Dynamic network link acceleration
A method and apparatus for dynamic network link acceleration provides a managed communication link for accelerated and reliable network communication between a client and other network devices. In one or more embodiments, a client computing device which generates communication packets of a first type is enhanced with a front end mechanism which selectively encodes the data packets into packets of a second type. The data packets which are encoded into a second type are transmitted over a managed communication link which may provide error correction, security, quality of service, and other services including acceleration of communications.
1. A client computer comprising:
one or more processors;
one or more storage devices;
a network interface for communicating across one or more communication links;
said client computer configured to generate one or more data packets of a first type for transmission via said network interface; and
a downloaded front-end mechanism stored on the one or more storage devices and executable by the one or more processors to provide a managed communication link for data traffic between the network interface and a back-end mechanism remote from the client, the front-end mechanism comprising:
one or more routing rules defining which of said one or more data packets are communicated via the managed communication link;
an encoder configured to encode data from the one or more data packets into one or more encoded packets of an enhanced type for communication via the managed communication link, the one or more encoded packets of said enhanced type including operational information comprising quality of service information about the managed communication link; and
a redirector configured to intercept the one or more data packets and to redirect the one or more data packets to the encoder according to the one or more routing rules;
whereby said one or more data packets of said first type which are routed to said encoder and encoded into said enhanced type are transmitted via said managed communication link and whereby said one or more data packets of said first type which are not routed to said encoder are not transmitted via said managed communication link.
2. The client of claim 1 , wherein the front-end mechanism is configured to delete itself from the one or more storage devices when the managed communication link is no longer in use.
3. The client of claim 1 , wherein the redirector is installed within the kernel space of an operating system of the client.
4. The client of claim 1 , wherein the encoder is within the application space of an operating system of the client.
5. The client of claim 1 , wherein the encoder is configured to encode the quality of service information about the managed communication link into the one or more encoded packets of said enhanced type to share the quality of service information with the back-end mechanism.
6. The client of claim 1 , wherein the encoder is configured to compress the data from the one or more data packets of said first type when encoding the one or more encoded packets of said enhanced type.
7. The client of claim 1 , wherein the encoder is configured to encrypt the data from the one or more data packets of said first type when encoding the one or more encoded packets of said enhanced type.
8. The client of claim 1 , wherein the front-end services mechanism is configured to communicate time-based synchronization information with the back-end mechanism.
9. The client of claim 1 , wherein the front-end services mechanism is configured to communicate forward error correction data with the back-end mechanism.
10. The client of claim 1 , wherein the front-end services mechanism is configured to receive one or more rules for the one or more routing rules from the back-end mechanism.
11. A system for dynamic network link acceleration comprising:
one or more computing device clients configured to generate one or more requests for network services in the form of one or more data packets of a first type, the one or more clients enhanced into enhanced clients with a front-end mechanism configured to selectively encode one or more of said one or more data packets of said first type into encoded data packets of an enhanced type;
one or more back-end servers having one or more network interfaces;
one or more network servers configured to provide services in response to the requests for network services, the one or more network servers in communication with the one or more back-end servers; and
one or more managed communication links between the front-end mechanism of the one or more enhanced clients and the one or more back-end servers, wherein request and response traffic between the one or more enhanced clients and the one or more network servers is communicated through the one or more back-end servers and one or more managed communication links as said encoded data packets of said enhanced type, said encoded data packets of said enhanced type comprising quality of service information about the one or more managed communication links;
wherein the request and response traffic over said managed communication link comprises encoded data packets of said enhanced type and communications with said client which are not over said managed communication link comprises said one or more packets of said first type.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the front-end mechanism is machine readable code downloaded from a remote source to the one or more enhanced clients whereby the one or more enhanced clients communicate request and response traffic through the one or more back-end servers and one or more managed communication links in one or more encoded packets by executing the front-end mechanism.
13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the front-end mechanism is configured to compress the data from the one or more data packets of said first type when encoding the one or more encoded packets.
14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the front-end mechanism is configured to encrypt the data from the one or more data packets of said first type when encoding the one or more encoded packets.
15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the front-end mechanism is configured to communicate time-based synchronization information with the one or more back-end servers.
16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the front-end mechanism is configured to communicate forward error correction data with the one or more back-end servers.
17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the front-end mechanism of the one or more enhanced clients is configured to decode the one or more encoded packets to restore the response and request traffic from the one or more network servers, and the one or more back-end servers are configured to decode the one or more encoded packets to restore the request and response traffic from the one or more enhanced clients.
18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the back-end server comprises:
machine readable code configured to provide the one or more computing device clients with said front-end mechanism, wherein said front-end mechanism is provided by executing the machine readable code on the one or more computing device clients;
one or more storage devices, the machine readable code stored on the one or more storage devices; and
one or more network interfaces configured to deliver the machine readable code to the one or more computing device clients;
wherein the back-end server is configured to automatically deliver the machine readable code to the one or more computing device clients during communication with the one or more computing device clients.
19. A method for dynamically accelerating network links comprising:
delivering an internal front-end comprising machine readable code to one or more computing device clients which are configured to generate data packets of a first type to enhance the one or more clients into enhanced clients with a front-end mechanism, the front-end mechanism configured encode said one or more of said data packet of said first type into encoded data packets of a second type and to provide a managed communication link between one or more enhanced clients and one or more back-end servers;
encoding data traffic from one or more network servers into one or more encoded packets of said second type for communication to the front-end mechanism of the one or more enhanced clients through the managed communication link;
receiving one or more encoded packets of said second type comprising data traffic from the one or more enhanced clients through the managed communication link;
decoding the one or more encoded packets comprising data traffic from the one or more enhanced clients at the back-end mechanism to restore the data traffic from the one or more enhanced clients for use by the one or more network servers; and
receiving quality of service information about the managed communication link from the one or more enhanced clients at the one or more back-end servers.
20. The method of claim 19 further comprising activating the managed communication link between the one or more enhanced clients and the one or more back-end servers when a request for communication with the one or more network servers from the one or more enhanced clients is received at the one or more back-end servers.
21. The method of claim 19 further comprising deactivating the managed communication link between the one or more enhanced clients and the one or more back-end servers when communication between the one or more enhanced clients and the one or more network servers is terminated.
22. The method of claim 19 further comprising claiming additional bandwidth for the managed communication link to accelerate communication through the managed communication link based on the bandwidth requirements of one or more applications on the one or more enhanced clients.
23. The method of claim 19 further comprising claiming additional bandwidth for the managed communication link to accelerate communication through the managed communication link until one or more of the encoded packets are dropped.
24. The method of claim 19 further comprising compressing the data traffic from the one or more network servers prior to encoding the data traffic from the one or more network servers into the one or more encoded packets.
25. The method of claim 19 further comprising encrypting the data traffic from the one or more network servers prior to encoding the data traffic from the one or more network servers into the one or more encoded packets.
26. The method of claim 19 further comprising receiving time-based synchronization information from the front-end mechanism of the one or more enhanced clients at the one or more back-end servers.
27. The method of claim 19 further comprising receiving forward error correction data from the front-end mechanism of the one or more enhanced clients at the one or more back-end servers.