SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BINDING FLOWS IN A SERVICE CLUSTER DEPLOYMENT IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

• US 20140092906A1
• Filed: 10/02/2012
• Published: 04/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kandaswamy, Sridar, Manam, Rajasekhar, Ponnapalli, Ramesh V.N.
• Granted Patent: US 9,148,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

A method is provided in one example and includes receiving a first packet of a connection between a client and a server. The first packet is tagged with a tag comprising a member id of a service node in a service cluster that includes a plurality of nodes having distinct member ids. The method can also include mapping the member id to the service node in a tag-to-node map; receiving a second packet of the connection, where the second packet is tagged with the tag comprising the member id; determining the service node from the tag-to-node map; and forwarding the second packet to the service node.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a first packet of a connection between a client and a server, wherein the first packet is tagged with a tag comprising a member id of a service node in a service cluster that includes a plurality of nodes having distinct member ids;

mapping the member id to the service node in a tag-to-node map;

receiving a second packet of the connection, wherein the second packet is tagged with the tag comprising the member id;

determining the service node from the tag-to-node map; and

forwarding the second packet to the service node.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the first packet without the tag;

choosing the service node according to an Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) routing algorithm; and

forwarding the first packet without the tag to the service node.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the member id;

inserting the member id into the tag; and

tagging the first packet.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving the second packet tagged with the member id; and

stripping the tag from the second packet.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the first packet tagged with the tag comprising the member id;

mapping the tag to the connection in a tag-to-flow map; and

stripping the tag from the first packet.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving the second packet without the tag;

determining the member id from the tag-to-flow map; and

tagging the second packet with the member id.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the connection can be identified by parameters including a source address and a destination address.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the first packet is forwarded to an application hosted on the server, and the second packet is received from the application.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein a flow table is distributed across the plurality of nodes and one or more servers, and wherein the flow table comprises at least the tag-to-node map and the tag-to-flow map.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

incrementally adding one or more service nodes to the service cluster.

11. Logic encoded in non-transitory media that includes instructions for execution and when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first packet of a connection between a client and a server, wherein the first packet is tagged with a tag comprising a member id of a service node in a service cluster that includes a plurality of nodes having distinct member ids;

mapping the member id to the service node in a tag-to-node map;

receiving a second packet of the connection, wherein the second packet is tagged with the tag comprising the member id;

determining the service node from the tag-to-node map; and

forwarding the second packet to the service node.

12. The logic of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating the member id;

inserting the member id into the tag; and

tagging the first packet.

13. The logic of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving the second packet tagged with the member id; and

stripping the tag from the second packet.

14. The logic of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving the first packet tagged with the tag comprising the member id;

mapping the tag to the connection in a tag-to-flow map; and

stripping the tag from the first packet.

15. The logic of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving the second packet without the tag;

determining the member id from the tag-to-flow map; and

tagging the second packet with the member id.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and the memory element cooperate such that the apparatus is configured for;

receiving a first packet of a connection between a client and a server, wherein the first packet is tagged with a tag comprising a member id of a service node in a service cluster that includes a plurality of nodes having distinct member ids;

mapping the member id to the service node in a tag-to-node map;

receiving a second packet of the connection, wherein the second packet is tagged with the tag comprising the member id;

determining the service node from the tag-to-node map; and

forwarding the second packet to the service node.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further configured for:

generating the member id;

inserting the member id into the tag; and

tagging the first packet.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further configured for:

receiving the second packet tagged with the member id; and

stripping the tag from the second packet.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, further configured for:

receiving the first packet tagged with the tag comprising the member id;

mapping the tag to the connection in a tag-to-flow map; and

stripping the tag from the first packet.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further configured for:

receiving the second packet without the tag;

determining the member id from the tag-to-flow map; and

tagging the second packet with the member id.