JP2009140212A - Communication relay device, server, client, network system, and communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

A communication relay device, a server, a client, a network system, and a communication method capable of realizing load distribution according to the status of an operating server.
A server operation status monitoring unit 230 that acquires information on an operation status from a plurality of servers 300 connected on a network, and a communication request distribution destination server from the plurality of servers 300 based on the information on the operation status. A load distribution unit 220 to be selected and a communication unit 210 that receives a communication request from a client 100 connected to the network and transmits the request to a distribution destination server.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication relay device, a server, a client, a network system, and a communication method, and more particularly to distribution of communication requests from a client to a server.

  In the conventional communication relay device, for example, “a plurality of interfaces for transmitting and receiving packets, a switch connected to the plurality of interfaces, a statistical information collection processing unit connected to the switch, and a packet attached to the packet” Means for analyzing header information, and means for counting the amount of packets transmitted or received via the interface, wherein the statistical information collection processing unit is configured to calculate the plurality of pieces of information from the analyzed header information and packet amount. The packet amount received by the interface is predicted, and an interface for transmitting the packet is selected based on the predicted packet amount "(see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2004-221805 (Claim 1)

  A communication relay device (load distribution device) has been proposed that can enhance the scalability and availability of a server that accepts connections from a plurality of clients. This communication relay device distributes communication requests (hereinafter also referred to as “communication packets”) from a client connected to a network to a server.

  Conventionally, there is a round robin method as a method for distributing communication requests. Round robin is a method of equally distributing communication requests to servers to be distributed, and the number of requests processed by each server is equalized.

  Another method for distributing communication requests is a weighted round robin method. This is a method of designating a distribution ratio of communication requests according to the processing capability of the distribution target server.

  However, in the conventional communication relay device, a distribution method such as round robin or weighted round robin is set, and a means for distributing communication requests from clients to the server is provided. Since the operation cannot be changed, there is a problem that load distribution according to the status of the server in operation cannot be realized.

  In the technique described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, distribution according to the actual traffic situation is realized using the statistical information of the packet amount. However, according to the conventional technique, distribution according to the load situation of the server is performed. There was a problem that it was not possible.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and is a communication relay device, a server, a client, a network system, and a communication method capable of realizing load distribution according to the status of an operating server. The purpose is to obtain.

  The communication relay device according to the present invention includes a server operation status monitoring unit that acquires information on an operation status from a plurality of servers connected on a network, and a plurality of communication request distribution destination servers based on the information on the operation status. And a communication unit that receives a communication request from a client connected to the network and transmits the communication request to the distribution destination server.

  The present invention acquires information on operating status from a plurality of servers, selects a communication request distribution destination server from the plurality of servers based on the information on the operating status, and transmits a communication request from a client to the distribution destination server. By transmitting, it is possible to realize load distribution according to the status of the server in operation.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a communication relay device, a server, a client, a network system, and a communication method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a network system according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the network system according to the first embodiment includes one or a plurality of clients 100, a communication relay device 200, and a plurality of servers 300. The client 100 and the communication relay device 200 are The server 300 and the communication relay device 200 are connected by a network 500.

The client 100 transmits a communication packet (communication request) in which a request to the server 300 is stored to the communication relay device 200.
The communication relay apparatus 200 receives a communication packet in which a request from the client 100 is stored, and transmits the communication packet to the server 300 selected as a distribution destination server by an operation described later.
The server 300 performs processing on the received communication packet, and returns a communication packet in which a response is stored in the client 100 via the communication relay device 200.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the communication relay device according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the communication relay device 200 includes a communication unit 210, a load distribution unit 220, and a server operation status monitoring unit 230.
The communication unit 210 receives a communication packet from the client 100 and transmits it to the distribution destination server 300. The communication unit 210 is mounted on a protocol stack such as TCP / IP or UDP. The protocol stack is mounted on the upper layer of the network physical layer, and the network physical layer can be selected from candidates such as Ethernet (registered trademark), wireless LAN, USB, IEEE 1394, and serial communication.
The load distribution unit 220 performs processing for distributing a communication packet storing a request from the client 100 to the server 300 based on information (described later) regarding the operation status. This will be described later.
The server operating status monitoring unit 230 monitors the operating status related to the load of the connected server 300, acquires information (data) related to the operating status from the server 300, and manages it as time series data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the server according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the server 300 includes a communication unit 310 and an operation status measurement unit 320 that is a measurement unit.
The communication unit 310 notifies the communication relay device 200 of information on the operation status. The communication unit 310 is mounted on a protocol stack such as TCP / IP or UDP. The protocol stack is mounted on the upper layer of the network physical layer, and the network physical layer can be selected from candidates such as Ethernet (registered trademark), wireless LAN, USB, IEEE 1394, and serial communication.
The operating status measurement unit 320 periodically measures the operating status (CPU load) of the server 300 itself in time series. Then, the communication unit 310 periodically notifies the communication relay device 200 of the operation status information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a communication flow between the client, the communication relay device, and the server according to the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the communication operation in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The operating status measuring unit 320 of each server 300 periodically measures the operating status (CPU load) of the server 300 (S101). Then, the communication unit 310 of each server 300 notifies the communication relay device 200 of information on the measured operation status (CPU load) (S102).

