Local controller agent for converting logical pipeline data

• US 10,305,725 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2015
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pfaff, Benjamin L., Pettit, Justin
• Primary Examiner(s): Winder, Patrice L
• Application Number:
  US14/944,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20170126471A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24568 Data stream processing; Continuous queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/044 comprising hierarchical management structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/342 between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/56 Routing software
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method for a controller agent operating in a physical machine alongside a managed forwarding element (MFE) that implements several logical networks. The method receives a first set of flow entries describing a particular logical network. The flow entries of the first set have a first format. The method receives a set of physical network description data and binding data that binds logical network entities to the physical network. Based on the received flow entries, physical network description data, and binding data, the method generates a second set of flow entries for implementing the particular logical network in the physical network. The flow entries of the second set have a second format readable by the MFE. The method distributes the second set of flow entries to the MFE.

Claims

1. In a network comprising a plurality of host computers that execute a plurality of managed forwarding elements (MFEs), wherein different sets of MFEs are configured to implement different logical networks, a method of generating flow entries on a particular host computer, the method comprising:

at a controller agent executing on the particular host computer with a particular MFE that implements at least two different logical networks with at least two different sets of MFEs;

receiving a first set of flow entries describing a particular logical network from a centralized network controller that is not on the particular host;

receiving, from the particular MFE, (i) a set of physical network description data comprising tunneling data for establishing tunnels with each MFE in the two different sets of MFEs and (ii) binding data that binds logical network entities to the physical network;

based on the received first set of flow entries and the received physical network description data and binding data, generating a second set of flow entries for implementing the particular logical network in the physical network,

wherein generating the second set of flow entries comprises (i) based on the first set of flow entries, generating a first subset of flow entries for performing logical forwarding operations and (ii) based on the tunneling data, generating a second subset of flow entries for encapsulating packets with tunnel headers and sending the tunnel encapsulated packets to at least a subset of MFEs in the two different sets of MFEs; and

distributing the second set of flow entries to the particular MFE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein one particular flow entry in the first set of flow entries corresponds to a plurality of flow entries in the second set of flow entries.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular logical network is a first logical network, the method further comprising:

at the controller agent;

receiving a third set of flow entries describing a second logical network from the centralized network controller that is not on the particular host;

based on the third set of flow entries, generating a fourth set of flow entries for implementing the second logical network in the physical network; and

distributing the fourth set of flow entries to the particular MFE, wherein the particular MFE implements both the first and second logical networks.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein data compute nodes belonging to the first and second logical networks are connected to the particular MFE.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein no data compute nodes belonging to a third logical network implemented in the physical network are connected to the particular MFE, wherein the controller agent does not receive any flow entries describing the third logical network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of flow entries does not include physical network constructs, wherein the physical network description data and binding data are not received as flow entries.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of flow entries are generated by the centralized network controller based on a description of (i) logical forwarding elements of the logical network, (ii) logical ports of the logical forwarding elements, and (iii) ACL rules of the logical forwarding elements stored by the centralized network controller.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the centralized network controller generates the descriptions of the logical forwarding elements, logical ports, and ACL rules by converting input from a cloud management system, wherein the centralized network controller generates the first set of flow entries in a first format that is not readable by the particular MFE and the controller agent generates the second set of flow entries in a second format that is readable by the particular MFE.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of flow entries comprises a logical network description without reference to physical network constructs, wherein the second set of flow entries comprises both logical network constructs and physical network constructs.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the second set of flow entries further comprises, based on the binding data, generating a third subset of flow entries mapping the logical network entities to physical network entities and mapping the physical network entities to the logical network entities.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the tunneling data comprises (i) a first table mapping the MFEs in the two different sets of MFEs to encapsulation data and (ii) a second table describing the encapsulation data.

12. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a controller agent which when executed by at least one processing unit of a particular host computer generates flow entries for a particular managed forwarding element (MFE) that also executes on the particular host computer, wherein the particular host computer is in a network comprising a plurality of host computers that execute a plurality of managed forwarding elements (MFEs), wherein different sets of MFEs are configured to implement different logical networks, the controller agent comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a first set of flow entries describing a particular logical network from a network controller that is not on the particular host computer, wherein the particular MFE that also executes on the particular host computer implements at least two different logical networks with a least two different sets of MFEs, wherein the first set of flow entries is in a first format that is not readable by the particular MFE and does not contain data that binds the particular logical network to a physical network;

receiving (i) a set of physical network description data comprising tunneling data for establishing tunnels with each MFE in the two different sets of MFEs and (ii) binding data that binds logical network entities to the physical network;

based on the received first set of flow entries and the received physical network description data and binding data, generating a second set of flow entries in a second format that is readable by the particular MFE for implementing the particular logical network in the physical network,

wherein generating the second set of flow entries comprises (i) based on the first set of flow entries, generating a first subset of flow entries for performing logical forwarding operations and (ii) based on the tunneling data, generating a second subset of flow entries for encapsulating packets with tunnel headers and sending the tunnel encapsulated packets to at least a subset of MFEs in the two different sets of MFEs; and

distributing the second set of flow entries to the particular MFE.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the first set of flow entries comprises a set of database table records, each of which comprises a match field and an actions field.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein one particular flow entry in the first set of flow entries corresponds to a plurality of flow entries in the second set of flow entries.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the particular logical network is a first logical network, the controller agent further comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving, from the network controller, a third set of flow entries describing a second logical network in a format that is not readable by the particular MFE and does not contain data that binds the second logical network to a physical network;

based on the third set of flow entries, generating a fourth set of flow entries for implementing the second logical network in the physical network in a format that is readable by the particular MFE; and

distributing the fourth set of flow entries to the particular MFE, wherein the particular MFE implements both the first and second logical networks.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the first set of flow entries does not include physical network constructs, wherein the physical network description data and binding data are not received as flow entries.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein the second set of flow entries includes physical network constructs from the physical network description data and binding data.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the first set of flow entries are generated by the network controller based on a description of (i) logical forwarding elements of the logical network, (ii) logical ports of the logical forwarding elements, and (iii) ACL rules of the logical forwarding elements stored by the network controller.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, wherein the network controller generates the descriptions of the logical forwarding elements, logical ports, and ACL rules by converting input from a cloud management system.