Virtualized application acceleration infrastructure

TECHNICAL FIELD

0001The present application relates generally to the technical field of network routing and, in one specific example, a Wide Area Network (WAN).

BACKGROUND

0002Virtualization in computing allows for a computer system and network resources to be efficiently used. In computer systems, virtualization allows for multiple versions of the same application to use computer system resources in a manner such that these resources are efficiently shared. In the network setting, virtualization allows for the reusability of various network resources such as network addresses. Virtualization allows for robust and scaleable computer systems and networks to be developed.

0003In the prior art, US Patent Application No. <patcit id="pcit0001" dnum="US2005144282A"><text>US 2005/144282</text></patcit> relates to a method and apparatus for allocating processing capacity of system processing units in an extranet gateway; International Application Publication No. <patcit id="pcit0002" dnum="WO2006078953A"><text>WO 2006/078953</text></patcit> relates to a system and method for application acceleration on a distributed computer network; US Patent Application No. <patcit id="pcit0003" dnum="US2007198656A"><text>US 2007/198656</text></patcit> relates to methods and servers for establishing a connection between a client system and a virtual machine executing in a terminal services session and hosting a requested computing environment; International Application Publication No. <patcit id="pcit0004" dnum="WO2006029942A"><text>WO 2006/029942</text></patcit> relates to mapping discovery for virtual network; and US Patent Application No. <patcit id="pcit0005" dnum="US2007130366A"><text>US 2007/130366</text></patcit> relates to a virtual tunnel network router.

SUMMARY

0004Aspects of the invention are set out in the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

0005Some example embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li><figref idref="f0001">FIG. 1</figref> is a diagram of a system, according to an example embodiment, illustrating the use of remotely placed transaction accelerators, where these transaction accelerators provide a gateway to a WAN.</li><li><figref idref="f0002">FIG. 2</figref> is a diagram of a system, according to an example embodiment, illustrating the use of a Local Area Network (LAN) to service a data-center where this data-center is run over the LAN.</li><li><figref idref="f0003">FIG. 3</figref> is a diagram of a system, according to an example embodiment, illustrating the transmission path of data across a WAN from a virtualized WAN Optimization device servicing a plurality of Customer LANs to a corresponding series of WAN Optimization devices located on the remote side of network or WAN</li><li><figref idref="f0004">FIG. 4</figref> is a diagram of an architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a transaction accelerator, where this architecture involves the use of a single physical connection between a WAN optimization device and a network appliance which is depicted as a PE router and the use of an 802.1 Q trunk.</li><li><figref idref="f0005">FIG. 5</figref> is a diagram of an architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a transaction accelerator, where this example architecture includes the use of two physical connections between a WAN optimization device and a network appliance which is depicted as a Provider Edge (PE) router.</li><li><figref idref="f0006">FIG. 6</figref> is a diagram of an architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a transaction accelerator, where this transaction accelerator services a plurality of network appliances.</li><li><figref idref="f0007">FIG. 7</figref> is a system diagram illustrating a architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a transaction accelerator where a common logical Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) table is utilized.</li><li><figref idref="f0008">FIG. 8</figref> is a diagram of an architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a transaction accelerator where this transaction accelerator utilizes a plurality of WAN optimization devices and a conjunction with a common VRFout table.</li><li><figref idref="f0009">FIG. 9</figref> is a diagram of an architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a transaction accelerator illustrating the use of a policy-based routing regime.</li><li><figref idref="f0010">FIG. 10</figref> is a diagram of an architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a transaction accelerator utilizing a policy-based routing regime with distinct physical interfaces.</li><li><figref idref="f0011">FIG. 11</figref> is a diagram of a architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a transaction accelerator, where this example architecture includes the use of two physical connections between a WAN optimization device and a two network appliances which are depicted as PE routers.</li><li><figref idref="f0012">FIG. 12</figref> is a block diagram of a transaction accelerator, according to an example embodiment, using VRFout tables.</li><li><figref idref="f0012">FIG. 13</figref> is a block diagram of a transaction accelerator, according to an example embodiment, using tunneling to transmit data packets.</li><li><figref idref="f0012">FIG. 14</figref> is a block diagram of a transaction accelerator, according to an example embodiment, using multiple WAN optimization devices.</li><li><figref idref="f0013">FIG. 15</figref> is a diagram of a software architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a WAN optimization device utilizing a host operating system technique to provide virtualization for a particular computer system.</li><li><figref idref="f0013">FIG. 16</figref> is a diagram of a software architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a WAN optimization device utilizing a virtual machine technique to provide virtualization for a particular computer system.</li><li><figref idref="f0013">FIG. 17</figref> is a diagram of a software architecture, according to an example embodiment, for a WAN optimization device utilizing virtualization on an Operating System (OS) level to provide virtualization for a particular computer system.</li><li><figref idref="f0014">FIG. 18</figref> is a flow chart illustrating a method, according to an example embodiment, to optimize a plurality of LAN traffic using a transaction accelerator.</li><li><figref idref="f0015">FIG. 19</figref> is a flowchart illustrating a method, according to an example embodiment, used to generate a customer specific data packet.</li><li><figref idref="f0016">FIG. 20</figref> is a flowchart illustrating a method, according to an example embodiment, used to execute an operation to allocate virtual system resources.</li><li><figref idref="f0016">FIG. 21</figref> is a diagram of an example data packet.</li><li><figref idref="f0017">FIG. 22</figref> is a flowchart illustrating a method, according to an example embodiment, used to perform a lookup of a destination address.</li><li><figref idref="f0017">FIG. 23</figref> is a diagram illustrating a Forwarding Information Base (FIB), according to an example embodiment, and the various routing tables contained therein.</li><li><figref idref="f0018">FIG. 24</figref> is a diagram of a optimized customer specific data packet, according to an example embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0019">FIG. 25</figref> shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of a computer system, according to an example embodiment.</li></ul>

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

0006In some example embodiments, a system and method is illustrated that allows for the remote placement of a transaction accelerator to service one or more Local Area Networks (LAN). This transaction accelerator, in some example embodiments, may include a WAN optimization device, a network appliance, and a physical or logical connection between the WAN optimization device and the network appliance. Some example embodiments may include the network appliance being a switch, bridge, router, or some other suitable layer 2 or layer 3 capable device. In some example embodiments, the network appliance may be a PE router. Further, layer 2 or layer 3 may, for example, refer to layers or levels as defined within the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) basic reference model or Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol stack model. In some example embodiments, this physical or logical connection may be able to support a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), and may utilize the 802.1Q standard, or some other suitable network segmentation standard.