  The server operation status monitoring unit 230 of the communication relay device 200 communicates with each server 300 via the communication unit 210 and acquires information on the operation status from each server 300. Then, the load distribution unit 220 selects the server 300 to which the communication packet is distributed so that the CPU load of the server 300 is equalized based on the information related to the operation status. The selection of the distribution destination server 300 is performed, for example, by determining the weight of a distribution method for distributing communication packets to the server 300 (S103).

An example of the algorithm for distribution is shown below.
The distribution is a method of dynamically changing the weighting (Wi) of the weighted round robin. When n servers 300 are connected and the average CPU load in the i-th (i = 1, 2,..., N) server 300 is Ci (%) for a certain time, the i-th (i = 1, 2). ,,, N) weights (Wi) distributed to the servers 300 are determined as follows.

  Wi = 1 / Ci

  As a result, the weight is reduced for the high-load server 300, and the weight is increased for the low-load server 300. Steps S101 to S103 are periodically executed regardless of the request from the client 100, and the round robin weight is periodically updated.

  On the other hand, the client 100 transmits a communication packet storing a request to the server 300 to the communication relay device 200 (S104, S105). The communication unit 210 of the communication relay apparatus 200 receives the communication packet from the client 100, and the load distribution unit 220 distributes to the server 300 based on the distribution method weight determined in step 403 (S106). . Then, the communication unit 210 transmits a communication packet to the distribution destination server 300 (S107).

  Next, the server 300 receives a communication packet from the communication relay device 200 through the communication unit 310, and performs server processing on the communication packet (S108). And the response with respect to a communication packet is transmitted to the communication relay apparatus 200 by the communication part 310 (S109).

  Next, the communication relay apparatus 200 performs a relay process on the communication packet received from the server 300 (S110), and transmits the communication packet storing the received response to the client 100 (S111). The client 100 receives the communication packet in which the response from the server 300 is stored (S112).

As described above, in the first embodiment, information related to the operation status is acquired from the plurality of servers 300, the server 300 that is a distribution destination of the communication packet is selected based on the information related to the operation status, and communication from the client 100 is performed. By transmitting the packet to the selected distribution destination server 300, the communication packet can be distributed according to the load status of the server 300 in operation, and the load distribution of the server 300 can be realized.
Thereby, it becomes possible to automatically perform the optimum performance tuning of the load distribution of the communication relay device 200. In addition, work (analysis, setting, evaluation) related to performance tuning can be reduced.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the second embodiment, only the necessary server 300 is operated according to the load status of the server 300, thereby suppressing the power consumption of the server 300 as a whole.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a network system according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the network system according to the second embodiment is configured by one or more clients 100, a communication relay device 200, and a plurality of servers 300, as in the first embodiment. The client 100 and the communication relay device 200 are connected via a network 400, and the server 300 and the communication relay device 200 are connected via a network 500.

  The client 100 is composed of a communication unit 110 that acquires information related to the operation status from the communication relay device 200 and an operation status display unit 120 that displays a predetermined message based on the information. Notify In addition, a communication packet storing a request to the server 300 is transmitted to the communication relay device 200.

  The communication relay device 200 includes a communication unit 210, a load distribution unit 220, a server operating status monitoring unit 230, a server power consumption monitoring unit 240, and a server remote operation unit 250.

Since the communication unit 210 and the load distribution unit 220 are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.
The server operating status monitoring unit 230 monitors the operating status related to the load of the connected server 300, acquires information (data) related to the operating status from the server 300, and manages it as time-series data. Further, based on the acquired information on the operating status, a value (Li) is calculated by summing up the average CPU loads of all the servers 300 connected to the communication relay device 200 over a certain period of time.

The server power consumption monitoring unit 240 calculates the power consumption of the entire server 300 from the acquired information on the operation status, and determines the minimum number of servers required in the operation status based on the power consumption. .
The server remote control unit 250 transmits a suspend transition or suspend return command (described later) to the server 300 based on the obtained number of servers.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a communication flow between the client, the communication relay device, and the server according to the second embodiment. Hereinafter, the communication operation in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The operating status measuring unit 320 of each server 300 periodically measures the operating status (CPU load) of the server 300 (S201). Then, the communication unit 310 of each server 300 notifies the communication relay device 200 of information on the measured operation status (CPU load) (S202).

