Packet Copy Management For Service Chain Processing Within Virtual Processing Systems

• US 20160380848A1
• Filed: 06/25/2015
• Published: 12/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Keysight Technologies Singapore (Holdings) Pte. Limited. (Keysight Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ixia (Keysight Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Raney, Kristopher
• Granted Patent: US 9,838,277 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5087 wherein the managed service relates to voice services management of VoIP services H04M7/0081
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/028 by filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• 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 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed to provide packet copy management for service chain processing within virtual processing systems. A packet manager virtual machine (VM) controls access to shared memory that stores packet data for packets being processed by service chain VMs operating within a virtual processing environment. For certain embodiments, the packet manager VM is configured to appear as a destination NIC (network interface controller), and virtual NICs (vNICs) within the service chain VMs are configured to process packet data using pointers to access the packet data within the shared memory. Once packet data is processed by one service chain VM, the next service chain VM within the service chain is able to access the processed packet data within the shared memory through the packet manager VM. Once all service chain processing has completed, the resulting packet data is available from the shared memory for further use or processing.

Claims

1. A method to manage packets for service chain processing, comprising:

operating a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) within a virtualization layer running on at least one processing device, the plurality of VMs comprising a packet manager VM and at least two service chain VMs, the service chain VMs being configured to process received packets in a predetermined order;

receiving a network packet at the packet manager VM;

storing packet data for the network packet within a shared memory for the packet manager VM;

processing the packet data with the service chain VMs in the predetermined order using address pointers to access the packet data within the shared memory and without copying the packet data to memory associated with the service chain VMs; and

transmitting the processed packet data from the packet manager VM to another destination.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a virtual network interface controller (vNIC) for each of the plurality of VMs and using the vNICs to communicate the pointers.

3. The method of claim 2, using receive queues within the vNICs for the service chain VMs to store receive address pointers for packet data within the shared memory to be processed by the service chain VMs, and using transmit queues within the vNICs for the service chain VMs to store transmit address pointers for packet data within the shared memory that has been processed by the service chain VMs.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising controlling the predetermined order with the packet manager VM by controlling storage of the receive address pointers using the packet manager VM.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the processed packet data to a packet analysis tool.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the packet analysis tool comprises an additional virtual machine (VM) operating within the virtualization layer and configured to analyze the processed packet data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing device is located within a first server system, and wherein the destination is a virtual machine (VM) operating within a second virtualization layer running on at least one processing device located in a second server system.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising operating a plurality of second VMs within the second virtualization layer, the plurality of second VMs comprising a second packet manager VM and a at least two additional service chain VMs.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking a state of the packet data with respect to processing by the service chain VMs using the packet manager VM.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising adding a tag to the packet data within the packet manager VM to track the state of the packet data.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying one or more packet filters to the packets received by the packet manager VM.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising using the one or more packet filters within the packet manager VM to determine in part whether packet data is processed by one or more of the service chain VMs.

13. A system to manage packets for service chain processing, comprising:

at least one processing device configured to provide a virtualization layer for a plurality of virtual machines (VMs);

at least two service chain VMs configured to operate within the virtualization layer, the service chain VMs being configured to process received packets in a predetermined order;

a packet manager VM configured to operate within the virtualization layer, the packet manager VM being configured to receive packets being processed by the service chain VMs; and

a shared memory included within the packet manager VM configured to store packet data for packets being processed by the service chain VMs;

wherein the service chain VMs are configured to use address pointers to access the packet data within the shared memory without copying the packet data to memory associated with the service chain VMs; and

wherein the packet manager VM is further configured to provide processed packet data to another destination.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the service chain VMs and the packet manager VM comprises a virtual network interface controller (vNIC) configured to communicate the pointers.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising receive queues within the vNICs for the service chain VMs configured to store receive address pointers for packet data within the shared memory to be processed by the service chain VMs, and transmit queues within the vNICs for the service chain VMs configured to store transmit address pointers for packet data within the shared memory that has been processed by the service chain VMs.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the packet manager VM is further configured to control the predetermined order by controlling storage of the receive address pointers.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the destination comprises a packet analysis tool.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the packet analysis tool comprises an additional virtual machine (VM) configured to operate within the virtualization layer and to analyze the processed packet data.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one processing device is located within a first server system, and wherein the destination comprises a virtual machine (VM) configured to operate within a second virtualization layer running on at least one processing device located in a second server system.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising a plurality of second VMs configured to operate within the second virtualization layer, the plurality of second VMs comprising a second packet manager VM and a at least two additional service chain VMs.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the packet manager VM is further configured to track a state of the packet data with respect to processing by the service chain VMs.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the packet manager VM is further configured to add a tag to the packet data to track the state of the packet data.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the packet manager VM is further configured to apply one or more packet filters to the packets received by the packet manager VM.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more packet filters are configured to determine in part whether packet data is processed by one or more of the service chain VMs.