Packet Prioritization in a Software-Defined Network Implementing OpenFlow

• US 20140146674A1
• Filed: 11/25/2013
• Published: 05/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wang, Jiao, Luo, Min
• Granted Patent: US 9,923,831 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/54 Organization of routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/745 Address table lookup; Address filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types

Abstract

A software-defined networking (SDN) OpenFlow apparatus comprises a processor, and a memory system coupled to the processor and comprising a flow pipeline, wherein the flow pipeline comprises a series of flow tables, wherein each of the flow tables comprises at least one match field, wherein the match fields correspond to a plurality of network services, wherein the match fields are ordered based on a prioritization of the network services, which of the match fields are shared among the network services, a shared dependency of the match fields, and processing speed, and wherein the prioritization is based on which network services are most important and which network services are most frequently used.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive instructions;

a memory system coupled to the receiver and configured to store the instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory system and configured to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus to;

implement a flow pipeline, wherein the flow pipeline comprises a series of flow tables, wherein the flow tables comprise match fields, wherein the match fields are ordered based on a prioritization of network services, and

route a packet using the flow pipeline.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network services comprise an access control list (ACL) service, a layer two forwarding service, a virtual local area network (VLAN) service, a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) service, a layer three forwarding service, and a service locating service.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the layer three forwarding service comprises an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) service and an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) service.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the flow tables are numbered 0 to 11, wherein flow table 0 and flow table 1 cause the processor to implement the ACL service, wherein flow table 2 causes the processor to implement the service locating service, wherein flow table 3 causes the processor to implement the layer two forwarding service, wherein flow table 2, flow table 3, and flow table 4 cause the processor to implement the VLAN service, wherein flow table 2 and flow table 5 cause the processor to implement the MPLS service, wherein flow table 2, flow table 6, flow table 7, and flow table 8 cause the processor to implement the IPv4 service, wherein flow table 2, flow table 6, flow table 9, and flow table 10 cause the processor to implement the IPv6 service, and wherein flow table 11 causes the processor to implement at least one additional service.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein table 0, table 7, and table 9 are exact match tables, and wherein table 1, table 8, and table 10 are wildcard match tables.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein flow table 0 and flow table 1 each comprise ETH TYPE, IP SRC, IP DST, IP PROTO, and DST PORT match fields, wherein flow table 2 comprises ETH TYPE and IN PORT match fields, wherein flow table 3 comprises ETH SRC, ETH DST, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 4 comprises VLAN VID, VLAN PCP, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 5 comprises MPLS LABEL, MPLS TC, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 6 comprises IP TOS, IP PROTO, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 7 and flow table 8 each comprise IPV4 SRC, IPV4 DST, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 9 and flow table 10 each comprise IPV6 SRC, IPV6 DST, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 11 comprises additional match fields, and wherein the ETH TYPE match field describes an Ethernet frame type, the IP SRC match field describes an Internet Protocol (IP) source address, the IP DST match field describes an IP destination address, the IP PROTO match field describes an IPv4 or IPv6 protocol number, the DST PORT match field describes a destination port, the IN PORT match field describes a switch input port, the ETH SRC match field describes an Ethernet source address, the ETH DST match field describes an Ethernet destination address, the Metadata match field describes metadata, the VLAN VID match field describes a VLAN identification (ID), the VLAN PCP match field describes a VLAN priority, the MPLS LABEL match field describes an MPLS label, the MPLS TC match field describes an MPLS traffic class (TC), the IP TOS match field describes an IP type of service (TOS), the IPV4 SRC match field describes an IPv4 source address, the IPV4 DST match field describes an IPv4 destination address, the IPV6 SRC match field describes an IPv6 source address, and the IPV6 DST match field describes an IPV6 destination address.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the additional match fields comprise all remaining match fields.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory system comprises static random-access memory (SRAM) for implementing exact matching of the match fields and ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM) for implementing wildcard matching of the match fields.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flow tables are numbered 0 to 8, wherein flow table 0 comprises ETH TYPE and IP PROTO match fields, wherein flow table 1 and flow table 2 each comprise IPV4 SRC, IPV4 DST, TCP SRC, and TCP DST match fields, wherein flow table 3 and flow table 4 each comprise IPV4 SRC, IPV4 DST, UDP SRC, and UDP DST match fields, wherein flow table 5 and flow table 6 each comprise IPV6 SRC, IPV6 DST, TCP SRC, and TCP DST match fields, wherein flow table 7 and flow table 8 each comprise IPV6 SRC, IPV6 DST, UDP SRC, and UDP DST match fields, and wherein the ETH TYPE match field describes an Ethernet frame type, the IP PROTO match field describes an IPv4 or IPv6 protocol number, the IPV4 SRC match field describes an IPv4 source address, the IPV4 DST match field describes an IPv4 destination address, the TCP SRC match field describes a transmission control protocol (TCP) source port, the DST TCP PORT match field describes a TCP destination port, the UDP SRC describes a user datagram protocol (UDP) source port, the UDP DST describes a UDP destination port, the IPV6 SRC match field describes an IPv6 source address, and the IPV6 DST match field describes an IPv6 destination address.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein flow table 0, flow table 1, flow table 3, flow table 5, and flow table 7 are exact match flow tables, and wherein flow table 2, flow table 4, flow table 6, and flow table 8 are wildcard match flow tables.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a first processor configured to create instructions for implementing a flow pipeline, wherein the flow pipeline comprises a series of flow tables, wherein the flow tables comprise match fields, wherein the match fields are ordered based on a prioritization of network services;

