Patent Publication Number: US-7908355-B2

Title: Method for improving network server load balancing

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to data transmission systems wherein a plurality of network servers provide Internet access to data stored in database servers, and relates in particular to a method for improving load balancing of the network servers in such a data transmission system. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The Internet is a worldwide network using a common protocol, the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), for communicating information between computers. Client computers act as originators of the communication and request data; network server computers act as destinations of the communication and provide the requested data. A network client computer reaches a network server computer by specifying the server&#39;s Internet address. This is done by entering a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to a browser, which is a program used to access the Internet. Access to particular data on the network server computer is then performed in several ways. One way is to complete the base URL with suffixes identifying locally the exact data path. Another way is to retrieve data by clicking on a data link which yields a local data request from the Network server itself or a remote data request from another computer accessible from the network server computer. 
     Computers acting as network servers may receive simultaneous requests from various network client computers. Consequently, they may be not able to answer the clients in a reasonable time. One way to solve this problem of data availability over the Internet is to clone the network server in several computers. In order to have a single address over the Internet network and to hide the existence of clones, a special network server computer called a Network Load Balancer (NLB) has been created. An NLB simplifies access to the data on network server computers by showing and maintaining a single URL to the Internet network, in the form of a virtual IP address (VIP), and improves performance by distributing the request to the least heavily loaded network server. 
     The NLB enlists the network server with the best performance to answer requests received from the Internet network having the VIP address. In order to dispatch the IP packets to this network server, network server performance metrics are statistically based on the time to answer sample requests made by the NLB. Based upon the measured-time-to-answer for a given network server, a weight is assigned to the server, which weight is used to compare its performance against the other network servers associated with the same VIP. Every packet coming from the same network client belonging to the same connection will be dispatched to the selected network server. 
     In a typical implementation, each network server is physically connected to two Local Area Networks (LAN): the Internet access LAN, which carries requests coming from the Internet, and the back-end access LAN, which provides data access for the network servers to several database servers, and also for remote administration of the network and database servers. 
     The performance measurement is done by sending sample requests over one of the two LANs. A limitation of this method is that the performance metrics do not guarantee the availability of the data requested by the network client computer. In case of a connection problem over one of the links, the NLB may continue to dispatch to a server because the NLB is not aware of the failure of the connection. 
     SUMMARY 
     Accordingly, an object of the invention is to improve load balancing between the network servers of a data transmission system by cyclically monitoring the connectivity over the links associated with each network server in order to ensure the availability of the requested data. 
     The invention includes a method for improving network server load balancing in a system including a plurality of network servers connected between an Internet access LAN and a back-end access LAN. The Internet access LAN is connected to the Internet by an Internet access router, and the back-end access LAN is connected to several database routers from which users of the Internet can request data. A network load balancer selects one of the network servers according to performance metrics based upon weights associated with each network server. The inventive method comprises the steps of cyclically monitoring, from each network server, the connectivity over the links associated with the network server, setting a status (NTAS) indicator in each network server to an UP condition if each of the links is available and to a DOWN condition if at least one of the links is unavailable, sending, from each network server, the associated status (NTAS) to the network load balancer, and changing, in the network load balancer, the weight associated with a network server to a non-eligible value if the associated NTAS has changed from the UP condition to the DOWN condition. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be better understood by reading the following more particular description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block-diagram representing a system wherein the method according to the invention may be implemented. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart representing aspects of the method running in each of the network servers of the system illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart representing aspects of the method running in the Network Load Balancer (NLB). 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , an exemplary system wherein the method according to the invention may be implemented comprises a plurality of network servers  10 ,  12 ,  14  connected between an Internet access LAN  16  and a back-end access LAN  18 . The Internet Access LAN  16  is connected to the Internet network  20  by an Internet access router  22 . To provide data to the system users, several database servers  24 ,  26 ,  28  are connected to the Back End Access LAN  18 . Thus, a user  30  may request data that is stored in any one of the database servers  24 ,  26 ,  28 . Such requests using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) are directed to one of the network servers which has been selected as providing the best performance by a Network Load Balancer (NLB)  32  based on a comparison of weights assigned to the network servers. Data requested by a user may be provided from other servers (not shown) located in the Intranet and feeding the data via an Intranet access router  34 . 