0007Some example embodiments may include the use of the WAN optimization device to service multiple client LANs. For example, in one example embodiment, the WAN optimization device is a computer system implementing one or more of a variety of virtualization regimes including, for example, paravirtualization, a virtual machine, or virtualization on an OS level. Through implementing one or more of these virtualization regimes, the resources of the computer system may be efficiently divided between client LANs. These computer system resources may include, for example, disk quota requirements, Input/Out (I/O) rate limits, memory limits, CPU quotas, or efficient use of network interfaces. For example, in one example embodiment, a plurality of OSs (collectively referenced as virtualized OSs) are executed on the computer system such that each OS utilizes computer system resources specifically allocated for its use. Each one of these OSs may be exclusively utilized by a specific client LAN and dedicated for such purpose. For example, in one example embodiment, one of these virtualized OSs residing on the computer system may exclusively manage one or more network appliances. These managed network appliances may themselves be real, in terms of being a separate physical device, or may reside as another application on the computer system along with the virtualized OSs.

0008In certain example embodiments, no virtualization may be used by the computer system running the WAN optimization engine; rather, a series of dedicated computer systems may be implemented. Each of these computer systems may be dedicated to serve a particular LAN. Further, each of these computer systems may utilize a specific network appliance such as a PE during the course of serving the particular LAN.

0009In some example embodiments, the concept of virtualization may be applied in the network setting such that a single computer system implementing virtualized OSs may manage network traffic for multiple client LANs. VLAN, and its associated technologies, is a technology that allows for a single physical network to be partitioned into a plurality of VLANs. Each of these VLANs, in turn, may service a particular client LAN. In one example embodiment, a VLAN header is applied to a TCP/IP based data packet by the WAN optimization device. This VLAN header contains a uniquely identifying VLAN ID that identifies the TCP/IP based data packet as being destined for transmission to a particular client LAN.

0010Some example embodiments may include the use of a virtualized OS to manage network traffic for a particular client LAN, where this management includes the use of VLAN technology. Through virtualization of the OS and network traffic via VLAN, not only may the computer system resources be efficiently used, but network resources may be efficiently used. Specifically, through using VLAN in conjunction with, for example, Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF), address space within a network may be allowed to overlap. In some example embodiments, the VRF address space may be contained in a VRF table, and/or a Forwarding Information Base (FIB) table associated with the VRF or VRF table. Overlapping address space allows for duplicate addresses to be used within the same physical environment.

0011In one example embodiment, this transaction accelerator is remotely located from a client LAN, and services this client LAN by providing a gateway to a WAN (e.g., core network) and to additional LANs of the client. For example, in one embodiment, the WAN optimization device is operatively connected (e.g., logically or physically connected) to a PE router, where this PE router receives network traffic (e.g., the afore referenced TCP/IP data packets) from one or more Customer Edge (CE) routers. Using virtualized OSs and VLAN technology, this network traffic is segregated, and, in some cases, relabeled with additional headers (e.g., VLAN headers and/or MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS)). Once segregated, the network traffic is transmitted to a destination client LAN. For example, a client LAN in the form of a data center run over a LAN, may transmit data over the WAN to another client LAN in the form of an office located remotely from the data center.

0012Additionally, in some example embodiments, a plurality of transaction accelerators may be implemented such that a first transaction accelerator may exchange data with a second transaction accelerator. For example, the first transaction accelerator may serve as a gateway to a WAN for one or more LANs, while the second transaction accelerator may serve as a gateway to a WAN for one or more different LANs. Data traffic routed into the WAN (e.g., a data packet) may be optimized by the WAN optimization device residing as part of the first transaction accelerator. This optimization may take the form of compressing the data, caching the data, tunneling the data, modifying the TCP/IP window size, providing local TCP acknowledgements, or perform some other suitable optimization technique on the data. Once optimized, the data may be transmitted by the first transaction accelerator to the second transaction accelerator which is located on the remote side of the WAN.

0013<figref idref="f0001">FIG. 1</figref> is a diagram of example system 100 illustrating the use of remotely placed transaction accelerators, where these transaction accelerators provide a gateway to a WAN. Shown is a LAN 101, a LAN 102, and a LAN 104. Each one of these LANs is served by a WAN 103 acting as a core network.

0014In some example embodiments, each of these LANs 101, 102, and 104 contain a number of network appliances and computer systems. With regard to LAN 101, LAN 101 contains a network device in a form of a CE router 108. This CE router 108 serves, for example, a computer system 105, a computer system 106, and a computer system 107. Each of these computer systems 105-107 and CE router 108 reside within the LAN 101. With regard to the LAN 102, LAN 102 contains a CE router 110. This CE router 110 serves a computer system 109 and computer system 111, both of which also reside within the LAN 102. This LAN 101 and LAN 102 are, in turn, served by the WAN 103. Contained within this WAN 103 is a plurality of transaction accelerators 112. In some example embodiments, only one transaction accelerator may be used to serve one or more LANs.

0015Some example embodiments may include each one of these transaction accelerators containing, for example, a WAN optimization device which serves one or more network appliances. In one example embodiment, the transaction accelerator 112 includes a WAN optimization device 113 and one or more network appliances 114. This network appliance 114 may be, for example, a PE router. Further, in another example embodiment of the transaction accelerator 112, the transaction accelerator 112 contains a WAN optimization device 115 that serves one or more network appliances 116. In some example embodiments, this network appliance 116 may be a PE router. In some example embodiments, a further transaction accelerator 112 contains, for example, a WAN optimization device 117 that, in turns, serves a network appliance 118. This network appliance 118 may be, for example, a PE router. Some example embodiments may include this WAN 103 also serving the LAN 104, in addition to the LANs 101 and 102. The LAN 104 may contain, for example, a CE router 119 that, in turns, serves a computer system 120, 121 and 123, all of which reside within the LAN 104.

0016In some example embodiments, as will be more fully discussed below, the LAN 101 and 102, and computer systems and network appliances contained therein, may transmit data across the WAN 103 utilizing one or more of the transaction accelerators 112. These transaction accelerators 112 may then, in turn, forward the data transmitted by these various computer systems residing within the LAN 101 and 102 to the LAN 104 and the various computer systems residing therein (e.g., computer systems 120, 121 and 123).

0017In some example embodiments, the transaction accelerator is kept at a different physical location than devices and network that makes up the LANs 101, 102, and 104. Specifically, the transaction accelerator 112 is kept at a location that is physically remote from the location of the LANs. For example, the transaction accelerator 112 may be kept at a network service center that is physically remote from the physical locations of the LANs such that a plurality of LANs may be serviced by one service center containing at least one transaction accelerator 112.

0018<figref idref="f0002">FIG. 2</figref> is a diagram of an example system 200 illustrating the use of a LAN 204 to service a data-center where this data-center is run over the LAN 204. Illustrated is a LAN 201 containing a computer system 205, 206 and 207, each of which is serviced by a CE router 208. Further, a LAN 202 is shown containing a computer system 209 and 211, each of which is served by a CE router 210. Each of these LANs 201 and 202 are, in turn, serviced by one or more transaction accelerators 112 that reside as a part of a WAN 203. In some example embodiments, a plurality of transaction accelerators 112 may be used to service the LAN 201, 202 and the various computer systems and routers (e.g., CE router 208 and CE router 210) that reside therein.

