HIERARCHICAL NETWORK MANAGERS

• US 20160352560A1
• Filed: 08/12/2016
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stabile, James Joseph, Basak, Debashis, Palshikar, Amol, Thakkar, Sachin
• Granted Patent: US 10,326,639 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/044 comprising hierarchical management structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a network system that includes several host machines for hosting virtual machines, divided into several different domains. The network system includes several local domain management servers. A first local domain management server of a first domain is for (i) initiating creation of a set of distributed virtual switch ports associated with a particular logical network identifier on a host machine within its domain and (ii) attaching a first virtual machine on the host machine to a created port associated with the particular logical network identifier in order for the first virtual machine to send traffic over the logical network. The network system includes a second level management server for coordinating the use of logical network identifiers between multiple different logical domain management servers in order for the first virtual machine to communicate via the logical network with a second virtual machine in a second domain.

Claims

1. A network system comprising:

a plurality of host machines for hosting virtual machines, the host machines divided into a plurality of different domains;

a plurality of local domain management servers, wherein a first local domain management server of a first domain is for (i) initiating creation of a set of distributed virtual switch ports associated with a particular logical network identifier on a host machine within its domain and (ii) attaching a first virtual machine on the host machine to a created port associated with the particular logical network identifier in order for the first virtual machine to send traffic over the logical network; and

a second level management server for coordinating the use of logical network identifiers between multiple different logical domain management servers in order for the first virtual machine to communicate via the logical network with a second virtual machine in a second domain.

2. The network system of claim 1, wherein the second level management server operates in a cluster with a plurality of additional second level management servers.

3. The network system of claim 2, wherein the first second level management server comprises a database storing logical network information.

4. The network system of claim 3, wherein the database is for replication to databases at the additional second level management servers.

5. The network system of claim 2, wherein the second level management server comprises interfaces to (i) the plurality of local domain management servers and (ii) the additional second level management servers.

6. The network system of claim 1, wherein the second level management server comprises an interface for receiving a specification of the logical network.

7. The network system of claim 6, wherein the specification of the logical network is received from user input.

8. The network system of claim 6, wherein the specification of the logical network comprises a set of virtual machines to attach to the logical network and a set of domains across which the logical network spans.

9. The network system of claim 8, wherein the interface is further for receiving an update to the specification of the logical network adding a domain to the set of domains across which the logical network spans.

10. The network system of claim 8, wherein the interface is further for receiving an update to the specification of the logical network removing a particular domain from the set of domains across which the logical network spans.

11. The network system of claim 10, wherein the second level management server is further for sending instructions to the local domain management server for the particular domain to remove distributed virtual switch ports associated with the particular logical network from any hosts within the particular domain.

12. The network system of claim 1, wherein the second level management server is further for requesting status information about the logical network from the particular local domain management servers with virtual machines attached to the logical network, receiving status updates from the particular logical domain management servers, and aggregating the status updates in order to manage the logical network.

13. The network system of claim 12, wherein the first local domain management server is for receiving the request for status information about the logical network from the second level management system, sending a request to each of a set of hosts within its domain that host virtual machines attached to the logical network, receiving status information from each of the hosts in the set, aggregating the received status information, and sending the aggregated status information to the second local domain management server.

14. A method for creating a logical network that spans a plurality of domains within a hosting system, the method comprising:

at a network management server, receiving a specification for a logical network, the specification comprising (i) a plurality of virtual machines to connect to the logical network and (ii) a set of at least two domains in which the virtual machines are located;

from a range of available logical network identifiers stored by the management server, allocating a particular logical network identifier for the specified logical network; and

sending instructions to a local domain manager at each of the domains in which the virtual machines are located in order for the local domain manager to attach the virtual machines in its domain to the logical network using the allocated logical network identifier.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising removing the particular logical network identifier from the range of available logical network identifiers.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising storing the specification for the logical network and the allocated logical network identifier in a database for replication to a plurality of additional network management servers.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a particular local domain manager attaches a particular virtual machine to the logical network by communicating with a host on which the particular virtual machine operates to (i) create a set of ports associated with the particular logical network identifier in a distributed virtual switch on the host and (ii) attach the particular virtual machine to one of the created ports.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein when the particular virtual machine is attached to one of the ports, the distributed virtual switch adds the particular logical network identifier to packets sent from the particular virtual machine to the port.

19. A network management server comprising:

a first interface for receiving a specification for a logical network, the specification comprising (i) a plurality of virtual machines to connect to the logical network and (ii) a set of at least two domains in which the virtual machines are located;

a second interface for sending instructions to a local domain manager at each of the domains in which the virtual machines are located in order for the local domain manager to attach the virtual machines in its domain to the logical network using a particular logical network identifier allocated to the logical network by the network management server; and

a third interface for replicating information about the logical network to additional network management servers.

20. The network management server of claim 19 further comprising a database for storing the information about the logical network to be replicated to the additional network management servers.

21. The network management server of claim 19 further comprising a storage for storing a plurality of logical network identifiers for allocation to different logical networks.