Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer networks. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus that supports suppression of multiple identical replies when issuing repeated multicast queries using DNS-25 format message packets.
Related Art
When a client is seeking information, and the source of the information is not known in advance, one common technique is to issue the query for that information using Internet Protocol (IP) Multicast, Ethernet Multicast, or some other technique that delivers the query to a set of machines that might potentially be able to provide that information. In some cases, more than one machine may have information to give in response to the query, resulting in multiple responses on the network. Furthermore, because packet-switching network technologies may occasionally lose or corrupt packets, it is customary for clients issuing such queries to transmit those query packets more than once, and combine the results, to reduce the risk that any particular query or response may be lost. When each multicast query can result in a large number of responses on the network, this can be inefficient.
What is needed is a method and an apparatus that allows a client to issue repeated multicast queries for the sake of reliability, without the inefficiency of receiving redundant identical replies every time.
Domain Name System (DNS) Queries and DNS Responses both use the same packet format. The DNS packet format, defined by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Protocol Standard 13 (RFC 1035) includes a header section, a question section, an answer section, an authority record section and an additional record section. In conventional DNS Queries, the header section and the question section are used; the answer section, authority record section and additional record section are empty.
In the present invention, when issuing a query, the client places the question in the question section as usual, but then places all the answers it already knows into the (previously empty) answer section of the query. When receiving a query, a responder first checks to make sure that the answer it is about to give is not already included in the answer section of the query. If the answer is listed in the answer section of the query, it means that the client already has that information, and doesn't need to be told again. In this way, when a client issues its first multicast query, it may receive many responses. When the client issues a subsequent query, it indicates the list of responses it successfully received by listing them in the answer section, and then only receives responses that were missed the first time. In the normal course of operation, this means that by the second or third transmission of the query, no further responses are generated on the network, and the client can then issue occasional periodic queries without eliciting a flood of responses every time.
Hence, one embodiment of the present invention provides that for obtaining any information that may be represented using DNS Resource Records. The system operates by delivering a query asking for information identified by a DNS name, a query type and a query class to multiple entities. This query is contained within a packet that adheres to a format defined in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC 1035. Moreover, the query includes an answer section containing a list of known answers to the query. In response to the query, the system receives zero or more responses to the query containing additional answers that are not in the list of known answers. This allows the system to add the additional answers to the list of known answers. Note that sending the list of known answers along with the query facilitates suppressing responses that include known answers.
In a variation on this embodiment, delivering the query involves performing a domain name system (DNS) multicast to deliver the query to the multiple entities.
The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.
The data structures and code described in this detailed description are typically stored on a computer readable storage medium, which may be any device or medium that can store code and/or data for use by a computer system. This includes, but is not limited to, magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetic tape, CDs (compact discs) and DVDs (digital versatile discs or digital video discs).
Clients and Servers
Network 110 can generally include any type of wire or wireless communication channel capable of coupling together computing nodes. This includes, but is not limited to, a local area network, a wide area network, or a combination of networks. In one embodiment of the present invention, network 110 includes the Internet.
Requesting entity 102 and responding entities 104, 106 and 108 reside on computing devices attached to network 110. These computing devices can generally include any type of computer system, including, but not limited to, a computer system based on a microprocessor, a mainframe computer, a digital signal processor, a portable computing device, a personal organizer, a device controller, and a computational engine within an appliance.
In the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in
During operation, requesting entity 102 sends a query over network 110 to obtain information. This process is described in more detail below with reference to
Packet Structure
The header section 202 is always present. Header section 202 includes fields that specify which of the remaining sections are present, and whether the packet contains a query or a response. Header section 202 also contains an identifier for a query. Note that this identifier is included in any responses to the query.
Question section 203 carries the query name and other query parameters. Answer section 204 carries resource records which directly answer the query. Authority section 205 carries resource records that describe other authoritative servers. Finally, additional section 206 carries additional resource records, which may facilitate using resource records in other sections.
Note that in the DNS protocol, a packet that contains a question does not contain answer records. The present invention makes an unconventional use of answer records by including them in a question packet to identify known answers to the query. This unconventional use of answer records reduces network traffic because known responses containing known answers are not sent over network 110. Only answers that are not contained in the question record will trigger responses.
Resource Record Structure
Example: Duplicate Suppression During Address Record Lookup
In one example, the present invention supports duplicate suppression during address record lookup.
During operation, requesting entity 102 transmits a multicast query across network 110 asking for address record(s) associated with the name “time.apple.com.” (step 402). This query includes an answer section containing a list of known address records that match that name.
Next, a responding entity 104 receives the query (step 404) and examines the answer section (step 406). If responding entity 104 contains a locally known answer that is not included in the list of known answers in the answer section, responding entity 104 sends a response to requesting entity 102 containing an address record for the locally known address (step 408).
Next, requesting entity 102 receives responses to the query (step 410) and uses the responses to update its list of known address (step 412).
Requesting entity 102 can then select a specific address from the list of known address to initiate network communication with that host (step 414).
The foregoing descriptions of embodiments of the present invention have been presented only for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the forms disclosed. Accordingly, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. Additionally, the above disclosure is not intended to limit the present invention. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20030182269 A1 | Sep 2003 | US |