Acceleration of data routing in an application group

• US 10,581,737 B1
• Filed: 06/20/2014
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Allen, Nicholas Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sherkat, Arezoo
• Application Number:
  US14/310,946
• Time in Patent Office: 2,083 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/76 Proxy, i.e. using intermediary entity to perform cryptographic operations network architectures or network communication protocols using hop-by-hop encryption H04L63/0464
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A method and apparatus for accelerating data routing between applications of an application group are disclosed. In the method and apparatus, a host computer system receives registration information from a first computer system instantiated on the host computer system, whereby the registration information indicates whether a first application is executed on the first computer system. In response to a request from a second computer system that is instantiated on the host computer system to route data to the first application, the host computer system routes the data to the first computer system, whereby the internal routing of the data is determinable by the first computer system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

obtaining data from a first application associated with a first virtual machine that is addressed to a second application associated with a second virtual machine, wherein the first virtual machine is run by a hypervisor, further wherein the first application and the second application are associated with an application group;

determining, based at least in part on whether the hypervisor runs both the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine, whether to perform one or more operations specified as part of configuration information associated with the application group usable to facilitate communications between members of the application group; and

processing the data in accordance with the determination, including;

on a condition that the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine are both run by the hypervisor, causing the data to be provided to the second application by at least making a hypercall to the hypervisor that ignores the configuration information; and

on a condition that the second virtual machine is run by a different hypervisor;

applying the one or more operations specified as part of the configuration information, thereby generating transformed data; and

causing the transformed data to be routed, via a network and in accordance with the configuration information, to the second application.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the data includes one or more packets; and

causing the data to be provided to the second application further includes setting a field associated with the one or more packets to indicate internal routing of the data.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a network address is a part of a header of at least one packet of the one or more packets.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises, prior to obtaining the data, registering with an acceleration entity an address associated with the second virtual machine; and

determining the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine are both run by the hypervisor is based at least in part on both the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine being registered with the acceleration entity.

5. A system, comprising memory to store instructions that, as a result of execution by one or more processors, cause the system to:

obtain, from a second application associated with a second virtual machine, a request to route data to a first application associated with a first virtual machine, wherein the first application and the second application are associated with an application group;

determine, based at least in part on whether a hypervisor runs both the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine, whether to perform one or more operations specified as part of credential information associated with the application group usable to facilitate communications between members of the application group; and

process the data in accordance with the determination, including;

on a condition that the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine are both run by the hypervisor, route the data to the first application through making one or more hypercalls to the hypervisor of the system that ignores the credential information; and

on a condition that the first virtual machine is run by a different hypervisor;

applying the one or more operations specified as part of the credential information, thereby generated transformed data; and

causing the transformed data to be routed, via a network and in accordance with the credential information, to the first application.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the instructions that, as a result of execution by the one or more processors, further cause the system to determine the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine are both run by the hypervisor based at least in part on both the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine being registered with an acceleration entity.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein instructions that, as a result of execution by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

store registration information in a data structure indicating both the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine being registered with the acceleration entity; and

in response to obtaining the request to route the data to the first application, inspect the data structure to determine whether the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine are both run by the hypervisor.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein instructions that, as a result of execution by the one or more processors, further cause the system to poll the first virtual machine to request the registration information indicating whether the first virtual machine is run by with the hypervisor.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the network comprises a plurality of virtual machines hosted on one or more physical computer systems.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein:

the data is packet data; and

the instructions to route the data to the first application include instructions that, as a result of execution by the one or more processors, cause the system to indicate routing of the data via the network in a header or a payload of the packet data.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein the first virtual machine is configured to determine whether the data is routed via the network or using an external network based at least in part on whether the data is obtained via a network buffer used to relay the data to the first application.

12. The system of claim 5, wherein the request to route data to the first application is an asynchronous hypercall that is made to the hypervisor.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, if executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to at least:

obtain, from a first application associated with a first virtual machine, data addressed to a second application associated with a second virtual machine, wherein the first application and the second application are associated with an application group;

determine, based at least in part on whether a hypervisor runs both the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine, whether to perform one or more operations specified as part of configuration information associated with the application group usable to facilitate communications between members of the application group; and

process the data in accordance with the determination, including;

on a condition that the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine are both run by the hypervisor, cause the data to be provided to the second application by submitting one or more commands to the hypervisor of the computer system that ignores the configuration information; and

on a condition that the second virtual machine is run by a different hypervisor;

applying the one or more operations specified as part of the configuration information, thereby generating transformed data; and

causing the transformed data to be routed, via a network and in accordance with the configuration information, to the second application.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the applying of the one or more operations further includes encrypting the obtained data for secure transmission.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions that cause the computer system to cause the data to be provided to the second application further include instructions that, if executed, cause the computer system to provide an indication that the network is to be used to route the data.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein providing the indication that the network is to be used to route the data further includes routing an additional data field with the obtained data, the additional data field being usable to indicate that the network is to be used to route the data.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions that cause the computer system to cause the data to be provided to the second application further include instructions that, if executed, cause the computer system to place the obtained data in a network buffer that is used to relay data from the hypervisor to the second application.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein:

the instructions further comprise instructions that, if executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to obtain the configuration information indicating deployment of the first application to the first virtual machine or deployment of the second application to the second virtual machine; and

the configuration information is usable in determining whether to route the obtained data to the second application.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions that, if executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to send a polling message to the first virtual machine requesting registration of one or more applications executed on the first virtual machine or to the second virtual machine requesting registration one or more other applications executed on the second virtual machine.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the polling message is sent using a hypercall interface between the hypervisor and the first virtual machine or the second virtual machine.