0019For example, in one embodiment, a transaction accelerator 112 may contain a WAN optimization device 213 that may be used to service one or more network appliances 214. Further, in another example embodiment, the transactions accelerator 112 may contain a WAN optimization device 215 that may be used to service one or more network appliances 216. In some example embodiments, the transaction accelerator 112 may contain a WAN optimization device 217 that may be used to service a network appliance 218. As with <figref idref="f0001">FIG. 1</figref> the various transaction accelerators illustrated herein may reside as a part of the WAN 203, and hence may be located remotely from the various LANs (e.g., LAN 201, LAN 202 and LAN 204).

0020Additionally illustrated in <figref idref="f0002">FIG. 2</figref> is a CE router 219 that resides as a part of the LAN 204 where the CE router 219 services a server 220 that in turn runs or accesses a number of databases 221, 222, and 223. In some example embodiments, the various computer systems located within the LAN 201, and/or LAN 202 may utilize the WAN 203, and transaction accelerators 112 residing therein, to request data from the LAN 204 and the data-center contained therein. This data, in turn, may be transmitted over the WAN 203 to be received by the LAN 201, where the LAN 202 and the CE router(s) (e.g., CE router 208 and CE router 210) resides as a part of these two LANs 201 and 202. As will be described more fully below, a variety of architectures may be used to build a transaction accelerator 112.

0021<figref idref="f0003">FIG. 3</figref> is a diagram of an example system 300 illustrating the transmission path of data across a WAN 103. Shown is a basic data-center model containing a number of customer environments. A customer environment may, for example, be hardware dedicated to the needs of a specific customer. These customer environments may send and receive data in the form of data packets (e.g., TCP/IP formatted data packets) to be further formatted using VLAN. For example, a customer 1 environment 301 is shown, as is a customer 2 environment 302, a customer 3 environment 303 and a customer 4 environment 304. These environments, in some example embodiments, may provide data to the WAN 103 where this data is uniquely identified thru some type of numeric reference residing as a part of some type of protocol. This protocol may include, for example, IP, a VLAN protocol, or some other suitable protocol.

0022Some example embodiments may include one or more of these customer environments (e.g., 301-304) providing data to, for example, a switch 305 where the switch 305 may be a layer 2 or layer 3 switch as understood in terms of the TCP/IP stack model or the OSI model. This switch 305 may then use, for example, an 802.1Q trunk 306 to provide segmentation for all customer traffic (e.g., as a data packet) between the switch 305 and a WAN optimization device 307. In some example embodiments, this 802.1Q trunk 306 may convert, transform, or add an additional header to the data packets coming in from the customer environments 301 through 304. This header that may be added to, for example, a VLAN header and associated VLAN Identifier (ID), wherein this VLAN ID may serve to uniquely identify each one of these packets and their particular recipients. Once these packets are received by the WAN optimization device 307, in some example embodiments, the WAN optimization device 307 may process and then wrap or otherwise packetize these data packets using, for example, VLAN, and transmit these packets to a router such as router 308. This router 308 may additionally packetize or wrap these packets using some type of physical layer or link-layer protocol. These packets may then be sent to, for example, additional transaction accelerator devices 112 for further processing. Further, in some example embodiments, the previously referenced switch 305, 802.1Q trunk 306, and WAN optimization device 307, as well as the router 308, may reside as a part of the WAN 103. Each one of these separate components (e.g., switch 305, 802.1Q trunk 306, WAN optimization device 307 and the router 308) may be collectively understood form a single transaction accelerator 112.

0023In some example embodiments, the data packets may be optimized by the WAN optimization device 307. For example, as illustrated herein, the optimized data packets may be tunneled and transmitted along routes 309-311 to one or more receiving transaction accelerators 112. Once received, these receiving transaction accelerators 112 may further process the data packets for transmission to one or more LANs.

0024<figref idref="f0004">FIG. 4</figref> is a diagram of an example architecture for a transaction accelerator 112, where this architecture involves the use of a single physical connection between a WAN optimization device and a network appliance. This network appliance is depicted as a PE router that uses a 802.1Q trunk. Shown is a CE router 401 that transmits a data packet across some type of network connection to a PE router 408. Residing as a part of this PE router 408 is a VRFin table 406. Once this data packet is received and buffered, a look up of a destination address contained within the VRFin table 406 occurs based upon information taken from a header in the data packet. A VLAN header containing a VLAN ID is then attached to the data packet based upon the lookup results. Specifically, a VLAN ID X 402 module may affix a VLAN ID as a part of a generalized VLAN packet header to the data packet. This destination address may be an IP address or some other suitable address. The VLAN ID X 402 module may, in some example embodiments, reside as part of the PE router 408. In other example embodiments, the VLAN ID X 402 module may reside as part of a WAN optimization device 404. Once this VLAN packet header is affixed to the data packets contained in the VRFin 406 table, these data packets are then transmitted across a physical interface in the form of an 802.1Q trunk 405 to the WAN optimization device 404. The WAN optimization device 404 optimizes the data packet by, for example, compressing the data, caching the data, tunneling the data, modifying the TCP/IP window size, providing local TCP acknowledgements, or performing some other suitable optimization technique on the data. A further VLAN ID Y 403 module may be used to attach a second VLAN ID or otherwise to make this second VLAN ID a part of a new VLAN header. This VLAN ID Y 403 module may, in some example embodiments, reside as part of the PE router 408. In other example embodiments, the VLAN ID Y 403 module may reside as part of the WAN optimization device 404. Once the new VLAN header is attached, and the now optimized data packet is routed across the 802.1Q trunk 405 to the PE router 408, a further look up is conducted using the VRFout 407 table. The data packet is then transmitted across the WAN 103 to be received by, for example, a PE router 409 or PE router 410. These PE routers 409 and 410 may themselves be part of an additional transaction accelerator 112, or plurality of transaction accelerators 112.

0025<figref idref="f0005">FIG. 5</figref> is a diagram of an example architecture for a transaction accelerator 112 where this example architecture includes the use of two physical interfaces between a WAN optimization device 502 and a network appliance (e.g. PE router 507). Shown is a CE router 501 that transmits a data packet across the network to a PE router 507. In one example embodiment, the data packet is formatted using a TCP/IP header. Residing as a part of this PE router 507 is a VRFin table 508 and VRFout table 509. Connected to this PE router 507 is a WAN optimization device 502, where the connection is a physical interface and accompanying 802.1.Q trunk 503 and a second physical interface and accompanying 802.1.Q trunk 504. Data packets flow into the WAN optimization device 502 via the 802.1.Q trunk 503, and flow out of the WAN optimization device 502 via the 802.1.Q trunk 503.