  The server operation status monitoring unit 230 of the communication relay device 200 communicates with each server 300 via the communication unit 210 to acquire information about the operation status from each server 300, and based on the acquired information about the operation status, the communication A value (Li) obtained by adding up the average CPU loads in a certain period of time for all the servers 300 connected to the relay device 200 is calculated. Then, the server power consumption monitoring unit 240 calculates the power consumption (Pa) of the entire server based on the operation status data of the server 300 held by the server operation status monitoring unit 230 (S203). Here, since the power consumption of the server 300 and the CPU load are in a proportional relationship, the power consumption (Pa) of the entire server can be obtained as follows.

  Pa = K × Li

  Here, K is a constant.

  Next, the server power consumption monitoring unit 240 obtains the minimum number of servers (Sx) necessary for the operation status. The number of servers (Sx) can be obtained as follows.

  Sx = roundup ((roundup (Pa / Ps)) × Bt)

  Here, roundup () is a function of rounding up the decimal point, Pa is a total value of power consumption of all servers 300, Ps is power consumption per server when the CPU load is 100%, and Bt is a margin. . Bt is a real number equal to or greater than 1, and is a coefficient indicating the load margin of the entire server 300. This Bt is determined in advance, for example, from the tendency of the operating time of the server 300 for each time zone.

  Then, out of the total number (Na) of servers 300 connected to the communication relay device 200, the number (Ns) of servers 300 to be suspended is obtained as follows (S204).

  Ns = Na-Sx (unit)

  That is, even when Ns (units) of the servers 300 are suspended, the processing as the servers 300 can be continued by distributing the remaining servers 300. Therefore, arbitrary Ns (units) of the servers 300 are temporarily suspended.

  Next, the server power consumption monitoring unit 240 selects an arbitrary Ns (units) of the servers 300 as the servers 300 to be suspended (S205). Then, the server remote operation unit 250 transmits a suspend transition command to the selected server 300 (S206). The remote operation command execution unit 330 of the server 300 shifts the server 300 to the suspended state based on the command from the communication relay device 200 (S207).

Thereafter, steps S201 to S207 are periodically executed, and when the power consumption (Pa) of the entire server increases, the server power consumption monitoring unit 240 has been suspended through the server remote operation unit 250. A suspend return command is transmitted to the server 300, and suspend return is performed one by one. When the power consumption (Pa) of the entire server is in a downward trend, the number of servers (Sx) is recalculated by the above-described operation, the number of servers 300 to be suspended is increased, and the state is shifted to the suspended state.
Thereby, according to the load condition of the server 300, the electric power consumption of the server 300 as a whole can be suppressed by operating only the server 300 which is the minimum necessary for operating the network system.

  In addition, the server power consumption monitoring unit 240 monitors the power usage (S210), and when the power usage exceeds a predetermined threshold, information on a predetermined warning message is sent to the network system via the communication unit 210. Is notified to the client 100 for the administrator (S211). Then, the communication unit 110 of the client 100 acquires the information from the communication relay device 200, and the operation status display unit 120 displays a predetermined message based on the information (S212).

  Note that the load distribution method of the load distribution unit 220 is performed using the weighted round robin method for the servers 300 other than the suspension target as in the operation of the first embodiment.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, the minimum number of servers required in the operation status is obtained, the number of servers 300 to be suspended is obtained based on the number of servers, and the server 300 to be suspended is determined. By setting the suspended state, only the server 300 necessary for operating the network system can be operated according to the load status of the server 300, and the power consumption of the server 300 as a whole can be suppressed. Can do.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the third embodiment, the communication relay device 200 is made redundant, and the service down time of the communication relay device 200 is greatly reduced.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a network system according to the third embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment described above, the network system according to the third embodiment has a redundancy that performs the communication operation of the communication relay apparatus 200 when a failure of the communication relay apparatus 200 occurs. A system communication relay device (standby system) 600 is further provided. The communication relay apparatus (standby system) 600 is connected to the client 100 via the network 400 and is connected to the server 300 via the network 500, as in the first embodiment. In addition, a network 700 for survival confirmation communication is added between the communication relay device 200 and the communication relay device (standby system) 600. With such a configuration, in the network system according to the third embodiment, the communication relay device 200 is made redundant, and the service down time of the communication relay device 200 is greatly reduced.

  The communication relay apparatus (standby system) 600 performs communication for confirmation of survival periodically with the communication relay apparatus 200 during operation, and inquires whether there is a failure. At this time, if the communication relay device 200 is down due to a hardware (H / W) failure or the like and communication is impossible, the communication relay device (standby system) 600 is activated as a normal system and the communication packet from the client 100 is The processing of the communication relay device 200 that distributes to the server 300 is performed. Since the sorting operation is the same as that in the first embodiment, the description is omitted.

