Maintaining Data Stored with a Packet

• US 20150016469A1
• Filed: 01/28/2014
• Published: 01/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ganichev, Igor, Gross, Jesse E. IV, Lim, Harold Vinson C., Pettit, Justin
• Granted Patent: US 9,407,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/429
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• 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 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method for a managed forwarding element that operates on a host machine to process packets for at least one logical network. The method receives a packet that includes a particular piece of data to maintain with the packet. The particular piece of data is not stored in a payload of the packet and is not protocol-specific data. The method stores the particular piece of data in a register while processing the packet. The method identifies a next destination of the packet that operates on the host machine. The method generates an object to represent the packet for the identified destination. The particular piece of data is stored in a field of the generated object.

Claims

1. For a managed forwarding element that operates on a host machine to process packets for at least one logical network, a method comprising:

receiving a packet comprising a particular piece of data to maintain with the packet, wherein the particular piece of data is not stored in a payload of the packet and is not protocol-specific data;

storing the particular piece of data in a register while processing the packet;

identifying a next destination of the packet that operates on the host machine; and

generating an object to represent the packet for the identified destination, wherein the particular piece of data is stored in a field of the generated object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular piece of data comprises an indicator that the packet is for a trace operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the packet comprises receiving the packet via a message from a controller, wherein the message commands the managed forwarding element to store the particular piece of data in the register.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the registers is a particular type of register that stores data for maintaining with the packet after processing by the managed forwarding element.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified destination is a namespace in which a logical router operates.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified destination is a middlebox application operating in a namespace.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified destination is a middlebox application operating in virtualization software.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated object is a sk_buff object and the field is a sk_buff.mark field.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a modified form of the object from the identified destination after processing of the packet by the identified destination; and

storing the particular piece of data from the field of the modified object into a register in order to maintain the particular piece of data while processing the packet a second time.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

after processing the packet a second time to identify a second destination located at a different host machine, encapsulating the packet for transmission to the second destination, wherein the encapsulation stores the particular piece of data; and

sending the encapsulated packet to the second destination.

11. A machine readable medium storing a managed forwarding element which when executed by at least one processing unit of a host machine processes packets for at least one logical network, the managed forwarding element comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a packet comprising a particular piece of data to maintain with the packet, wherein the particular piece of data is not stored in a payload of the packet and is not protocol-specific data;

storing the particular piece of data in a register while processing the packet;

identifying a next destination of the packet that operates on the host machine; and

generating an object to represent the packet for the identified destination, wherein the particular piece of data is stored in a field of the generated object.

12. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the particular piece of data comprises an indicator that the packet is for a trace operation.

13. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the packet is received via a message from a controller, wherein the message commands the managed forwarding element to store the particular piece of data in the register.

14. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the registers is a particular type of register that stores data for maintaining with the packet after processing by the managed forwarding element.

15. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the identified destination is a namespace in which a logical router operates.

16. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the identified destination is a middlebox application operating in a namespace.

17. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the identified destination is a middlebox application operating in virtualization software.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the generated object is a sk_buff object and the field is a sk_buff.mark field.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving a modified form of the object from the identified destination after processing of the packet by the identified destination; and

storing the particular piece of data from the field of the modified object into a register in order to maintain the particular piece of data while processing the packet a second time.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19 further comprising:

after processing the packet a second time to identify a second destination located at a different host machine, encapsulating the packet for transmission to the second destination, wherein the encapsulation stores the particular piece of data; and

sending the encapsulated packet to the second destination.