U.S. patent application number 10/190283 was filed with the patent office on 2002-12-19 for system and method for dynamic creation and management of virtual subdomain addresses.
Invention is credited to Choudhry, Azkar Hussain.
Application Number | 20020194373 10/190283 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26836578 |
Filed Date | 2002-12-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020194373 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Choudhry, Azkar Hussain |
December 19, 2002 |
System and method for dynamic creation and management of virtual
subdomain addresses
Abstract
An Internet domain name server platform which intercepts web
browser HTTP queries to unrecognized, unregistered subdomain name
and provides redirection of the query to a recognized and
registered domain name or a subdirectory of a recognized and
registered domain name. A program is launched in response to the
event of the request to an unrecognized subdomain name, which
dynamically resolves the unknown address rather than returning a
standard "Error 404: File Not Found" message to the requesting web
browser. A database of virtual subdomain names is used to map to
actual subdirectories on the same or a remote server, such that the
creation of a virtual subdomain requires only the steps necessary
to create a subdirectory.
Inventors: |
Choudhry, Azkar Hussain;
(Houston, TX) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Robert H. Frantz
P.O. Box 23324
Oklahoma City
OK
73123
US
|
Family ID: |
26836578 |
Appl. No.: |
10/190283 |
Filed: |
July 5, 2002 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10190283 |
Jul 5, 2002 |
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09476632 |
Dec 31, 1999 |
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6442602 |
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60138815 |
Jun 14, 1999 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/242 ;
709/243 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 61/4511 20220501;
H04L 67/14 20130101; H04L 61/30 20130101; H04L 61/302 20130101;
H04L 9/40 20220501; H04L 69/329 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/242 ;
709/243 |
International
Class: |
G06F 015/173 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for redirecting an Internet subdomain address request
to a virtual subdomain on an Internet domain name server,
comprising the steps of: receiving from an Internetworked client
computer a request for an Internet document at an unrecognized
unregistered subdomain address; executing a redirection program on
said domain name server in response to said request for said
unrecognized unregistered subdomain address; accessing a
computer-readable record by said script to determine a subdirectory
or recognized and registered domain name assigned to said
unrecognized unregistered subdomain; and redirecting said request
to said subdirectory or recognized and registered domain name such
that said request results in a request to a recognized domain name
or to a subdirectory of a recognized domain name on a web server,
thereby allowing the request to be fulfilled by said web server
which hosts the recognized domain name or subdirectory of the
recognized subdomain name.
2. A method for redirecting an Internet subdomain address request
to a virtual subdomain on an Internet domain name server as set
forth in claim 1, wherein said step of accessing a computer
readable record further comprises accessing a computer
database.
3. A method for redirecting an Internet subdomain address request
to a virtual subdomain on an Internet domain name server as set
forth in claim 1 further comprising the step of providing an entry
in a routing table for a domain name server, said entry allowing a
range of addresses to be handled by said domain name server thereby
allowing redirection of a range of unrecognized subdomain names by
a domain name server.
4. A method for redirecting an Internet subdomain address request
to a virtual subdomain on an Internet domain name server as set
forth in claim 1 wherein said step of executing a redirection
program further comprises executing a redirection program by
intercepting a "File not found" error on a domain name server.
5. An Internet virtual subdomain name server for providing Internet
address management for unregistered and unrecognized subdomains,
said virtual subdomain name server comprising: an Internet domain
name server computer platform including a central processor unit
capable of executing software, an operating system executed by said
central processor unit and managing a plurality of multiple
applications and tasks simultaneously, a computer network interface
communicable to an Internet allowing said applications and tasks to
send and receive hyper text transfer protocol messages, a domain
server software suite application which is executed by said central
process unit under the control of said operating system and
providing for event-based execution of scripts, and a
computer-readable record storage means accessible by said
applications, scripts and tasks; at least one computer-readable
record disposed in said computer-readable record storage means,
said computer-readable record providing an association of a virtual
subdomain address to a real address; and a redirection program
executable by said central processor unit, said redirection
script's execution being invoked by said domain server software
suite upon the event of receipt of a virtual subdomain address
document request such that the redirection script accesses the
computer-readable record, and said script redirects said request to
said real address.
