US 10,372,504 B2 · Global usage tracking and quota enforcement in a distributed computing system

Abstract

This patent document describes systems and methods for tracking the usage of a service provided by a distributed computing platform and for the enforcement of a global quota against such usage. In one embodiment, Servers in the platform are organized in a hierarchical manner. At the lowest tier resides a set of globally distributed servers, any one of which may receive and respond to client device requests. Multiple tiers of aggregation servers sit above the above the delivery tier. The first tier of aggregation servers receive usage measurements from the delivery tier. The second and higher tiers aggregate the usage measurements from lower tiers until a world level tier combines all usage measurements for a given service. Preferably, usage information is passed between servers in synchronization events. The systems and methods described herein are scalable, low latency, fault-tolerant, and incur relatively low computing overhead.

A distributed computing system for tracking usage of a service provided by servers in the distributed computing system, the system comprising:

A. a delivery tier comprising a plurality of service delivery servers, each of which receives and serves client device requests for a service provided by the distributed computing system, the service being associated with a hostname included in the client device requests;
B. a first aggregation tier comprising one or more first aggregation servers, each of which is a parent to one or more of the service delivery servers for purposes of synchronizing usage measurements for the service;
C. a second aggregation tier comprising one or more second aggregation servers, each of which is a parent to one or more of the first aggregation servers for purposes of synchronizing usage measurements for the service;
D. each of the plurality of service delivery servers operable to repeatedly execute a first synchronization operation with its respective parent;
E. the first synchronization operation comprising:
i) a given service delivery server sending a message comprising an identifier and a first delta value representing incremental usage of the service measured by the given service delivery server since a previous synchronization operation with the parent first aggregation server;
ii) the parent first aggregation server processing the message at least by:
adding the first delta value from the given service delivery server to the parent first aggregation server's locally-stored usage measurement for the service, to create an updated usage measurement for the service, and adding the first delta value to a second delta value locally-stored by the parent first aggregation server representing incremental usage of the service any of measured by and reported to the parent first aggregation server since a previous synchronization operation with a parent second aggregation server;
iii) the parent first aggregation server transmitting to the service delivery server a response to the message, the response comprising:
the updated usage measurement for the service;
iv) the given service delivery server updating the given service delivery server's locally-stored usage measurement for the service to be equal to the updated usage measurement received from the parent first aggregation server;
F. each of the plurality of first aggregation servers operable to repeatedly execute a second synchronization operation with its respective parent;
G. the second synchronization operation comprising:
i) a given first aggregation server sending a message comprising the identifier and a third delta value representing usage of the service any of measured by and reported to the given first aggregation server since a previous synchronization operation with a parent second aggregation server;
ii) the parent second aggregation server processing the message at least by:
adding the third delta value from the first aggregation server to the parent second aggregation server's locally-stored usage measurement for the service, to create an updated usage measurement for the service, and adding the third delta value to a fourth delta value locally-stored by the parent second aggregation server and representing usage of the service any of measured by and reported to the parent second aggregation server since a previous synchronization operation with a parent thereof;
iii) the parent second aggregation server transmitting to the given first aggregation server a response to the message, the response comprising:
the updated usage measurement for the service;
iv) the given first aggregation server performing any of:
updating the given first aggregation server's locally-stored usage measurement for the service to be equal to the updated usage measurement received from the parent second aggregation server, and skipping an updating process due to a flag received in the response that indicates that the given first aggregation server's locally-stored usage measurement for the service is already equal to the updated usage measurement received from the parent second aggregation server;
H. each of the plurality of service delivery servers operable to repeatedly execute a quota enforcement operation, comprising:
i) a given service delivery server receiving a client device request for the service;
ii) checking the value of the service delivery server's locally-stored usage measurement for the service against a locally-stored quota for the service, in order to determine whether the locally-stored quota for the service has been exceeded, and if so, blocking the client device request, and if not, allowing the client device request.

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Global usage tracking and quota enforcement in a distributed computing system

Life of this patent

Global usage tracking and quota enforcement in a distributed computing system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims24