the DHT entry, which may be updated to copies of the DHT at each (node, core). In some embodiments, an owner session is a session which is installed by DHT using a dht_put operation. Other sessions may be referred to as cached sessions or cloned sessions. As discussed above, the core that establishes or installs a session (e.g., calls the dht_put operation) may not be the owner of the session. Ownership of a session may be determined by a DHT based on the particular key (e.g., formed by a receiving core).

In some embodiments, cached sessions are created or established in response to an action of an non-owner receiving core (e.g., via the dht_get(key) operation). A cached session may send heart beat signals, or any other type of indication, to the corresponding owner session or owner (node, core). This may ensure that the owner session is not deleted when it has cloned references (sessions) at other nodes or cores. Thus, at any time for a given owner session, there may exist multiple cached sessions.

In some embodiments, on the backend side (e.g., between the intermediary and the server106), the intermediary (e.g., a Netscalar node) may be the SSL client. A SSL web server or the server106may issue a session-ID or session identifier. Each core (e.g., of the cluster system) may open a session to the backend server. There may be no requirement for session-cloning. Each core may try to reuse the session to a backend server (e.g., for a predetermined limit, such as a maximum of 100 times or instances).

In session resume, a cluster system may clone a SSL session across cores. On receiving a session reuse/resume request on a receiving core, the core may check for the session in the receiving core's local cache. If the session exists on the same core, the session may be reused. If not, the session may be cloned (e.g., copied) from the owner (node, core) to the receiving or current (node, core). As discussed, DHT may be used to facilitate or perform the cloning, e.g., by invoking the dht_get(key) operation. Cloning may not mean that an entire SSL session data structure has to be copied. The cluster system may need to copy only required or minimal information from the session data structure to honor the session resumption. For example, the owner (node, core) may perform a DHT lookup using the key as formed and received from the requesting core. The owner core may generate and send a response comprising data (e.g., minimal data) to recreate a requested session structure or features. In some embodiments, session cloning may fail if the requested session does not exist (e.g., has expired) on the owner (node, core).

In certain embodiments, each core may perform (e.g., its own) session ageing, which may be irrespective of whether the corresponding session is local or copied from an owner core. The cluster system or owner core may invoke a “session free” function when references (e.g., all SPCB references) to the session have ceased or become zero. When a “session free” function is called, a call may be made to an operation (e.g., to a DHT API dht_entry_delete operation) to check whether a DHT pointer associated with the session structure can be deleted. In one illustrative, nonlimiting embodiment, this operation may perform the following checks: check whether the session is an owner session and the corresponding DHT entry has aged out or not. If not, the operation may return a failure to the “session free” function. If the session is not an owner session, the corresponding DHT entry can be deleted automatically, and the operation may return a success to the “session free” function. If all cached sessions are deleted or freed, the corresponding owner session may not receive any heart beat signals, and the owner session may be deleted, for example, in a next function call to “session free”. An owner session may be deleted after all the cached sessions are deleted.

In some cases (e.g., in some front-end cases), the cluster system may determine that a session is not resumable. For example, if any fatal alert is sent or received in connection with a SSL session, the session may be marked (e.g., by the owner core or the cluster system, in the DHT) as not resumable. All further SSL session resume requests corresponding to that session may be discarded or rejected. It may be helpful to recognize that in a single core system, there may be one copy of a session's session entry. Thus, as soon as the session is marked not resumable, the information may be available for all subsequent session resume requests, e.g., session->not_resumable=1. In a cluster system, on the other hand, a session entry may be owned by one core (owner core). Other (node, core)'s may have copies or access to the entry, e.g., depending on which core received the session resume request. If the session is to be marked as not-resumable in a core (owner or non-owner), the information may be updated such that it is accessible to each core having a reference (e.g., copy) to the session. In some embodiments, the cluster system uses a DHT API to perform the update.

The cluster system may include a DHT API or operation, sometimes referred to as dht_update. When a session has a status change (e.g., is marked not resumable on a core), the core can send an dht_update(key, oldvalue, newvalue) operation to the owner (node, core). The owner (node, core) can send a broadcast message to nodes and/or cores (e.g., to all cores, or to cores having a reference or cached session) to update the oldvalue (e.g., valid or resumable) to newvalue (e.g., not resumable, expired, or invalid). If, for any reason, the dht_update operation's message cannot be conveyed across, the cluster system can queue the corresponding session in a list, and may retry or re-invoke the same operation until the operation succeeds.

In some embodiments, and in the case of backend SSL sessions for example, each core may open a SSL session to the backend server. Since sessions may not be shared between the cores, each core can maintain its session status (e.g., not-resumable) for incoming requests. For example, each core can mark its own local session as not-resumable. Because the sessions are not shared across cores, each core can maintain its own count of a maximum reuse limit of the session.