6. An Internet virtual subdomain name server for providing Internet
address management for unregistered and unrecognized subdomains as
set forth in claim 5 wherein said real address comprises a
recognized and registered domain name.
7. An Internet virtual subdomain name server for providing Internet
address management for unregistered and unrecognized subdomains as
set forth in claim 5 wherein said real address comprises a
subdirectory of a recognized and registered domain name.
8. An Internet virtual subdomain name server for providing Internet
address management for unregistered and unrecognized subdomains as
set forth in claim 5 wherein said domain server software suite
further comprises an Apache Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Server
suite.
9. An Internet virtual subdomain name server for providing Internet
address management for unregistered and unrecognized subdomains as
set forth in claim 8 wherein said redirection program comprises a
servlet.
10. An Internet virtual subdomain name server for providing
Internet address management for unregistered and unrecognized
subdomains as set forth in claim 5 wherein said central processor
unit comprises an IBM-compatible personal computer system.
11. An Internet virtual subdomain name server for providing
Internet address management for unregistered and unrecognized
subdomains as set forth in claim 5 wherein said operating system
comprises the Linux operating system.
12. An Internet virtual subdomain name server for providing
Internet address management for unregistered and unrecognized
subdomains as set forth in claim 5 wherein said computer-readable
record comprises a computer-readable database.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
CLAIMING BENEFIT UNDER 35 U.S.C. 120
[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 of
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/476,632, filed on Dec. 31,
1999, docket number AHC99001, and benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of
U.S. Provisional Application serial No. 60/138815, filed on Jun. 9,
1999, both filed by Azkar Hussain Choudhry.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
[0002] The related U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 09/476,632,
filed on Dec. 31, 1999, docket number AHC99001, by Azkar Hussain
Choudhry, is incorporated by reference including figures and a
microfiche appendix.
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0003] This invention pertains to the arts of computer networks,
addressing of computers on computer networks, and the
administration and management of the addressing schemes. In
particular, this invention relates to the arts of Internet Domain
Name Servers; creation of Universal Resource Locators, Domain and
Subdomain names; and management of virtual subdomains.
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT STATEMENT
[0004] This invention was not developed in conjunction with any
Federally-sponsored contract.
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
[0005] A microfiche appendix consisting of 70 (seventy) frames on 1
(one) microfiche which was originally submitted with the related
patent application is incorporated by reference into this
specification.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0006] This application is a continuation filed under 37 CFR
1.53(b) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/476,632, filed on
Dec. 31, 1999.
[0007] The Internet is possibly the greatest advance in information
technology since the invention of the Gutenberg movable type
printing press. It's impact on society worldwide has truly only
been realized to a fraction of its ultimate potential. The Internet
is not a single computer network, however, but is a hierarchy of
many computer networks, all of which are interconnected by various
types of server computers.
[0008] Key to success of the Internet is the addressing scheme
which was adopted. The addressing scheme allows two types of
addressing to be used when one computer transmits data to another
computer over the Internet. The first addressing scheme, referred
to as the Internet Protocol ("IP") address, is a numeric address
value consisting of four binary octets separated by a period or
"dot", such as AA.BB.CC.DD. Each of the octets is allowed to range
in value from 0 to FF hexadecimal, or to 255 decimal. The values
towards the left of the address, such as AA and BB, are referred to
as network addresses and are used for coarse resolution of the
address, while the values towards the right of the address are used
for fine resolution of the address, such as CC and DD.
[0009] For example, turning to FIG. 1, the Internet backbone (1) is
a set of high-speed data transmission facilities which interconnect
several key switching and routing centers. Domain servers (2 and 6)
may connect directly to the backbone (1), or they may connect
indirectly to the backbone through other servers and other
networks. For example, the domain server (2) on the right serves
the subnetwork (4) on the right, which interconnects one or more
client computers (5) to each other and to the Internet. Data or
messages to be sent to any of the computers on the right-side
network (4) must be properly addressed to be routed to them. For
example, the right domain server (2) may be assigned a particular
range or set of ranges of IP addresses to serve, such as
155.179.00.XX. A computer on the right-side network (4) may be
given an address within this range, such as 155.179.00.213 (in
decimal). A second computer on the right-side network (4) may be
given an address such as 155.179.00.111. So, the octets towards the
right of the IP address are subaddresses of the server's address.
