METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONFIGURING NETWORK POLICY OF VIRTUAL NETWORK

• US 20140122672A1
• Filed: 10/29/2013
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: GU, Yingjie, SONG, Wei, CHEN, Hao
• Granted Patent: US 9,749,182 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/221
• 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 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

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for configuring a network policy of a virtual network. The method includes: receiving, by a server, a network policy message sent by a virtual machine management center and used for creating a virtual network, where the network policy message for creating a virtual network includes a virtual network identification (VNID) of a virtual network to be created and network policy configuration information corresponding to the virtual network to be created; and sending, by the server, a network policy synchronization message to a network device, where the network policy synchronization message includes the VNID of the virtual network to be created and the network policy configuration information corresponding to the virtual network to be created. Consequently, processing overheads can be reduced.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a network policy of a virtual network, comprising:

receiving, by a server, a network policy message sent by a virtual machine management center and used for creating a virtual network, wherein the network policy message for creating the virtual network comprises a virtual network identification (VNID) of a virtual network to be created and network policy configuration information corresponding to the virtual network to be created; and

sending, by the server, a network policy synchronization message to a network device, wherein the network policy synchronization message comprises the VNID of the virtual network to be created and the network policy configuration information corresponding to the virtual network to be created.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the server sends the network policy synchronization message to the network device, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the server, a virtual machine creation message sent by the virtual machine management center, wherein the virtual machine creation message comprises a VNID of a virtual machine to be created; and

sending, by the server, an association or pre-association message to the network device, wherein the association or pre-association message comprises the VNID, so that the network device performs, according to the VNID, association or pre-association processing for the virtual machine to be created and network policy configuration information corresponding to the VNID.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the server, a virtual machine removal message sent by the virtual machine management center, wherein the virtual machine removal message comprises a VNID of a virtual machine to be removed; and

sending, by the server, a de-association message to the network device if the server determines that another virtual machine having the same VNID as the virtual machine to be removed exists locally, wherein the de-association message comprises the VNID of the virtual machine to be removed, so that the network device performs, according to the VNID, de-association processing for the virtual machine to be removed and network policy configuration information corresponding to the VNID;

or

sending, by the server, a network policy removal synchronization message to the network device if the server determines that no other virtual machine having the same VNID as the virtual machine to be removed exists locally, wherein the network policy removal synchronization message comprises the VNID of the virtual machine to be removed, so that the network device removes the network policy configuration information corresponding to the VNID.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the server, a network policy change message sent by the virtual machine management center, wherein the network policy change message comprises a VNID that requires network policy updating and new network policy configuration information; and

sending, by the server, a network policy change synchronization message to the network device, wherein the network policy change synchronization message comprises the VNID that requires network policy updating and the new network policy configuration information.

5. A method for configuring a network policy of a virtual network, comprising:

receiving, by a network device, a network policy synchronization message sent by a server, wherein the network policy synchronization message comprises a virtual network identification (VNID) of a virtual network to be created and network policy configuration information corresponding to the virtual network to be created; and

creating, by the network device, a mapping relationship between the VNID and the network policy configuration information if adaptability of the network policy configuration information is verified successfully.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein after creating the mapping relationship between the VNID and the network policy configuration information, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the network device, an association or pre-association message sent by the server, wherein the association or pre-association message comprises a VNID of a virtual machine to be created; and

performing, according to the VNID of the virtual machine to be created, association or pre-association processing for the virtual machine to be created and network policy configuration information corresponding to the VNID.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein after creating the mapping relationship between the VNID and the network policy configuration information, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the network device, a de-association message sent by the server, wherein the de-association message comprises a VNID of a virtual machine to be removed; and

if it is determined that information of another virtual machine corresponding to the VNID of the virtual machine to be removed exists locally, performing, by the network device according to the VNID of the virtual machine to be removed, de-association processing for the virtual machine to be removed and network policy configuration information corresponding to the VNID;

or

if it is determined that information of no other virtual machine corresponding to the VNID of the virtual machine to be removed exists locally, removing the network policy configuration information corresponding to the VNID.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein after creating the mapping relationship between the VNID and the network policy configuration information, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the network device, a network policy removal synchronization message sent by the server, wherein the network policy removal synchronization message comprises a VNID that requires removal of network policy configuration information; and

removing, by the network device, network policy configuration information corresponding to the VNID.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein after creating the mapping relationship between the VNID and the network policy configuration information, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the network device, a network policy change synchronization message sent by the server, wherein the network policy change synchronization message comprises a VNID that requires network policy updating and new network policy configuration information; and

updating, by the network device according to the new network policy configuration information, network policy configuration information corresponding to the VNID.

10. An apparatus for configuring a network policy of a virtual network, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a network policy message sent by a virtual machine management center and used for creating a virtual network, wherein the network policy message for creating a virtual network comprises a virtual network identification (VNID) of a virtual network to be created and network policy configuration information corresponding to the virtual network to be created; and

a sending module, configured to send a network policy synchronization message to a network device, wherein the network policy synchronization message comprises the VNID of the virtual network to be created and the network policy configuration information corresponding to the virtual network to be created.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

the receiving module is further configured to receive a virtual machine creation message sent by the virtual machine management center, and the virtual machine creation message comprises a VNID of a virtual machine to be created;

and

the sending module is further configured to send an association or pre-association message to the network device, wherein the association or pre-association message comprises the VNID, so that the network device performs, according to the VNID, association or pre-association processing for the virtual machine to be created and network policy configuration information corresponding to the VNID.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a determining module;

wherein the receiving module is further configured to receive a virtual machine removal message sent by the virtual machine management center, and the virtual machine removal message comprises a VNID of a virtual machine to be removed;

wherein the determining module is configured to determine that another virtual machine having the same VNID as the virtual machine to be removed exists locally on the server;

wherein the sending module is further configured to send a de-association message to the network device, wherein the de-association message comprises the VNID of the virtual machine to be removed;

wherein the determining module is further configured to determine that no other virtual machine having the same VNID as the virtual machine to be removed exists locally on the server; and

wherein the sending module is further configured to send a network policy removal synchronization message to the network device, wherein the network policy removal synchronization message comprises the VNID of the virtual machine to be removed.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

the receiving module is further configured to receive a network policy change message sent by the virtual machine management center, and the network policy change message comprises a VNID that requires network policy updating and new network policy configuration information;

and

the sending module is further configured to send a network policy change synchronization message to the network device, wherein the network policy change synchronization message comprises the VNID that requires network policy updating and the new network policy configuration information.