  The communication relay device (standby system) 600 may have the same configuration as the communication relay device 200 of the second embodiment, and only the necessary server 300 may be operated according to the load status of the server 300.

  As described above, in the third embodiment, the communication relay device 200 is provided with the redundant communication relay device (standby system) 600 that performs the communication operation of the communication relay device 200 when a failure occurs. The apparatus 200 can be made redundant, and the downtime of the service of the communication relay apparatus 200 can be greatly reduced.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a network system according to a first embodiment. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication relay device according to a first embodiment. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a server according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a communication flow between a client, a communication relay device, and a server according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a network system according to Embodiment 2. FIG. It is the figure which showed the communication flow between the client which concerns on Embodiment 2, a communication relay apparatus, and a server. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a network system according to a third embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  100 client, 110 communication unit, 120 operation status display unit, 200 communication relay device, 210 communication unit, 220 load distribution unit, 230 server operation status monitoring unit, 240 server power consumption monitoring unit, 250 server remote operation unit, 300 server , 310 communication unit, 320 operation status measurement unit, 330 remote operation command execution unit, 400 network, 500 network, 600 communication relay device (standby system), 700 network for survival confirmation communication.

Claims (13)

A server operating status monitoring unit that acquires information on operating status from a plurality of servers connected to the network;
Based on the information on the operating status, a load distribution unit that selects a communication request distribution destination server from the plurality of servers;
A communication relay device, comprising: a communication unit that receives a communication request from a client connected to the network and transmits the communication request to the distribution destination server. A server operating status monitoring unit that acquires information on operating status from a plurality of servers connected to the network;
A server power consumption monitoring unit that obtains the power consumption of the plurality of servers as a whole from information related to the operation status, and obtains the minimum number of servers required in the operation status based on the power consumption;
Based on the number of servers, a server remote operation unit that transmits a suspend transition or suspend return command to one or a plurality of the servers,
Based on the information related to the operating status, a load distribution unit that selects a distribution request server of the communication request from the servers other than the server to which the suspend transition command is transmitted;
A communication relay device, comprising: a communication unit that receives a communication request from a client connected to the network and transmits the communication request to the distribution destination server. The server operating status monitoring unit obtains CPU load information of the server as information on the operating status,
The server power consumption monitoring unit obtains the power consumption of each server based on the CPU load information, the total value of the power consumption of the plurality of servers, and one server at the maximum time of the CPU load. The communication relay device according to claim 2, wherein the number of servers is obtained based on a ratio with the amount of power used per unit. The server operating status monitoring unit obtains CPU load information of the server as information on the operating status,
The communication relay device according to claim 1, wherein the load distribution unit selects the distribution destination server so that CPU loads of the plurality of servers are equalized. A server connected to the communication relay device according to claim 1,
A measurement unit that periodically measures the operating status of the server;
A server comprising: a communication unit that notifies the communication relay device of information on the measured operation status. A server connected to the communication relay device according to claim 2 or 3,
A measurement unit that periodically measures the operating status of the server;
A communication unit for notifying the communication relay device of information of the measured operation status;
A server comprising: a remote operation command execution unit that shifts the server to a suspend state or returns the suspend state based on a command from the communication relay device. A client connected to the communication relay device according to claim 1,
A communication unit for obtaining information on the operating status from the communication relay device;
A client comprising an operation status display unit for displaying a predetermined message based on the information. The communication relay device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A network system comprising: a plurality of servers according to claim 5.   The network system according to claim 8, comprising the client according to claim 7.   10. The network system according to claim 8, further comprising a redundant communication relay device that performs a communication operation of the communication relay device when a failure occurs in the communication relay device. Obtaining information on operating status from a plurality of servers connected on the network;
Selecting a communication request distribution destination server from the plurality of servers based on the information on the operation status;
Receiving a communication request from a client connected to the network and transmitting the request to the distribution destination server. Obtaining information on operating status from a plurality of servers connected on the network;
Obtaining the amount of power used by the whole of the plurality of servers from the information related to the operating status, and determining the minimum number of servers required in the operating status based on the power usage amount;
Based on the number of servers, sending a suspend transition or suspend return command to one or more of the servers;
Based on the information related to the operating status, selecting a communication request distribution destination server from the servers other than the server to which the suspend transition command is transmitted;
Receiving a communication request from a client connected to the network and transmitting the request to the distribution destination server. The step of obtaining the number of servers required for operation is as follows:
Obtaining information on the CPU load of the server as information on the operating status;
Obtaining power consumption of each server based on the CPU load information;
The step of obtaining the number of servers based on a ratio between a total value of power consumption of the plurality of servers and a power consumption per server at the time of the maximum CPU load. 12. The communication method according to 12.

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