This scheme of addressing and subaddressing is well known within
the art.
[0010] This subaddressing scheme is designed to allow subnetworking
as well. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the left-side domain
server (6) may be assigned an IP address range of 98.99.YY.XX (in
decimal). Computers directly connected to its subnetwork (8) would
receive addresses within this range, as given in the previous
example. However, another subnetwork (11), or sub-subnetwork to be
literally correct, may be interconnected to the left-side network
(8) via another domain server, which may be referred to as a
subdomain server (9). This subdomain server may be given a range of
IP addresses within the range of IP addresses for the left-side
network domain server (6), such as 98.99.192.XX. The
internetworking scheme of the Internet is built upon this
hierarchical structure of networks and addresses.
[0011] The use of the term "domain" with respect to addressing
actually implies more than the numeric IP addressing just
discussed, in Internet parlance. While computers may deal well with
numeric values for addressing, human users do not deal well with
long numbers. When the architects of the early versions of the
Internet, known as the ARPAnet, considered previous numbering
schemes for humans, such as telephone numbers, they recognized this
problem. In order to make the Internet more "user-friendly", a
text-based addressing scheme was "overlaid" on top of the numeric
IP addressing scheme. Thus, a hierarchy of text-based addresses was
defined. At the top of the hierarchy is a domain, which in general
a large range of IP addresses or group of addresses. For example,
in FIG. 1, the right-side domain server (2) may be assigned an easy
to remember domain name such as "uspto.gov". Under the Internet
domain name convention, the extension of the name following the
period or "dot" helps to categorize the type of domain. In this
example, "gov" refers to government domains. Coupled with the
domain name, "uspto", a particular domain server is addressed.
Other extensions, such as "com" for commercial uses, "edu" for
educational institutions and "net" for network services companies,
are also available.
[0012] In order for messages and data to be actually routed to a
computer using a domain name, a translation to a numeric IP address
must be made. This is done by a number of distributed "domain name
servers" ("DNS"), which can be queried by Internet routers to
provide the translation. Each domain server maintains records
regarding IP-to-domain name assignments for the domains which it
serves. This translation technique and the protocol for updating
records is described in the Internet Request For Comment ("RFC")
papers, which are public documents available from InterNIC. Of
particular interest are:
[0013] (a) RFC1033, Domain Administrators Operations Guide
[0014] (b) RFC1034, Domain Name--Concepts and Facilities, and
[0015] (c) RFC 1035, Domain Name--Implementation and
Specification.
[0016] These are public documents, and are well known within the
art.
[0017] Continuing with the analogical structure to numeric IP
addressing, domain names may be broken into two types of more
resolute addresses. The first type is based upon directory
structure of the file system on the server. For example, a
subdirectory on the US Patent and Trademark Office's web server
which contains general information might be named "gen_info", and
could be addressed as "www.uspto.gov/gen_info". Subnetworks and
virtual subnetworks may be addressed by prefixing the general
domain name with a subdomain name or names. For example, a
subnetwork which serves only the trademark division of the US
Patent and Trademark Office may be given the subdomain name "tm",
allowing the subdomain server (such as 9 in FIG. 1) to be addressed
as "tm.uspto.gov". The two addressing schemes can be combined, such
as "tm.uspto.gov/gen_info", which would access a file named
"gen_info.html" located in the root directory of the subdomain
server for "tm" under the domain server for "uspto.gov".
Alternatively, if a subdirectory called "gen_info" exists on the
subdomain server "tm", a file named "index.html" may be accessed by
a web browser which is pointed to this full address.
[0018] Virtual subdomains are special cases of subdomains, which
may or may not actually refer to a separate subdomain server from
the domain server, but may refer to a directory or other software
facility on the domain server. This is referred to as "hosting" the
subdomain on the domain server. Later, if the owner of the
subdomain desires, a separate subnetwork may be established with a
separate subdomain server, and the routing tables on the domain
server are updated to reflect a "pass through" routing to the new
subdomain server.