     The method according to the invention includes two parts. A first part called the Network Dispatcher Plus Client (NDPC) is a process running in the network servers  10 ,  12 , or  14 . A second part called the Network Dispatcher Plus Server (NDPS) is a process running in the NLB  32 . 
     The NDPC is a process that cyclically monitors the connectivity over the links associated with the network servers. This is done by choosing network targets to answer availability requests. Such network targets are independent of the network server, are connected to the LANs, and are required by the network server for providing data to the network clients. These targets may include the Internet access router  22 , database servers  24 ,  26 , and  28 , and Intranet access router  34 . As an example, the targets which can be used for network server  10  include Internet access router  22 , database server  24 , and Intranet access router  34 . 
     Monitoring of the connectivity over a link is achieved by making an individual network target availability test that includes checking the reachability of the network target. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, such checking can be done by transmitting an echo request message (a ping) from the network server to the network target. The target is presumed to be available and connectivity is presumed to be guaranteed if a response to the echo request message is received before a predetermined time out. Other methods may be used as well to check the reachability of a network target, such as transmitting an HTTP head request. 
     A Network Target Monitoring Cycle (NTMC) includes several individual network target availability tests for checking the reachability of all the selected targets. For each of the network servers, the individual network target availability tests may be consolidated in a global Network Target Availability Status (NTAS) indicator. If one or more of the targets tested in an NTMC is unavailable, the NTAS will be set to DOWN for this cycle. The NTAS is set to UP for this cycle only when all the targets are available (reachable). 
     At the end of each NTMC cycle, the NTAS value is sent to NLB  32 , for example via a configurable dedicated TCP port. Each NTMC cycle may be followed by period of no activity, which is the Network Target Monitoring Cycle Delay (NTMCD), while waiting for the next cycle. 
     A flow chart corresponding to the NDPC is illustrated in  FIG. 2 . A first operation is to check whether the network server is enabled (step  40 ). If so, an individual target availability test is made for each network target (step  42 ), for example by sending an echo request message to the target as mentioned above. When completed, the test determines whether the target is reachable (step  44 ). Then, a check is made to determine whether this target is the last one for the network server being considered (step  46 ). If not, the process loops back to the step of making a new individual target availability test for the following target (step  42 ). 
     When all the network targets have been tested, the NTAS message consolidating all the individual tests is sent by the network server to the NLB (step  48 ). Since the tests have been successful for all network targets, the NTAS is set to UP. Then, the network server waits for the duration of the NTMCD before starting a new target availability cycle (step  50 ). 
     If it is determined that the network server is disabled (step  40 ), the NTAS is immediately sent to the NLB without making the target availability tests (step  52 ). Such an NTAS is set to the DOWN condition. Likewise, if it is determined that the tested target is not reachable (step  44 ), the NTAS set to DOWN is sent to the NLB (step  54 ). The network server then waits for the duration of the NTMCD before starting a new target availability cycle (step  50 ) after the NTAS set to DOWN has been sent. 
     A flow chart corresponding to the NDPS in the NLB is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . The first step is to wait for a NTAS message from a network server (step  60 ). When such a message is received by the NLB, a check is made to determine whether the NTAS is different from the preceding NTAS received from the same network server (step  62 ). If it is not different, no action is taken, and the process loops back to the step of waiting for a message from another network server (step  60 ). If the NTAS is different from the preceding NTAS, a check is made to determine whether it corresponds to the DOWN condition (step  64 ). If so, this means that the network server has become unavailable, and the weight of the network server is set to a non-eligible value such as a negative value (step  66 ). At the same time, the cause of this unavailability and the current time may be registered (step  68 ). If the NTAS changes from the DOWN condition to the UP condition, this means that the network server which was unavailable has become available. In such a case, the weight of the network server is set to the maximum eligible value (step  70 ) and the availability of the network server is registered (step  72 ).