a memory coupled to the first processor and configured to store the instructions; and

a transmitter coupled to the memory and configured to transmit the instructions.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the prioritization is based on which network services are most frequently used, and wherein the match fields are further ordered based on shared dependencies of the match fields.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the network services comprise an access control list (ACL) service, a layer two forwarding service, a virtual local area network (VLAN) service, a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) service, a layer three forwarding service, and a service locating service, and wherein the layer three forwarding service comprises an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) service and an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) service.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the flow tables are numbered 0 to 11, wherein flow table 0 and flow table 1 cause a second processor to implement the ACL service, wherein flow table 2 causes the second processor to implement the service locating service, wherein flow table 3 causes the second processor to implement the layer two forwarding service, wherein flow table 2, flow table 3, and flow table 4 cause the second processor to implement the VLAN service, wherein flow table 2 and flow table 5 cause the second processor to implement the MPLS service, wherein flow table 2, flow table 6, flow table 7, and flow table 8 cause the second processor to implement the IPv4 service, wherein flow table 2, flow table 6, flow table 9, and flow table 10 cause the second processor to implement the IPv6 service, and wherein flow table 11 causes the second processor to implement at least one additional service.

15. A method related to software-defined networking (SDN) OpenFlow, the method comprising:

selecting network services;

prioritizing the network services;

determining match fields corresponding to the network services; and

designing a flow pipeline with a series of flow tables, wherein each of the flow tables comprises at least one of the match fields, and wherein the match fields are ordered based on the prioritizing.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising sending instructions to implement the flow pipeline and to route packets using the flow pipeline.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the prioritizing is based on which network services are most frequently used.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the match fields are further ordered based on shared dependencies of the match fields.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the flow tables are numbered 0 to 11, wherein flow table 0 and flow table 1 implement an access control list (ACL) service, wherein flow table 2 implements a service locating service, wherein flow table 3 implements a layer two forwarding service, and wherein flow table 2, flow table 3, and flow table 4 implement a virtual local area network (VLAN) service, wherein flow table 2 and flow table 5 implement a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) service, wherein flow table 2, flow table 6, flow table 7, and flow table 8 implement an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) service, wherein flow table 2, flow table 6, flow table 9, and flow table 10 implement an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) service, and wherein flow table 11 implements at least one additional service.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein flow table 0 and flow table 1 each comprise ETH TYPE, IP SRC, IP DST, IP PROTO, and DST PORT match fields, wherein flow table 2 comprises ETH TYPE and IN PORT match fields, wherein flow table 3 comprises ETH SRC, ETH DST, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 4 comprises VLAN VID, VLAN PCP, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 5 comprises MPLS LABEL, MPLS TC, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 6 comprises IP TOS, IP PROTO, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 7 and flow table 8 each comprise IPV4 SRC, IPV4 DST, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 9 and flow table 10 each comprise IPV6 SRC, IPV6 DST, and Metadata match fields, wherein flow table 11 comprises additional match fields, and wherein the ETH TYPE match field describes an Ethernet frame type, the IP SRC match field describes an Internet Protocol (IP) source address, the IP DST match field describes an IP destination address, the IP PROTO match field describes an IPv4 or IPv6 protocol number, the DST PORT match field describes a destination port, the IN PORT match field describes a switch input port, the ETH SRC match field describes an Ethernet source address, the ETH DST match field describes an Ethernet destination address, the Metadata match field describes metadata, the VLAN VID match field describes a VLAN identification (ID), the VLAN PCP match field describes a VLAN priority, the MPLS LABEL match field describes an MPLS label, the MPLS TC match field describes an MPLS traffic class (TC), the IP TOS match field describes an IP type of service (TOS), the IPV4 SRC match field describes an IPv4 source address, the IPV4 DST match field describes an IPv4 destination address, the IPV6 SRC match field describes an IPv6 source address, and the IPV6 DST match field describes an IPV6 destination address.