[0019] The routing tables for domains, subdomains, sub-subdomains,
etc., are typically implemented as simple text files stored on the
disk subsystem of the various servers, such as the disk subsystems
(7 and 3) shown in FIG. 1. To promote the easy interchange and
exchange of routing definitions, RFC1033 defines standard formats
for a record for each domain name and subdomain name, and
recommends that these be stored in flat text files on each domain
server's disk subsystem. These records are referred to as "resource
records", or "RR" for short. Special records, referred to as "glue
records", serve as pointers to other name servers which can fully
resolve, or translate, a domain-subdomain address to a numeric IP
address. These records on each name server define different
"zones", which are subtrees of the address range or tree which the
domain name server serves. These are particularly well defined in
RFC1034 and RFC1035.
[0020] In operation, the address scheme is simple but time
consuming to administer. A network administrator, or "webmaster",
is responsible for the manual configuration and maintenance of
these records. At first glance, the task to create a new subdomain
sounds simple, and is eloquently described as the following three
steps on page 11 of RFC1033 Domain Operations Guide:
[0021] (1) Setup the new domain server and/or the new zone
file,
[0022] (2) Add a Name Server record for each server of the new
domain to the zone file of the parent domain, and
[0023] (3) Add any necessary glue Resource Records.
[0024] In reality, this may involve accessing physically or
remotely the file systems of several servers, including log-on and
password procedures. To be done correctly, some form of traffic
engineering should be done to estimate the impact of adding a
particular subdomain to the current name server with respect to the
additional traffic or number of "hits" it will receive. The
architecture implemented by the definitions and combinations of the
domains and subdomains on specific server machines ultimately
defines the performance and responsiveness of the network. Thus,
not only do network administrators create new resource records when
creating a new subdomain, but they also must continuously modify
these records to optimize for ever-changing traffic patterns. A
further drawback of the prior art process is that the creation of
real subdomains has to be recognized and propagated by DNS servers
throughout the Internet, a process that can take from 1 day to 2
weeks including administrative delays and 18 to 24 hours network
propagation delay.
[0025] For these reasons, management and administration of
subdomain names is quite time consuming in reality even though
subdomains are an attractive option in various situations. So,
while the addressing scheme is attractive from the user-interface
perspective, it can be quite unattractive to the network planners
due to the labor-intensive nature of operating the service.
[0026] Further, not all subdomain servers require dedicated and
static IP addresses associated with their host names. Often, it is
desirable to quickly create a sub-domain under the upper-level host
domain name hierarchy so that different content can be published on
the web which is more relevant to the subdomain name. An example
would be "auctions.domain.com" to redirect the user to the
"auctions" page under a more popular website called
"www.domain.com". Similarly other areas may also need special and
direct attention, such as "shopping.domain.com".
[0027] Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a system to
quickly and efficiently create and manage subdomain names without
extensive webmaster intervention. There is a need in the art for
this system to be realizable on standard hardware and software
platforms use for World-wide Web home page and domain name servers.
Further, there is a need in the art for this new system and method
to allow the virtual subdomains to be remotely located from the
actual subdomain name server itself to enable the distribution of
network server hardware resources and bandwidth demands.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0028] The present invention modifies an existing domain name
server platform in order to have it intercept all web browser
queries to a higher level IP address, such as 157.6.7.xx, where
"xx" is any value in the range of 1 - 254, or to any URL which is
translated to fall within this IP address range. If the requested
IP address or domain name is not recognized by the standard domain
name server and the standard DNS database, a server script is
launched to dynamically resolve the unknown address rather than
returning a standard "Error 404: File Not Found" message to the
requesting web browser. The script accesses a database of virtual
subdomain names which are mapped in the database to actual
subdirectories on the same or a remote server. For example, if a
query to http://www.virtualsubdomain.domain.com is received, and
virtualsubdomain.domain.com is not recognized as a registered
domain name by the standard DNS server, the script will resolve it
and map it to http://www.domain.com/subdomain, or any other file on
a web server which is actually registered. Using this method, the
creation of a virtual subdomain requires only the steps necessary
to create a subdirectory. This enables it to be performed rapidly
if handled manually, or it can be created automatically by any
network client with privileges to create subdirectories on the web
server in question.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0029] The figures presented herein when taken in conjunction with
the disclosure form a complete description of the invention,
wherein elements and steps indicated by like reference indicators
are the same or equivalent elements or steps.
