NETWORK FEEDBACK IN SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKS

• US 20130311675A1
• Filed: 05/08/2013
• Published: 11/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kancherla, Mani Prasad
• Granted Patent: US 9,374,301 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/244
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/342 between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/026 using flow identification
• 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 45/42 Centralised routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2483 involving identification of individual flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a computing system capable of providing feedback to a controller in a software-defined network. The computing system includes a policy management module and a communication module coupled to the policy management module. During operation, the policy management module recognizes a local policy indicating how a data flow is to be processed and identifies a data flow associated with the policy. The communication module constructs a request for a flow definition from a controller in a software-defined network. A flow definition indicates how the data flow is processed in the software-defined network.

Claims

1. A computing system, comprising:

a policy management module configurable to;

recognize a local policy indicating how a data flow is to be processed; and

identify a data flow associated with the policy; and

a communication module coupled to the policy management module and configurable to construct a request for a flow definition from a controller in a software-defined network, wherein the flow definition indicates how the data flow is processed in the software-defined network.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the communication module is further configurable to identify a packet as belonging to the data traffic flow;

and

wherein the policy management module is further configurable to;

determine whether the packet matches the policy; and

instruct the communication module to construct the request in response to the packet matching the policy.

3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the software-defined network is an OpenFlow-enabled network.

4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is an appliance providing a service to the software-defined network;

and

wherein the policy is associated with the service.

5. The computing system of claim 1, further comprising a policy enforcement module coupled to the policy management module and configurable to mark the request as enforced, indicating compulsory enforcement of the request.

6. The computing system of claim 5, further comprising a scripting engine associated with the policy enforcement module and configurable to receive a policy, wherein the received policy is in a format recognizable by the scripting engine.

7. The computing system of claim 5, further comprising a control module configurable to operate the computing system as a controller of the software-defined network.

8. A computer-executable method, comprising:

recognizing, by a computer, a local policy indicating how a data flow is to be processed;

identifying a data flow associated with the policy; and

constructing a request for a flow definition from a controller in a software-defined network, wherein the flow definition indicates how the data flow is processed in the software-defined network.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

identifying a packet as belonging to the data traffic flow;

determining whether the packet matches the policy; and

constructing the request in response to the packet matching the policy.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the software-defined network is an OpenFlow-enabled network.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the computer is an appliance providing a service to the software-defined network;

and

wherein the policy is associated with the service.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising marking the request as enforced, indicating compulsory enforcement of the request.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving a policy expressed in a locally recognizable script.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising operating the computer as a controller of the software-defined network.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

recognizing a local policy indicating how a data flow is to be processed;

identifying a data flow associated with the policy; and

constructing a request for a flow definition from a controller in a software-defined network, wherein the flow definition indicates how the data flow is processed in the software-defined network.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying a packet as belonging to the data traffic flow;

determining whether the packet matches the policy; and

constructing the request in response to the packet matching the policy.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the software-defined network is an OpenFlow-enabled network.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the computer is an appliance providing a service to the software-defined network;

and

wherein the policy is associated with the service.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises marking the request as enforced, indicating compulsory enforcement of the request.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises receiving a policy expressed in a locally recognizable script.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises operating the computer as a controller of the software-defined network.