The cluster system may support re-handshake operations. In some embodiments, and in the front-end for example, a re-handshake (e.g., a SSL Re-handshake) may operate similarly on a core that owns a session as on a core having a reference copy. During re-handshake, a new session may be created on the core on which re-handshake is taking place. The old session can still exists as the old session is not marked not-resumable (or invalid or expired).

The cluster system may support SSL data insertion. SSL data insertion involving client certificates may require a client certificate to be copied, e.g., from the DHT or from the owner core, to a core which has reference copy of the session. When session cloning is complete, a client's certificate may be copied in addition to session data structure contents. Other pointers holding the Intermediate-CA certificate chain sent by the client may not be copied in some embodiments. In some cases, such pointers may not be valid on the core which does not own the session.

Referring now toFIG. 9B, one embodiment of a method for managing one or more SSL sessions in a cluster system is depicted. The method may include receiving, by a first node from a cluster of nodes intermediary between a client and a server, a first request from the client to use a first session established with the server (901). The first request may include a session identifier of the first session. The first node may determine that the first session is not identified in a cache of the first node (903). The first node may identify, via a hash table responsive to the determination, an owner node of the first session from the cluster of nodes using a key (905). The key may be determined based on the session identifier. The first node may send a second request to the identified owner node for session data of the first session (907). The session data may be for establishing a second session with the server. If the response does not include the session data, the first core may establish a new session responsive to the session reuse request (909). If the response includes the session data, the first core may establish the second session cloned from the first session (911).

Referring to (901) and in further details, a first node (e.g., a receiving node) from a cluster of nodes intermediary between a client and a server may receive a first request from the client to use a first session established with the server. The cluster may be intermediary between at least client and at least one server. In some embodiments, a distributor module or mechanism of the intermediary may direct the request to the first node. The first/receiving node may receive a request to reuse, resume, clone, access or otherwise use a session previously established with the server. The receiving node may receive a request to use or access a SSL session, for example, between the client and the cluster, which may be referred to as a front-end side session. The receiving node may receive a request to use or access a SSL session between the cluster and the server, which may be referred to as a back-end side session. The receiving node may receive a request to use or access a SSL session between the client and the server. A core of the first node may be identified by the first node to receive a session reuse/resume/clone request.

The client may have, or may not have knowledge about the requested session. The session may be active or inactive, valid or invalid, expired and/or unexpired, reusable or non-reusable, and/or resumable or non-resumable. The session may have been transferred from one node or core to another node or core, or is in the process of being transferred. The client may be trying to access or resume a previous session (e.g., the requested session) with the server. The client may generate and send the request identifying the first session. The first request may include a session identifier of the first session. The session identifier may be used to identify the requested session. The first request may include a connection identifier, and/or any other identifier associated with the first session, for example, an identifier of an application executing on the client, an identification of a user, an identifier of URL of a resource of the server, an IP address and/or port number of the client and/or server. The session identifier may comprise an identifier generated from any of these information, and may be assigned to the first session, the user, the client, the application, the resource and/or the server.

The receiving node may intercept or receive the request from the client. If the request does not include a session identifier, the receiving node may create or assign a new session identifier. The receiving node may, for example, establish a session local to the corresponding receiving core's cache, responsive to the request and/or session identifier. In some embodiments, the client generates and/or sends the request as part of a handshaking process for reusing, resuming, cloning or otherwise establishing a SSL session with the cluster and/or server. The first or receiving node may receive the request from the client as part of a handshaking process, e.g., a SSL handshaking process. The first or receiving node may receive the request for establishing a SSL session with the cluster and/or server. For example, the first node may receive a client-hello message that includes a session identifier for the requested session. The receiving node, e.g., a first (node, core) of the cluster system may receive the request, e.g., as discussed above in connection withFIG. 9A. The receiving node may receive the request comprising one or more packets. The request may be sent, directed or assigned to the receiving core by the cluster, another node of the cluster system, or a flow distributor mechanism or feature associated with the cluster system (e.g., RSS and/or DFD).

Referring to (903) and in further details, the first node may determine whether the first session is identified or referenced in a cache of the first node. The first node may determine whether the first session is identified or referenced in a cache of a core of the first node. For example, the first node may check a cache of some or all cores of the first node. The first node may determine whether a session description, data structure, configuration, log file and/or status of the first session is stored in the cache or other location. For example, a receiving core may search a log file of the first node for any match or reference to the session identifier. The receiving or first node may determine that the (e.g., first) session is not identified in a cache of the receiving node. The receiving node may determine if the session is identified in a local cache of a corresponding receiving core. The receiving core may determine that the first session is not identified in the cache based on the session identifier of the first session. The receiving core may determine this based on a search or match against data maintained in the cache, for example.