[0030] FIG. 1 presents the prior art arrangement of domain servers
and subdomain servers in a computer network such as the
Internet.
[0031] FIG. 2 shows the general architecture of an Apache HTTP
server.
[0032] FIG. 3 depicts the basic communication process and
arrangement between an Internet browser computer, an ISP, and
domain name server, and a domain server.
[0033] FIG. 4 illustrates the steps of redirection of a virtual
subdomain to a real subdirectory.
[0034] FIG. 5 presents in detail the process of handling virtual
subdomains, real domains and subdomains, and non-existing
subdomains.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0035] The invention is preferably realized using an Apache HTTP
(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) Web Server as the basic platform.
The Apache server is well known within the art, and is possibly the
most popular web server used today. Many webmasters are capable of
configuration and installation of such a server, and they can be
readily obtained from companies such as Apache Digital Corporation
of Durango, Colo.
[0036] FIG. 2 shows the well known architecture of an Apache HTTP
server. The server is a combination of a computer platform with
specialized software. The computer platform generally consists of a
central processing unit ("CPU") with memory (21), one or more hard
disk drives ("HDD") (22), and a network interface card ("NIC")
(23). This may be an IBM-compatible personal computer, as in the
preferred embodiment, or Sun workstation or other suitable standard
computer platform. A Basic Input/Output System ("BIOS") and set of
low level driver firmware modules (24) typically interfaces the
higher-level software to the hardware, including a NIC driver. An
multi-tasking operating system ("OS") (25), such as Microsoft
Windows NT, Linux, Unix or IBM OS/2, is also installed on the
computer platform. Linux is the operating system of the preferred
embodiment.
[0037] The Apache HTTP server software (27) is available for free
download from the Apache Software Foundation at
http://www.apache.org. It is an application program which
interfaces to the Internet (1) through the NIC (23) and a
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol ("TCP/IP")
communications protocol stack. The TCP/IP stack may be native to
the OS, or it may be supplied as a separate but compatible module
with the Apache application and the OS. Other application programs
(26) such as database engines, CGI scripts, Java servlets and PHP
scripts may be executed on the same platform simultaneously to the
Apache HTTP server application. PHP/FI is a scripting language that
supports dynamic HTML pages. It is similar to Apache's SSI, but
more complex and has database modules for the most popular
databases. PHP/FI is a product of Iquest Internet of Indianapolis,
Ind. In the preferred embodiment, the NIC is a 100BaseT local area
network interface card, interconnected to the Internet (1) via one
or more routers.
[0038] FIG. 3 shows the well known arrangement of Internet browser
computers, Domain Name Servers ("DNS"), Internet Service Providers
("ISP"), and domain servers. The internal architecture of domain
name servers is fully described in RFC 1035. In general, when a
user selects a network address, such as
"http://www.anycompany.com", in his web browser software, the
browser machine (30) transmits a request (A) to the ISP (34). The
ISP (34) then contacts (B) the DNS (32), which returns a
translation (C) of the text-based URL to a numerical IP address
value. The ISP (34) then requests (E) a document from the domain
server (33) located at the IP address given by the DNS. The domain
server (33) transmits (F) the document, typically in HTML, to the
browser machine (30) via the ISP.
[0039] The first step of realizing the invention is to make a
standard entry into the DNS routing table to send all URL requests
for a range of addresses to a particular Apache HTTP web server.
TABLE 1 shows such an example entry.
1TABLE 1 DNS Routing Table Entry www aaa.bbb.ccc.3 Alpha
aaa.bbb.ccc.4 ns aaa.bbb.ccc.2 . . . . . . * aaa.bbb.ccc.xxx
[0040] This table indicates that if a web browser user selects the
IP address aaa.bbb.ccc.3, he or she will be connected to the World
Wide Web ("www") server. Likewise, if he or she types
aaa.bbb.ccc.4, he or she will be connected to the server named
"Alpha". To enable the invention, the final entry for "*" is made,
which indicates that if the user types any other address in the
Class 3 IP address range aaa.bbb.ccc, he or she will be connected
to the server at IP address aaa.bbb.ccc.xxx.
