Associating an Identifier for a Virtual Machine with a Published Network Configuration Service Type

• US 20140359620A1
• Filed: 04/09/2011
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hudson, Charles L., Van Kerkwyk, Ben
• Granted Patent: US 9,690,605 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/042 comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements

Abstract

Examples disclosed herein relate to associating an identifier for a virtual machine with a published network configuration service type. Examples include configuring an edge switch with a network policy in response to receiving the identifier from the edge switch.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a network management server to manage at least one network interconnection device of a computer network, the storage medium comprising:

instructions to publish, in policy storage of the network management server, a plurality of network configuration service types, each associated with a plurality of network policies;

instructions to provide access to the published service types to a host manager, the host manager to manage a virtual machine (VM) host server to host a VM associated with a VM identifier;

instructions to associate, in the policy storage, a selected one of the service types with the VM identifier in response to an association request, received from the host manager, indicating the selected service type and including the VM identifier;

instructions to determine, in response to receiving the VM identifier from an edge switch connecting the at least one VM host server to a core of the computer network, whether at least one edge switch network policy of the selected service type associated with the received VM identifier is consistent with a network policy currently enforced by another network switch of the computer network; and

instructions to configure, in response to receiving the VM identifier from the edge switch, a downlink port of the edge switch with the at least one edge switch network policy and configure another port of the edge switch with at least one network policy associated with the selected service type, wherein the downlink port is to connect the edge switch to the VM host server and the another port is to connect the edge switch to a network device other than the VM host server.

2. The storage medium claim 1, wherein the instructions to configure further comprise:

instructions to configure at least one network interconnection device of the computer network, other than the edge switch, with at least one network policy of the selected service type, in response to receiving the VM identifier from the edge switch.

3. The storage medium of claim 1, further comprising:

instructions to alter the network policy currently enforced by the another switch if it is determined that the network policy currently enforced by the another switch is not consistent with the at least one edge switch network policy.

4. The storage medium of claim 3, wherein the instructions o configure further comprise:

instructions to determine, in response to receiving the VM identifier from the edge switch, whether the edge switch has a sufficient amount of at least one computing resource available to implement the at least one edge switch network policy of the selected service type associated with the VM identifier.

5. The storage medium of claim, wherein:

the VM identifier is a virtual station interface (VSI) identifier for a virtual network interface of the VM; and

the another port is an uplink port to connect the edge switch to the core.

6. A system comprising:

a network management server to manage at least one network interconnection device of a computer network; and

a host manager to manage a first virtual machine (VM) host server connected to a core of the computer network via a first edge switch, the host manager comprising;

a resource selection module to receive a selection of at least one computing resource;

an access module to access a plurality of network configuration service types published on the network management server;

a subscription module to request, with an association request, that the network management server associate a selected one of the service types with a VM identifier; and

a VM creation module to create a VM associated with each selected computing resource and the VM identifier;

wherein the network management server comprises;

policy storage, accessible to the access module of the host manager, to store the plurality of service types, each associated with a plurality of network policies;

an association module to associate, in the policy storage, the VM identifier with the selected service type in response to the association request received from the host manager; and

a configuration module to configure each of a downlink port and an uplink port of the first edge switch with at least one of the network policies associated with the selected service type in response to receiving the VM identifier from the first edge switch, wherein the downlink port is to connect the first edge switch to the first VM host server, and the uplink port is to connect the first edge switch to the core.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the VM identifier is a virtual station interface (VSI) identifier associated with a virtual network interface of the VM.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the host manager further comprises:

a notification module to cause the first VM host server to provide a start notification, including the VSI identifier and a media access control (MAC) address associated with the VM, to the first edge switch to cause the first edge switch to provide the VSI identifier to the network management server, if the VM is started on the first VM host server.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the configuration module is further to configure a second edge switch, connecting a second VM host server to a core of the computer network, with at least one of the network policies associated with the selected service type in response to receiving the VSI identifier from the second edge switch.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein to configure the first edge switch with the at least one of the network policies, the configuration module is to provide to the first edge switch at least one configuration command to cause the first edge switch to enforce the at least one of the network policies.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the network management server further comprises:

a workload module to receive, from the host manager, a respective workload description for each of a plurality of VMs, each hosted by one of the at least one VM host server managed by the host manager; and

a network information module to retrieve network information associated with the computer network, wherein each of the service types is based on the workload descriptions and the network information.

12. A method comprising:

publishing a plurality of network configuration service types, each associated with a plurality of network connection policies, in policy storage of a network management server;

accessing, with a host manager to manage at least one virtual machine (VM) host server, the service types published at the network management server;

providing, with the host manager, an association request to the network management server indicating a selected one of the service types and a virtual station interlace (VSI) identifier;

creating, with the host manager, a VM associated with the VSI identifier at a selected one of the VM host servers;

associating, in the policy storage, the VSI identifier with the selected service type in response to receiving the association request at the network management server;

providing, with the host manager, the VSI identifier to an edge switch connecting the selected VM host server to a core of the computer network, if the VM is started on the selected VM host server, wherein a downlink port of the edge switch is to connect the edge switch to the selected VM host server; and

configuring, with the network management server, the downlink port and at least one switch-wide attribute of the edge switch based on at least one network policy of the selected service type associated with the VSI identifier in response to receiving, at the network management server, the VSI identifier from the edge switch.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuring the edge switch comprises:

configuring, with the network management server, each of a plurality of network interconnection devices of the computer network, including the edge switch, to enforce at least one network policy of the selected service type associated with the VSI identifier, in response to receiving the VSI identifier from the edge switch at the network management server.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining, with the network management server, in response to receiving the VSI identifier from the edge switch, whether the at least one network policy of the selected service type associated with the received VSI identifier is consistent with a network policy currently enforced by another network switch of the computer network.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

starting the VM on the selected VM host server with the host manager, wherein the providing the VSI identifier comprises providing a start notification, including the VSI identifier and a media access control (MAC) address for the VM, to the edge switch if the VM is started on the selected VM host server.