The receiving node may determine if any sessions (e.g., sessions that may be active, established, inactive, resumable, etc.) are associated with the receiving core or its cache. The receiving node may determine if any sessions are owned by a core of the receiving node. The receiving node may compare or match the session identifier with those of sessions associated with the receiving node or its cache(s). The receiving node may determine that the session is not identified in cache(s) of the node's core(s), based on an absence of any sessions associated with the receiving node or the cache(s). The receiving node may determine that the session is not identified in cache(s) of the node's core(s), based on a comparison of the session identifier with those of sessions associated with the receiving node or the cache(s).

The receiving/first node may determine that the first node is not the owner node of the first session, e.g., responsive to the determination or comparison. The receiving/first node ma determine that the first node is not the owner node of the first session, based on the session identifier. The receiving/first node ma determine that the first node is not the owner node of the first session, based on an absence of any session maintained, established and/or referenced in the first node's cache(s). The receiving/first node ma determine that the first node is not the owner node of the first session, based on information maintained in a hash table, for example a DHT as described above in connection withFIG. 9A

In some cases, the receiving node may determine that the session is identified in a cache of the receiving core. The receiving node may determine that it is the owner node of the requested session. The receiving node may proceed to reuse or resume the session, e.g., if the session is valid, reusable, resumable and/or unexpired. If the session is invalid, not reusable, not resumable or expired, a receiving core of the receiving node may re-establish the session, e.g., based on session data recovered from or stored for the session. If the session is invalid, not reusable, not resumable or expired, the receiving core may establish a session (e.g., a new session) responsive to the request.

Referring to (905) and in further details, the first node may identify, via a hash table responsive to the determination, an owner node of the first session from the cluster of nodes using a key. For example, a core of the first node may generate the key based on at least one of the session identifier or a unique identifier of an entity (e.g., the client or an application) from which the first request is received. The key may be determined based on the session identifier. The key may be determined based on the unique identifier, which may comprise an IP address, a virtual IP address, a network identifier and/or a port number. The key may comprise a hash table key of a distributed or shared hash table. The receiving or first node may identify an owner node of the first session using the key. If the receiving node determines that the session is not identified in a cache of the receiving node, the receiving node may access a hash table, for example a DHT as described above in connection withFIG. 9A.

The receiving node may receive and/or store a copy of the hash table. The receiving node may receive and/or store a portion of the hash table. The receiving node may send a query to the hash table, e.g., using the key. The receiving node or core may access a hash table via an API, which may include or support one or more functions or operations (e.g., dht_get, as discussed above in connection withFIG. 9A). A receiving core of the receiving node may compute, calculate, determine, form or otherwise generate a key based on data comprising at least one or both of the session identifier and a unique identifier of an entity from/at which the request is received (e.g., a VIP, PE, node). The receiving core may form the key by applying a predefined function or transformation on the data.

The receiving node may use the key to index into the hash table, which may be a copy or a portion (e.g., a local copy) of a distributed or shared hash table of the cluster system. For example, the receiving core may use the API to invoke an operation (e.g., dht_get operation), to access the hash table. The hash table may output, return or provide an identification of the owner core based on the key. The receiving core may use the key to index into or otherwise access the hash table to determine if the session is valid, resumable and/or available at the owner core.

Referring to (907) and in further details, the receiving/first core may send a second request to the identified owner node for session data of the first session. The receiving/first core may send the second request responsive to identification of the owner core. The receiving/first core or the cluster system may request a response (e.g., from the owner core or from the hash table) for session data of the (e.g., first) session. In some embodiments, the receiving/first core may access the hash table for at least a portion of the session data, e.g., using the key.

The receiving/first core may send a second request to initiate, clone or otherwise establish a second session. For example, the receiving/first core may send a second request to initiate a handshake for establishing the second session. The session data may be for establishing a second session with the server. The session data may be for creating a second session cloned from the first session. In some embodiments, the receiving core may request the response via the API, e.g., as part of the dht_get operation or step. Responsive to the operation (e.g., using the key to index into or otherwise access the hash table), the hash table or the owner core may return or provide a set of data. The set of data may include session data or data associated with the requested session. The session data may be used by the receiving core to establish a second session, e.g., by cloning or making a copy of the requested session.

The session data may be for creating a second session with certain aspects (e.g., data structure, settings, policies, configuration, communication protocol) similar to or the same as the first session. For example, the session data may include SSL configuration and/or other information, such as authentication settings for the second session. In some embodiments, the first node may request for session data including a status of the first sessions, e.g., whether the first session can be reused, resumed and/or cloned. For example, the first node may request for session data including a reuse or resume limit for the first session. The first node may receive a response to the second request, the response indicating that the requested first session is invalid, expired and/or not resumable. The first node may receive a response to the second request, the response indicating that the requested first session is valid, unexpired and/or resumable.