[0041] Further, a script is installed on the Apache HTTP server to
intercept the queries to unknown URL's, as defined by the "*" entry
in the routing table. For example, if a web browser requests a URL
such as "http://subdomain.domain.com", and it is not recognized by
the standard DNS, the Apache server will typically return a "Error
404: File Not Found" page to the web browser. FIG. 4 shows the
basic operation of the redirection of the virtual subdomain to a
true subdirectory. As shown in FIG. 4, when a web browser requests
(40) a URL, it is processed (41) normally by the Apache HTTP
server. When it is not recognized (42), it is passed to the script.
The script then queries (43) a database of virtual subdomain
mappings, and redirects (44) the request to the appropriate
subdirectory on a registered domain server. This process occurs
without the web browser user being aware of it, and thus gives the
user the impression that the subdomain actually exists.
[0042] FIG. 5 shows in more detail the functional flow of the
virtual subdomain service which is enabled by the script on the
modified Apache HTTP server. If a user selects (50) a known and
registered URL, such as http://www.domain.com, the DNS recognizes
(51) it in the standard DNS database; and directs the connection to
the worldwide web server for that domain name (52). The same
process occurs for recognized subdomains. However, if the user
selects (53) a virtual subdomain name, such as
http://www.sub.domain.com, the standard DNS server will direct the
request to the special virtual subdomain server (54) due to the "*"
entry in the routing table.
[0043] The script on the virtual subdomain server (54) then parses
the requested URL for the domain and subdomain names, in the
example the domain name is "domain"and the virtual subdomain name
is "sub". The virtual domain name server then queries a database
(55) for a mapping to a subdirectory for the virtual subdomain. If
there is a matching entry, such as "/sub", the request is
redirected (56) by the script to a subdirectory on the registered
domain server (52) by concatenating the domain name and the
subdirectory name, such as "http://www.domain.com/sub- ". If no
mapping record is found, the script simply redirects (57) the
request to the valid registered domain server address, such as
"http://www.domain.com". In either case, the user does not receive
the typical "Error 404: File not found" response which is a common
problem in the current technology. Also, the destination web server
and subdirectory may be local to the special virtual subdomain
server, or remote, thereby allowing virtual subdomains to be hosted
anywhere on the Internet by any web server.
[0044] To manage the virtual subdomains, the special subdomain
database (55) can be edited manually using an administrator's
interface to the database. Such manual database record creation is
well known within the art. However, in order to allow web browser
users to dynamically and instantly create virtual subdomains
without waiting for official a registration processes to complete,
a special virtual subdomain management server (501) is installed on
the Internet. This is a standard web server, including hardware
platform such as an Intel-based computer, running a web-server
package, such as Apache HTTP server, and a suitable OS. It may be
integrated with the special virtual subdomain name server (54, 55,
and 56), or configured separately. In the preferred embodiment, a
Common Gateway Interface ("CGI") script (502) is used to transmit
forms to the web browser (504) via the Internet connection (503)
between the virtual subdomain management server (501)and the user's
web browser. The forms allow the web browser user to select the
name for his or her new virtual subdomain, to enter the domain name
with subdirectory to which requests for the virtual subdomain
should be redirected, and any other user information necessary to
establish an account such as name, e-mail address, billing address,
telephone number, etc. Through the CGI interface, the virtual
subdomain management server (501) collects the information and
creates a new record in the virtual subdomain mapping database (55)
through a database application programming interface ("API") (500).
If the virtual subdomain management server is integrated with the
virtual subdomain name server, this may be a simple database API
call. However, if the virtual subdomain management server is
networked to the virtual subdomain name server, a secure protocol
to the database should be used to avoid unauthorized modification
of the virtual subdomain mapping database.
[0045] While the disclosure contained herein has set forth a
preferred embodiment of the invention, and the fundamental
components used within the invention are well known within the art,
it will be appreciated by those who are skilled in the art that
variations to the combination of elements and steps disclosed can
be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the
invention. Such variations may include, but, are not limited to,
selection of alternate web server hardware platforms, operating
systems, and HTTP server suites, as well as implementation of the
process as a servlet or other program embodiment.
* * * * *
References