0026In one example embodiment, once the data packet is received by the PE router 507, a lookup of a destination address is conducted by the PE router 507 using the VRFin table 508. A VLAN ID X 505 module may be executed that affixes a VLAN header to the data packet, after the destination address is determined. This VLAN header may contain a VLAN ID that may uniquely identify the recipient of the data packet. This data packet is then provided to, for example, the WAN optimization device 502. This WAN optimization device 502 may then optimize the data packet by, for example, tunneling it, compressing it, or caching it. This WAN optimization device 502 may then transmit the data packet using the 802.1Q trunk 504. A new VLAN header and VLAN ED may then be applied to the now optimized data packet using a VLAN ID Y 506 module prior to transmission along the 802.1Q trunk 504. In other cases, the data packet may not be formatted using a new VLAN ID, but rather will retain the previously utilized VLAN ID and associated VLAN header assigned by the VLAN ID X 505 module. Once the data packet is received by the PE router 507, a lookup may occur using the VRFout table 509 to determine a destination address. The data packet may be transmitted across the WAN 103 to be received by a PE router 510 and/or PE router 511, where these PE routers may themselves be part of an additional transaction accelerator 112, or plurality of transaction accelerators 112.

0027<figref idref="f0006">FIG. 6</figref> is a diagram of an example architecture for a transaction accelerator 112, where this transaction accelerator 112 services a plurality of network appliances. Shown are a CE routers 608, 609 and 610 that route data packets to, for example, a PE router 611. These data packets may be formatted using, for example, an TCP/IP header. Residing as a part of this PE router 610 is a plurality of VRFin tables such as, for example, VRFin table 612, VRFin table 613, and VRFin table 614. Each of these VRFin tables 612-614 are dedicated to each of the CEs routers 608-610 respectively (e.g., CE router 608 maps to VRFin 612, CE router 609 maps to VRFin router 613, etc.). Further, shown is a plurality of VRFout tables such as, for example, VRFout table 615, VRFout table 616, and VRFout table 617. Operatively connected to each one of these VRFin tables (e.g., 612, 613 and 614) and further operatively connected to these various VRFout tables (e.g., 615, 616 and 617) are a number of VLAN interfaces aggregated into 802.1Q trunks 606 and 607. Managing the traffic for these 802.1Q trunks 606 and 607 is a switch 604 and 605. The switch 604 and 605 guide data packets to, for example, a plurality of WAN optimization devices. These WAN optimization devices include, for example, WAN optimization device 1 601, WAN optimization 2 602, and WAN optimization device 3 603. The switch 605 manages data packets flowing from each of these WAN optimization devices 601, 602, and 603 across the 802.1.Q trunk 607 to the PE router 611.

0028In one example embodiment, a data packet transmitted by, for example, the CE router 608 is received by the PE router 611. A look up is performed using the VRFin table 612. Further, a VLAN header is affixed to this data packet based upon the lookup results, and the data packet containing the VLAN header is transmitted along the 802.1Q trunk 606 to be received by, for example, the switch 604. Once received by the switch 604, this data packet containing the VLAN header is then routed to one of the WAN optimization devices 601 - 603 each dedicated to serve data traffic sourced by or destined to the LANs served by CE 608-610 respectively. When received at one of these WAN optimization devices 601 - 603, the data packet containing the VLAN header is optimized. This optimization may take the form of compressing the data contained in the data packet, caching the data in the data packet, tunneling the data in the data packet, modifying the TCP/IP window size, providing local TCP acknowledgements, or performing some other suitable optimization technique on the data. The now optimized data packet is then sent to the switch 605 for routing to the PE router 611 via the 802.1.Q trunk 607. In some example cases, prior to this routing, a new VLAN header may be associated with the data packet. Once received by the PE router 611, a destination address look-up may be performed using one of the VRFout tables 615-617 each associated to a 802.1 Q VLAN that provides the connectivity to one of the dedicated WAN optimization devices 601 - 603. Once this destination address is looked up in the VRF, then the packet may be transmitted across the WAN 103 to be received by, for example, the PE router 618 and/or PE router 619. These PE routers 618 and 619 may themselves be part of an additional transaction accelerator 112, or a plurality of transaction accelerators 112.

0029<figref idref="f0007">FIG. 7</figref> is a system diagram illustrating an example architecture for a transaction accelerator 112 where a common logical VRF table is utilized. Shown is a CE router 701, a CE router 702 and a CE router 703 that transmit one or more data packets to a PE router 707. Residing as a part of this PE router 707 is a VRFin table 708, a VRFin table 709 and a VRFin table 710. Also residing as a part of this PE router 707 is a common logical VRF table 711. Operatively connected to this PE router 707, via one or more physical interfaces, is a WAN optimization device 704. This WAN optimization device 704 may be connected via, for example, an 802.1Q trunk 705.

0030In one example embodiment a data packet is transmitted by, for example, a CE router 701 to be received by the PR router 707. This data packet may be formatted using TCP/IP. A lookup of a destination address may be performed using the VRFin table 708 and the TCP/IP header data contained within the data packet. A VLAN header may then be affixed to the data packet. This data packet is transmitted along the 802.1Q trunk 705 to be received by the WAN optimization device 704. The WAN optimization device 704 may then optimize the data packet by, for example, compressing the data contained in the data packet, caching the data in the data packet, tunneling the data in the data packet, modifying the TCP/IP window size, providing local TCP acknowledgements, or performing some other suitable optimization technique on the data. In certain example cases, the data packet may not be optimized where the route to the destination address is not known by the WAN optimization device 704. The WAN optimization device 704 may utilize one or more dedicated tunnels 706, where these tunnels may be, for example, some type of protocol based wrapper or other way to further uniquely identify the now optimized data packet for a specific destination address. For example, tunneling may include wrapping the data packet in, for example, a header in a form of, for example, an Generic Route Encapsulation (GRE) tunnel, Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) tunnel, or MPLS header. In such cases, a tunnel shall be dedicated to a particular client LAN to provide the segmentation of traffic from multiple client LANs. The data packet may be transmitted by the WAN optimization device 704 to the PE router 707. The PE router 707 may perform a lookup of a destination address using the common logical VRF table 711. The optimized and tunneled data packet may be forwarded across for example, the WAN 103 to, for example, a PE router 712 or a PE router 713. These PE routers 712 and 713 may themselves be part of an additional transaction accelerator 112, or plurality of transaction accelerators 112.

0031<figref idref="f0008">FIG. 8</figref> is a diagram of an example architecture for a transaction accelerator 112 where this transaction accelerator 112 utilizes a plurality of WAN optimization devices and a conjunction with a common VRFout table 817. Shown is a CE router 801, a CE router 802 and a CE router 803 that are connected to, for example, a PE router 810. Residing as a part of this PE router 810 is a VRFin table 812, a VRFin table 813 and a VRFin table 814. Further, a common logical VRFout table 817 is also shown as residing as a part of the PE router 810. Operatively connecting the PE router 810 to a switch 807 and ultimately to one of the WAN optimization devices 804-806 each dedicated to serve data traffic sourced by or destined to the LANs served by CE 801-803 respectively is an 802.1Q trunk 808. This 802.1Q trunk 808 may connect the switch 807 to the PE router 810 via some type of physical interface and/or physical connection. This switch 807 may be used to route traffic from, for example, the PE router 810.