Referring to (909) and in further details, if the response does not include the session data, the receiving/first core may establish a new session responsive to the session reuse/resume request. The first node may establish a new session if there is no response to the second request, or if a response to the second request does not include the requested session data. The owner core may not respond to the second request, or may respond to the second request without the session data (or with incomplete session data). In some cases, the hash table may include a status of the requested session, or information indicating that the session is invalid, expired or not resumable. In such a situation, the hash table may not respond, or may not respond with the session data. The hash table and/or the owner node may provide a response indicating that the requested session is invalid, expired or not resumable.

If the requested session is expired or no longer active, the receiving core may attempt to establish (or resume) the session responsive to the session resume/reuse request. The receiving core may create or assign a new session identifier, and may establish or resume the session corresponding to the new session identifier, responsive to the session resume/reuse request. The receiving core may update the hash table with the new session identifier. In certain embodiments, the receiving core may install or initiate installation of the session at the owner core (e.g., as determined via the hash table). The receiving core may update the hash table via the hash table API, e.g., using a dht_put operation discussed above in connection withFIG. 9B.

If the requested session is invalid or not resumable, the receiving core may establish a new session responsive to the session reuse/resume request. The receiving core may create or assign a new session identifier, and may establish a new session corresponding to the new session identifier, responsive to the session reuse/resume request. The receiving core may add the new session to the receiving core's cache. In one embodiment, the receiving core may establish itself as an owner core of the established session, e.g., by updating the hash table. The receiving core may update the hash table with the new session. The receiving core may install the new session and/or update the hash table via the hash table API, e.g., using the dht_put operation.

Referring to (911) and in further details, if the response includes the session data, the receiving/first core may establish a (e.g., second) session cloned from the first session. The first node may establish the second session if a response to the second request includes the requested session data. The second session may comprise a session cloned from the first session. In some embodiments, the distributed or shared hash table may provide a response or data comprising the session data, responsive to indexing using the key. The hash table may provide data comprising the session data, responsive to a determination that the requested session is valid, unexpired, reusable, resumable and/or available at the owner core. In some embodiments, the owner core may provide or send at least a portion of the session data, e.g., responsive to the second request. The hash table and/or owner core may provide a minimal set of data for cloning the session at the receiving core.

The receiving core of the receiving node may clone or make a copy of the requested session based on the session data. The receiving core may establish a session data structure consistent with the requested session, using the session data. The receiving core may establish the cloned session in or from a local cache of the receiving core. For example, the receiving core may establish, maintain and/or store a data structure and/or settings of the second session in the local cache. The cache may comprise memory of the receiving core. The receiving core may establish a protocol stack of the second session in the cache. The established second session may be referred to as a cached session. The locale cache may not be accessible by another core and/or node. The receiving core or cached session may provide regular or heart beat signals to the owner core or owner session, to indicate that the cached session has not aged-out, expired, or been deleted.

In some embodiments, responsive to establishment of the second session, the first node may store information about the second session in at least one of the hash table (e.g., a local copy of the hash table) and/or the cache of the first node. In some embodiments, responsive to completion of session cloning, a client's certificate may be copied (e.g., to the second session and/or to the cache of the receiving core). The client's certificate may be copied in addition to session data structure contents from the first session. In certain embodiments, some pointers holding an intermediate-CA certificate chain sent by the client may not be copied. In some cases, such pointers may not be valid on a core which does not own the session.

It should be noted that certain passages of this disclosure may reference terms such as “first” and “second” in connection with nodes, requests, etc., for purposes of identifying or differentiating one from another or from others. These terms are not intended to merely relate entities (e.g., a first request and a second request) temporally or according to a sequence, although in some cases, these entities may include such a relationship. Nor do these terms limit the number of possible entities (e.g., nodes) that may operate within a system or environment.

It should be understood that the systems described above may provide multiple ones of any or each of those components and these components may be provided on either a standalone machine or, in some embodiments, on multiple machines in a distributed system. In addition, the systems and methods described above may be provided as one or more computer-readable programs or executable instructions embodied on or in one or more articles of manufacture. The article of manufacture may be a floppy disk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a flash memory card, a PROM, a RAM, a ROM, or a magnetic tape. In general, the computer-readable programs may be implemented in any programming language, such as LISP, PERL, C, C++, C#, PROLOG, or in any byte code language such as JAVA. The software programs or executable instructions may be stored on or in one or more articles of manufacture as object code.