Elastic Service Chains

• US 20150222640A1
• Filed: 02/03/2014
• Published: 08/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kumar, Surendra, Chang, David, Bagepalli, Nagaraj, Patra, Abhijit
• Granted Patent: US 9,467,382 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/782 Hierarchical allocation of resources, e.g. involving a hierarchy of local and centralised entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

Presented herein are elastic service chain techniques. In one example, a network element receives data traffic to be processed by a service chain that specifies an ordered sequence of service pools including a first service pool and second service pool, wherein each service pool comprises a plurality of network services. A network service is determined from the first service pool to be applied to the data traffic, and data traffic is forwarded to the network service in the first service pool.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a network element, data traffic to be processed by a service chain that specifies an ordered sequence of service pools including a first service pool and second service pool, wherein each service pool comprises a plurality of network services;

determining a network service from the first service pool to be applied to the data traffic; and

forwarding the data traffic to the network service in the first service pool.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after a network service in the first service pool is applied to the data traffic, forwarding the data traffic to a network service in the second service pool.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each service pool in the plurality of service pools includes a plurality of similar function network services.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first service pool associated with the service chain has a capacity lower than the second service pool, wherein capacity of a given service pool is based on an accumulation of the capacities of the plurality of network services in a given service pool; and

associating dynamically instantiated network services with the first service pool until the capacity of the first service pool is substantially equal to the second service pool.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising computing the capacity from one or more of total data traffic throughput, total number of connections, and connection rate.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first service pool associated with the service chain has a capacity below a predetermined capacity requirement, wherein a capacity of the first service pool is based on an accumulation of the capacities of the plurality of network services in the first service pool; and

associating dynamically instantiated network services with the first service pool until the capacity of the first service pool meets or exceeds the predetermined capacity requirement.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining that the first service pool associated with the service chain has a capacity above a predetermined capacity requirement, wherein a capacity of the first service pool is based on an accumulation of the capacities of the plurality of network services in the first service pool; and

removing network services from the first service pool until the capacity of the first service pool is substantially equal to the predetermined capacity requirement.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a network service from the first service pool comprises selecting the network service according to a load balancing algorithm applied to the first service pool.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to detecting that performance metrics for a network service in the first service pool have changed with respect to a predetermined threshold, removing the network service from the first service pool or adding a network service to the first service pool.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a plurality of network ports;

a network processor unit coupled to the plurality of network ports;

a processor coupled to the network processor unit, and configured to;

receive, at a network element, data traffic to be processed by a service chain that specifies an ordered sequence of service pools including a first service pool and second service pool, wherein each service pool comprises a plurality of network services;

determine a network service from the first service pool to be applied to the data traffic; and

forward the data traffic to the network service in the first service pool.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to, after a network service in the first service pool is applied to the data traffic, forward the data traffic to a network service in the second service pool.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine that the first service pool associated with the service chain has a capacity lower than the second service pool, wherein capacity of first service pool is based on an accumulation of the capacities of the plurality of network services in the first service pool; and

associate dynamically instantiated network services with the first service pool until the capacity of the first service pool is substantially equal to the second service pool.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine that the first service pool associated with the service chain has a capacity below a predetermined capacity requirement, wherein a capacity of the first service pool is based on an accumulation of the capacities of the plurality of network services in the first service pool; and

associate dynamically instantiated network services with the first service pool until the capacity of the first service pool meets or exceeds the predetermined capacity requirement.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine that the first service pool associated with the service chain has a capacity above a predetermined capacity requirement, wherein a capacity of the first service pool is based on an accumulation of the capacities of the plurality of network services in the first service pool; and

remove network services from the first service pool until the capacity of the first service pool is substantially equal to the predetermined capacity requirement.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

in response to detecting that performance metrics for a network service in the first service pool have changed with respect to a predetermined threshold, remove the network service from the first service pool or add a network service to the first service pool.

16. A computer-readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

receive, at a network element, data traffic to be processed by a service chain that specifies an ordered sequence of service pools including a first service pool and second service pool, wherein each service pool comprises a plurality of network services;

determine a network service from the first service pool to be applied to the data traffic; and

forward the data traffic to the network service in the first service pool.

17. The computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the instructions are further configured to, after a network service in the first service pool is applied to the data traffic, forward the data traffic to a network service in the second service pool.

18. The computer-readable storage media of claim 16, further comprising instructions operable to:

determine that the first service pool associated with the service chain has a capacity lower than the second service pool, wherein capacity of the first service pool is based on an accumulation of the capacities of the plurality of network services in the first service pool; and

associate dynamically instantiated network services with the first service pool until the capacity of the first service pool is substantially equal to the second service pool.

19. The computer-readable storage media of claim 16, further comprising instructions operable to:

determine that the first service pool associated with the service chain has a capacity below a predetermined capacity requirement, wherein a capacity of the first service pool is based on an accumulation of the capacities of the plurality of network services in the first service pool; and

associate dynamically instantiated network services with the first service pool until the capacity of the first service pool meets or exceeds the predetermined capacity requirement.

20. The computer-readable storage media of claim 16, further comprising instructions operable to:

determine that the first service pool associated with the service chain has a capacity above a predetermined capacity requirement, wherein a capacity of the first service pool is based on an accumulation of the capacities of the plurality of network services in the first service pool; and

remove network services from the first service pool until the capacity of the first service pool is substantially equal to the predetermined capacity requirement.

21. The computer-readable storage media of claim 16, further comprising instructions operable to:

in response to detecting that performance metrics for a network service in the first service pool have changed with respect to a predetermined threshold, remove the network service from the first service pool or add a network service to the first service pool.