0032In one embodiment the CE router 801 may transmit a data packet to the PE router 810, where this data packet is formatted using a TCP/IP header. Once received by the PE router 810, the data packet is buffered and a lookup is conducted using the VRFin table 812. A VLAN header may be affix to the data packet, and the data packet transmitted along the 802.1Q trunk 808 to the switch 807. This switch 807 them may route the data packet to one or more of the WAN optimization devices 804 - 806. Once received at one of these WAN optimization devices 804 - 806, this data packet may be optimized. Optimization may include compressing the data contained in the data packet, caching the data in the data packet, tunneling the data in the data packet, modifying the TCP/IP window size, providing local TCP acknowledgements, or performing some other suitable optimization technique on the data. The now optimized data packet may be wrapped or tunneled for transmission along one or more of the tunnels 811. These tunnels may include wrapping the data packet in, for example, a header in a form of, for example, an GRE tunnel, IPSEC tunnel, or MPLS header. In such cases, a tunnel shall be dedicated to a particular client LAN to provide the segmentation of traffic from multiple client LANs. A switch 809 may be used to route the data packet along one of the tunnels 811. In certain example cases, a tunnel may be dedicated to a particular client LAN. A common logical VRFout table 817 may be used to lookup a destination address for the data packet. This data packet may be transmitted across a WAN 103 to be received by, for example, a PE router 815 and/or PE router 816. The PE router 816 may itself be part of an additional transaction accelerator 112, or plurality of transaction accelerators 112.

0033<figref idref="f0009">FIG. 9</figref> is a diagram of an example architecture for a transaction accelerator 112 illustrating the use of a policy-based routing regime. Shown is a CE router 901 that is operatively connected to a PE router 906 wherein this PE router 906 contains a policy-based routing VFR table 907. Connected to this PE router 906 are a VLAN ID X module 904 and a VLAN ID Y module 905. Further, operatively connected to this PE router 906 is an 802.1Q trunk 903. This 802.1Q trunk 903 further connects a WAN optimization device 902 to the PE router 906.

0034In one example embodiment, the CE router 901 transmits a data packet to the PE router 906. Once received by the PE router 906 and based upon some type of policy-based routing regime, a VLAN header is affixed to the data packet through the execution of the VLAN ID X module 904. This policy-based routing regime may include an instruction to route all data packets entering the PE router 906 to the WAN optimization device 902 prior to forwarding the data packets across the WAN 103. Further policies may include, for example, giving preference to certain size data packets, or packets utilizing certain types of protocols. The data packet is transmitted across the 802.1.Q trunk 903 to the WAN optimization device 902. Once received by the WAN optimization device 902, the data packet may be optimized. Optimization may include compressing the data contained in the data packet, caching the data in the data packet, tunneling the data in the data packet, modifying the TCP/IP window size, providing local TCP acknowledgements, or performing some other suitable optimization technique on the data. The second VLAN ID Y module 905 may be executed, where this VLAN ID Y module 905 may be used to attach a different VLAN header to the data packet. Using certain policy designed by a network administrator and implemented by the policy based routing regime, the PE router 906 may transmit this data packet across the WAN 103 to be received by, for example, a PE router 908 or PE router 909. These PE routers 908 and 909 may themselves be part of an additional transaction accelerator 112, or plurality of transaction accelerators 112.

0035<figref idref="f0010">FIG. 10</figref> is a diagram of an example architecture for a transaction accelerator 112 utilizing a policy-based routing regime with distinct physical interfaces between a WAN optimization device 1002 and a PE router 1008. Shown is a CE router 1001 that is connected to a PE router 1007. Residing on this PE router 1007 is a policy-based routing VFR table 1008. This PE router 1007 is connected via a plurality of physical interfaces to WAN optimization device 1002. This connection may be in the form of, for example, an 802.1Q trunk 1003 and an 802.1Q trunk 1004.

0036In some example cases, the CE router 1001 may transmit a data packet to the PE router 1007. Once received by the PE router 1007, the policy-based routing VFR table 1008 may implement a policy of forwarding all incoming data packets to the WAN optimization device 1002 by listing the destination address as being that of the WAN optimization device 1002. Other policies that may be implemented by the PE router 1007 may include giving priority to the data packet based on considerations of data packet size or protocol requirements. In some example embodiments, a VLAN ID X module 1005 may be executed that may attach a VLAN header to the data packet received by the PE router 1007. Once VLAN ID X module 1005 is executed, the packet now containing the VLAN header may be transmitted across the previously referenced 802.1Q trunk 1003 to WAN optimization device 1002. Once received by the WAN optimization device 1002, the data packet may be optimized. Optimization may include compressing the data contained in the data packet, caching the data in the data packet, tunneling the data in the data packet, modifying the TCP/IP window size, providing local TCP acknowledgements, or performing some other suitable optimization technique on the data. The data packet may be transmitted back across the 802.1 Q trunk 1004. Prior to being transmitted across the 802.1Q trunk 1004, the VLAN ID Y module 1006 may be executed to attach a different VLAN header to the data packet. In some cases, VLAN ID Y module 1006 may not be executed. Once the VLAN ID Y module 1006 is executed and the data packet received at the PE router 1007, the data packet may be transmitted across the WAN 103 to be received by, for example, a PE router 1009 or PE router 1010. These PE routers 1009 and 1010 may themselves be part of an additional transaction accelerator 112, or a plurality of transaction accelerators 112.

0037<figref idref="f0011">FIG. 11</figref> is a diagram of an example architecture for a transaction accelerator 112 where a plurality of network appliances are used in conjunction with the WAN optimization device. Shown is a CE router 1101 that is connected to a PE router 1107. Residing as a part of this PE router 1107 is a VRFin table 1108. This VRFin table 1108 may, in some instances, be connected via a physical interface to a WAN optimization device 1102. This connection may be in the form of, for example, an 802.1Q trunk 1103. Further, this WAN optimization device 1102 may be connected to a PE router 1109 via physical interface and further through an 802.1 Q trunk 1104. Residing as a part of this PE router 1009 is a VRFout table 1110.

0038In one example embodiment the CE router 1101 transmits a data packet to the PE router 1107. Once received by the PE router 1107, a look-up is conducted of the VRFin table 1108, looking for a destination address associated with the data packet. Once this destination address is determined, a VLAN ID X module 1105 is executed that affixes a VLAN header and associated VLAN ID to the data packet. This data packet is then transmitted across the previously referenced 802.1Q trunk 1103 to be received by, for example, the WAN optimization device 1102. Once received by the WAN optimization device 1102, the data packet may be optimized. Optimization may include compressing the data contained in the data packet, caching the data in the data packet, tunneling the data in the data packet, modifying the TCP/IP window size, providing local TCP acknowledgements, or performing some other suitable optimization technique on the data. The now optimized data packet is transmitted across the 802.1Q trunk 1104. In some cases, prior to transmission of the data packet, a VLAN ID Y module 1106 is executed to attach a different VLAN header to the data packet. A lookup may then be performed using the VRFout table 1110, and the data packet transmitted across the WAN 103 to a PE router 1111, and/or PE router 1112. These PE routers 1111 and 1112 may themselves be part of an additional transaction accelerator 112, or plurality of transaction accelerators 112.

0039<figref idref="f0012">FIG. 12</figref> is a block diagram of a computer system 1200 and the various blocks that reside therein. These blocks may be implemented in hardware, software, or firmware. In some example embodiments, illustrated is a network appliance 1201 configured to implement VRF, operatively connected to a WAN optimization device through a first physical interface. A first data store 1202 is also shown with a first VRFin routing table, the first data store residing on the network appliance. Moreover, a second data store 1203 is also shown with a second VRFout routing table, the second data store residing on the network appliance. Some example embodiments may include, the network appliance, configured to implement VRF, is operatively connected to the WAN optimization device through a second physical interface. Additionally, in some example embodiments, the network appliance is configured to implement policy based routing. In some example cases, the network appliance is operatively connected to the WAN optimization device through a second physical interface. In some example embodiments, another network (not pictured) appliance is operatively connected to the WAN optimization device through a second physical interface.

0040<figref idref="f0012">FIG. 13</figref> is a block diagram of a computer system 1300 and the various blocks that reside therein. These blocks may be implemented in hardware, software, or firmware. In some example embodiments, illustrated a network appliance 1301, configured to implement VRF, operatively connected to a WAN optimization device through a physical interface. Additionally, a plurality of VRFin data stores 1302 are illustrated, where each VRFin data store of the plurality of VRFin data stores has a single VRFin routing table. Further, in some example embodiments, a single common data store 1303 with a VRFout routing table. In some example cases, the physical interface is operatively connected to a 802.1Q trunk. Additionally, in some example embodiments, a plurality of tunnels 1304 are shown as being operatively connected to the WAN optimization device, each of the plurality of tunnels operatively connected to a LAN by a connection including at least one of a physical or logical connection. In some example embodiments, the single common data store is a common logical data store. Further, in some example embodiments, the network appliance is a PE router.

0041<figref idref="f0012">FIG. 14</figref> is a block diagram of a computer system 1400 and the various blocks that reside therein. These blocks may be implemented in hardware, software, or firmware. In some example embodiments, illustrated is a network appliance 1401, configured to implement VRF, operatively connected to a plurality of WAN optimization devices through a plurality of first physical interfaces. Also, in some example embodiments, a plurality of VRFin data stores 1402 are shown where each VRFin data store, of the plurality of VRFin data stores, has a VRFin routing table. In some example embodiments, a plurality of VRFout data stores 1403 are illustrated where each VRFout data store, of the plurality of VRFout data stores, has a VRFout routing table. In some example embodiments, the network appliance and WAN optimization device are connected through a plurality of second physical interfaces. Some example embodiments may include, a switch 1404 to manage data packets received through the plurality of first physical interfaces. Also, in some example embodiments, a switch 1405 is shown that manages the data packets received through the plurality of second physical interfaces. In some example embodiments, a common VRFout routing table 1406 is shown.

0042<figref idref="f0013">FIG. 15</figref> is a diagram of an example software architecture for a WAN optimization device 1500 utilizing a host operating system technique to provide virtualization for a particular computer system. This WAN optimization device 1500 may be, for example, the previously referenced WAN optimization devices 113, 115 and/or 117. Shown is a layer 1504 labeled host operating system, where this layer 1504 serves to manage further layers of functionality that reside on top of this layer 1504. Further, this host operating system residing at layer 1504 may provide an interface to various computer system hardware resources such as, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), persistent storage (e.g., a magnetic or optical drive), Random Access Memory (RAM), or other hardware resources. Residing upon the layer 1504 is a layer 1503 labeled guest OS. In some example embodiments, a plurality of guest OSs, represented here by layer 1503, are ported such that each guest OS is aware of the other guest OSs that resides as a part of the same layer. These guest OSs, as represented in layer 1503, may be managed by layer 1504. In some example embodiments, these various instances of guest OSs may be instances of the same or different operating system, where this operating system may be, for example, LINUX™, Microsoft WINDOWS™ or some other suitable operating system known in the art. Residing on top of this layer 1503 is a layer 1502 containing various virtual routers. These virtual routers may be managed by the layer 1503 and its various guest operating systems. For example, a single virtual router may be managed by a single guest OS. Further, residing on top of the layer 1502 is a layer 1501 containing various routing engines. These routing engines may be managed by the layer 1502 and its various virtual routers. For example, a single routing engine may be managed by a single virtual router. Further, these routing engines outlined in layer 1501 may have access to a plurality of VRFin tables such as, for example, VRFin table 708 - 710 as well as having access to a plurality of VRFout tables such as, for example, VRFout table 509 and VRFout tables 615 - 617. In some example embodiments, virtualization may be used to manage various system resources and limits associated therewith including disc quotas, Input/Output (I/O) rate limits, memory limits, the CPU quotas, and various network interfaces and associated network traffic.

0043In some example embodiments, through the use of this virtual machine and in particular the WAN optimization device 1500 that utilizes the virtual machine, a plurality of customers may be serviced, where each customer contained has a plurality of destination addresses associated with it. In certain circumstances, through the use of this virtual machine, there may be overlap in terms of destination addresses and the uniqueness associated with each. This overlap may be made possible by the fact that, for example, the layer 1503 and the guests OSs contained therein may not access the system resources allocated for the other guest OSs that may reside as a part of this layer 1503. For example, if a particular area of a hard drive has been reserved for a VRFin table controlled by a specific guest OS, then the other guest OSs and their associated virtual routers and routing engines may not access this particular disc space.

0044<figref idref="f0013">FIG. 16</figref> is a diagram of an example software architecture for a WAN optimization device 1600 utilizing a virtual machine technique to provide virtualization for a particular computer system. In some example embodiments, this WAN optimization device 1600 may be, for example, the WAN optimization device 113, 115 or 117. Shown is a WAN optimization device 1600 represented as a number of layers of functionality in the form of blocks. For example, shown is a layer 1604 referenced as a virtual machine monitor. This virtual machine monitor, in some example embodiments, may provide an interface to various computer system hardware resources such as, for example, a CPU, persistent storage (e.g., a magnetic or optical drive), RAM, or other hardware resources. Further illustrated is a layer 1603 that resides upon the layer 1604, where this layer 1603 is composed of a plurality of guest OSs. These guest OSs may, in turn, manage or control a layer 1602 containing a variety of virtual routers. In some example embodiments, these various instances of guest OSs may be instances of the same or different operating system, where this operating system may be, for example, LINUX™, Microsoft WINDOWS™ or some other suitable operating system known in the art. Further, this layer 1603 may utilize various system resources through the use of the layer 1604 and the virtual machine monitor contained therein. Also shown is a layer 1602 containing a plurality of virtual routers. This layer 1602 may, in turn, control and otherwise support a layer 1601 containing a plurality of routing engines. These routing engines may have access to a plurality of VRFin tables such as, for example, VRFin table 708 - 710 as well as having access to a plurality of VRFout tables such as, for example, VRFout table 509 and VRFout tables 615 - 617.

0045In some example embodiments, through the use of this virtual machine and in particular the WAN optimization device 1600 that utilizes the virtual machine, a plurality of customers may be serviced, where each customer contained has a plurality of destination addresses associated with it. In certain circumstances, through the use of this virtual machine, there may be overlap in terms of destination addresses and the uniqueness associated with each. This overlap may be made possible by the fact that, for example, the layer 1603 and the guests OSs contained therein may not access the system resources allocated for the other guest OSs that may reside as a part of this layer 1603. For example, if a particular area of a hard drive has been reserved for a VRFin table controlled by a specific guest OS, then the other guest OSs and their associated virtual routers and routing engines may not access this particular disc space.

0046<figref idref="f0013">FIG. 17</figref> is a diagram of an example software architecture for a WAN optimization device 1700 utilizing virtualization on an OS level to provide virtualization for a particular computer system. Shown is a WAN optimization device 1700 and the various layers and blocks and functionality associated therewith. With this WAN optimization device 1700 may be, for example, the previously referenced WAN optimization device 113, 115 and /or 117. Illustrated is a layer 1703 containing a plurality of instances of operating systems. In some example embodiments, these various instances of OSs may be instances of the same operating system, where this operating system may be, for example, LINUX™, Microsoft WINDOWS™ or some other suitable operating system known in the art. Residing on top of this layer 1703 is a layer 1702 containing a plurality of virtual routers wherein each one of these virtual routers is controlled by, for example, one or more of the operating systems contained or residing otherwise at the layer 1703. This layer 1702 and the virtual routers associated therewith, in turn, control various routing engines residing as a part of a layer 1701 that resides on top of the layer 1702. As in <figref idref="f0013">FIG. 15 and 16</figref>, various system resources are controlled by the operating systems residing at the layer 1703. These resources may include, for example, the CPU access, disc space or other suitable system resources. Through the use of virtualization on an OS level, destination address overlap may be utilized within a single computer system such that, for example, the same destination addresses may be stored within a VRFin table or VFRout table and otherwise accessed by the computer system utilizing the virtualization on an OS level methodology.

0047<figref idref="f0014">FIG. 18</figref> is a flow chart illustrating an example method 1800 to optimize a plurality of LAN traffic using a transaction accelerator. Shown are various operations 1801 through 1807, where each of these operations may reside as part of a transaction accelerator 112. In some example embodiments, an operation 1801 may be executed to process a first data packet using a first operating system, the first data packet received from a first network. An operation 1802 may also be executed to process a second data packet using a second operating system, the second data packet received from a second network. Further, an operation 1803 may be executed to determine a route associated with the first data packet and the second data packet, the route including at least one of a logical route or physical route. An operation 1804 may be executed to parse the first data packet into at least one first logical segment, and parsing the second data packet into at least one second logical segment. An operation 1805 may be executed to transmit the first logical segment and the second logical segment as at least one data packet across the WAN. In some example embodiments, the first operating system and second operating system reside on the same computer system. Some example embodiments may include, the first network and the second network are LANs. An operation 1806 may be executed to associate a customer identifier with at least one of the first data packet, or the second data packet. Additionally, an operation 1807 may be executed to optimize at least one of the first logical segment or the second logical segment, the optimizing including at least one of compressing, caching, or tunneling, the first or second logical segment.

0048In some example embodiments, a computer implemented method to optimize a plurality of data packets is shown. This example method may include an operation that when executed processes a first data packet using a first operating system, the first data packet received from a first network. Some example embodiments may include, a first data packet being an TCP/IP based data packet received from a LAN that acts as a first network. Additionally, in some example embodiments, an operation is executed that processes a second data packet using a second operating system, the second data packet received from a second network. This second data packet may be a TCP/IP based data packet that is received from a another LAN that acts as a second network. Further, in some example embodiments, an operation may be executed to make a determination regarding a route associated with the first data packet and the second data packet, the route including at least one of a logical route or physical route. This route may be a route between a plurality of network appliance existing as part of a WAN. Additionally, in some example embodiments, an operation may be executed to parse the first data packet into at least one first logical segment, and parsing the second data packet into at least one second logical segment. A logical segment may, in some example embodiments, be a segment of data formatted based upon certain logically based considerations relating to a data packet or data field size, or some other suitable basis. This size may be in terms of bits, nibbles., bytes, or some other suitable measure. In some example embodiments, an operation may be executed so as to transmit the first logical segment and the second logical segment as at least one data packet across a WAN. In some example embodiments, an operation may be executed so as to associate a customer identifier with at least one of the first data packet, or the second data packet. This customer identifier may be a VLAN ID value, IP address values, Media Access Control (MAC) value, or some other way to distinguish customers within a data stream coming from a network. Some example embodiments may include, the execution of an operation to optimize at least one of the first logical segment or the second logical segment, the optimizing including at least one of compressing, caching, or tunneling, the first or second logical segment.

0049<figref idref="f0015">FIG. 19</figref> is a flowchart showing an example method 1900 used to generate a customer specific data packet. Illustrated are various operations 1901-1902, and 1904-1911 that may reside as part of a WAN optimization device. In some example embodiments, an operation 1901 is executed that allocates the system virtual resources for each customer. These system virtual resources may be allocated using any one of the number of previously referenced models for virtualization such as, for example, paravirtualization, virtual machine, or virtualization on an OS level. An operation 1902 may be executed that receives a plurality of data packets 1903. An operation 1904 may be executed that parses these data packets on logical segments and identifies each logical segment with a customer identifier. This customer identifier may be, for example, a VLAN ID associated with a VLAN header that is affixed to each of the TCP/IP data packets. A decisional operation 1905 may be executed that determines whether a destination route is known to have a corresponding peer transaction accelerator associated with the route destination on the remote side of the WAN. In the cases where the decisional operation 1905 evaluates to "true," an operation 1906 is executed that optimizes the logical segment (e.g., the data or data packet in some cases). Optimization may include compressing the data, caching the data, tunneling the data, modifying the TCP/IP window size, providing local TCP acknowledgements, or performing some other suitable optimization technique on the data. An operation 1907 may be executed that transmits the now optimized logical segment as an optimized customer specific data packet 1908 to a peer device such an additional transaction accelerator. In some example embodiments, the transmission of this optimized customer specific data packet 1908 may be conducted by a network appliance such as a PE router. In the cases where the decisional operation 1905 evaluates to "false," an operation 1909 is executed wherein the logical segment passes through the WAN optimizer without being optimized. The destination address for the logical segment is then looked up in, for example, the VRFout table. An operation 1910 may be executed to transmit this logical segment as a customer specific data packet 1911. In some example cases, the transmission of this customer specific data packet 1911 may be conducted by a network appliance such as a PE router.

0050<figref idref="f0016">FIG. 20</figref> is a flowchart illustrating an example method used to execute operation 1901. Shown is a configuration of instruction 2001 where this configuration instruction may, for example, contain a list of customer destination addresses and specific requirements for a particular customer. These requirements may include, for example, various system resource allocations for a specific customer as implemented by, for example, paravirtualization, a virtual machine, or virtualization on an OS level. Further, these requirements may include the giving of priority to certain customers and their associated data packets (e.g., quality of service requirements). When executed, operation 2002 parses a configuration of instructions and extracts destination address space information in the customer requirements. An operation 2003 may be executed that associates the destination address based with the customer identifier, where customer identifier may be, for example, an IP address space, a VLAN ID, or some other suitable customer identifier. Once association occurs, then the destination address and customer identifiers are stored into the FIB 1906. As previously referenced, in some example embodiments, the plurality of FIBs may be utilized in conjunction with a plurality of VRFin tables and VRFout tables. An operation 2004 may be executed, in some example embodiments, that uses the customer requirements to allocate certain system resources such as, for example, a previously referenced disc quota, I/O rate limit, memory limits, CPU quota and/or network interface requirements.

0051<figref idref="f0016">FIG. 21</figref> is a diagram of an example data packet 2103. In some example embodiments the data packet 2103 may be, for example, a TCP/IP based data packet where, for example, the data packet is wrapped within a TCP wrapper 2102. This TCP wrapper 2102 may, in turn, be wrapped within an IP wrapper 2101. This data packet 2103 may be transmitted by, for example, the CE router 401, 501, 608 - 610, 701 - 703, 801 - 803, 901, 1001, 1101 or some other suitable network device such as a CE router or even in some cases a PE router.

0052<figref idref="f0017">FIG. 22</figref> is a flowchart illustrating an example method 2200 used to perform a lookup of a destination address. Illustrated are various operations 2201-2203 that may reside on, for example, a PE router such as PE router 408 or 507. Shown is an operation 2201 that, when executed, receives a customer identifier that has been parsed from a data packet received by the PE router. This customer identifier may be an IP address, a VLAN ID, or some other suitable uniquely identifying value. An operation 2202 may be executed that performs a look-up of a customer identifier in, for example, an FIB associated with a VRFin table, or a VRFout table. An operation 2203 may also be executed that retrieves a destination address based upon the customer identifier. For example, in certain example embodiments, a VLAN ID may be used to look up a particular destination address such that, for example, while the VLAN ID may be uniquely identifying for the destination address, the destination addresses themselves may overlap such that a plurality of identical destination addresses may exist within, for example, the FIB 2204.

0053<figref idref="f0017">FIG. 23</figref> is a diagram illustrating an example FIB 2204 and the various routing tables contained therein. Shown is a routing table 2301, 2302 and 2303. Each one of these routing tables may be divided in terms of a uniquely identifying customer ID value and a destination address, where the uniquely identifying customer ID value is unique, whereas the destination address may not be unique and hence may have overlap with other destination addresses. Specifically, as illustrated herein, the destination address 2304 contained within the routing table 2301 is identical to the destination address 2305 contained within the routing table 2302. Further, the destination address 2306 contained within the routing table 2303 is identical to the destination addresses 2304 and 2305.

0054<figref idref="f0018">FIG. 24</figref> is a diagram of an example optimized customer specific data packet 1908. Shown is a VLAN header 2401 that is used to wrap, for example, an IP header 2403 which, in turn, is used to further wrap a TCP header 2404. In some example embodiments, the IP header 2403 and TCP header 2404 are used to make up the previously referenced data packets 1903, such that the VLAN header 2401, in effect, wraps the data packet 1903. In some example embodiments, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) may be used in lieu of TCP.

A SYSTEM OF TRANSMISSION BETWEEN A SERVER AND CLIENT

0055Some example embodiments may use the OSI basic reference model or TCP/IP protocol stack model for defining the protocols used by a network to transmit data. In applying these models, a system of data transmission between a server and client, or between peer computer systems, is illustrated as a series of roughly five layers comprising: an application layer, a transport layer, a network layer, a data link layer, and a physical layer. In the case of software having a three tier architecture, the various tiers (e.g., the interface, logic, and storage tiers) reside on the application layer of the TCP/IP protocol stack. In an example implementation using the TCP/IP protocol stack model, data from an application residing at the application layer is loaded into the data load field of a TCP segment residing at the transport layer. This TCP segment also contains port information for a recipient software application residing remotely. This TCP segment is loaded into the data load field of an IP datagram residing at the network layer. Next, this IP datagram is loaded into a frame residing at the data link layer. This frame is then encoded at the physical layer and the data transmitted over a network such as the Internet, LAN, WAN, or some other suitable network. In some example cases, Internet refers to a network of networks. These networks may use a variety of protocols for the exchange of data, including the aforementioned TCP/IP, and additionally ATM, SNA, SDI, Frame Relay, MPLS, or some other suitable protocol. These networks may be organized within a variety of topologies (e.g., a star topology) or structures.

A COMPUTER SYSTEM

0056<figref idref="f0019">FIG. 25</figref> shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the example form of a computer system 2500 within which a set of instructions for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be a Personal Computer (PC), a Web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Example embodiments can also be practiced in distributed system environments where local and remote computer systems, which are linked (e.g., either by hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired and wireless connections) through a network, perform tasks. In a distributed system environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory-storage devices (see below).

0057The example computer system 2500 includes a processor 2502 (e.g., a CPU, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) or both), a main memory 2501 and a static memory 2506, which communicate with each other via a bus 2508. The computer system 2500 may further include a video display unit 2510 (e.g., a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)). The computer system 2500 also includes an alphanumeric input device 2517 (e.g., a keyboard), a User Interface (UI) cursor controller 2511 (e.g., a mouse), a disc drive unit 2516, a signal generation device 2556 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device (e.g., a transmitter) 2599.

0058The disc drive unit 2516 includes a machine-readable medium 2557 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the methodologies or functions illustrated herein. The software may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 2501 and/or within the processor 2502 during execution thereof by the computer system 2500, the main memory 2501 and the processor 2502 also constituting machine-readable media.

0059The instructions 2525 may further be transmitted or received over a network 2526 via the network interface device 2599 using any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)).

0060In some example embodiments, a removable physical storage medium is shown to be a single medium, and the term "machine-readable medium" should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term "machine-readable medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any of the one or more of the methodologies illustrated herein. The term "machine-readable medium" shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic medium, and carrier wave signals.

MARKETPLACE APPLICATIONS

0061In some example embodiments, transaction accelerators are located remotely from the LANs that they serve, and are enabled to serve a plurality of customers and associated LANs. Virtualization of the computer system running the WAN optimization component of the transaction accelerator, and virtualization of certain network resources, allows for a single transaction accelerator to service multiple clients and their associated LANs.