CONTAINER-AWARE APPLICATION DEPENDENCY IDENTIFICATION

• US 20160380916A1
• Filed: 09/01/2015
• Published: 12/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: GNANESWARAN, DINESH BABU THIRUKONDAN, MANNAM, SUBRAHMANYAM, GUPTA, GAURAV, KILARI, HEMANTH KUMAR
• Granted Patent: US 11,438,278 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 Application aware

Abstract

Techniques disclosed herein provide an approach for identifying application dependencies in a hybrid environment in which one or more applications run in operating system (OS)-less containers. One embodiment provides a computer-implemented method that includes monitoring network traffic at one or more host computer systems, wherein OS-less containers run in at least one of the host computer systems. The method further includes monitoring network traffic at virtual bridges to which the OS-less containers are attached, and identifying network dependencies based on the monitored network traffic at the host computer systems and the monitored network traffic at the virtual bridges. In addition, the method includes determining the application dependencies based on the identified network dependencies.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of identifying application dependencies in a hybrid environment in which one or more applications run in operating system (OS)-less containers, comprising:

monitoring network traffic at one or more host computer systems, wherein OS-less containers nm in at least one of the host computer systems;

monitoring network traffic at virtual bridges to which the OS-less containers are attached;

identifying network dependencies based on the monitored network traffic at the host computer systems and the monitored network traffic at the virtual bridges; and

determining the application dependencies based on the identified network dependencies.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein determining the application dependencies includes generating a hash map which has from internet protocol (IP) address, to IP address, and port number as keys and applications as values, and

wherein the dependency of a first application on a second application is identified. When the first and second applications are associated With the same key in the hash map.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network traffic at the host computer systems and the network traffic at the virtual bridges are monitored via agents registered to the host computer systems.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the agents further identify the network dependencies and transmit information on the connections to a central service which determines the application dependencies.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the network traffic at the host computer systems includes:

identifying services running in the host Computer Systems;

identifying a listening port for each of the services; and

monitoring incoming and outgoing. connections associated with the identified services.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein monitoring the network traffic at the virtual bridges includes:

identifier OS-less container services miming in the host computer systems;

for each of the OS-less Container services;

identifying an external port used on the host computer to accept requests from the OS-less container service and an internal port used by the OS-less container to process the requests, and

obtaining an assigned local address for the OS-less container service; and

capturing network packet details from the virtual bridges using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) dumps.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the host computer systems is a virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, displaying the determined application dependencies to a user via a user interface.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed by one or more processors, performs operations for identifying application dependencies in a hybrid environment in which one or more applications run in operating system (OS)-less containers, the operations comprising:

monitoring network traffic at one or more host computer systems, wherein OS-less containers run in at least one of the host computer systems;

monitoring network traffic at virtual bridges to Which the OS-less containers are attached;

identifying network dependencies based on the monitored network traffic at the host computer systems and the monitored network traffic at the virtual bridges; and

determining the application dependencies based on the identified network dependencies.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9,

wherein determining the application dependencies includes generating a hash map which has from interne protocol (LP) address, to IP address, and port number as keys and applications as values, and

wherein the dependency of a first application on a second application is identified when the first and second applications are associated with the same key in the hash map.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the network traffic at the host computer systems and the network traffic at the virtual bridges are monitored via agents registered to the host computer systems.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the agents further identify the network dependencies and transmit information on the connections to a central service which determines the application dependencies.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein monitoring the network traffic at the host computer systems includes:

identifying services running in the host computer systems;

identifying a listening port for each of the services; and

monitoring incoming and outgoing connections associated with the identified services.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein monitoring the network traffic at the virtual bridges includes:

identifier OS-less container services running in the host computer systems;

for each of the OS-less container services;

identifying an external port used on the host computer to accept requests from the OS-less container service and an internal port used by the OS-less container to process the requests, and

obtaining an assigned local address for the OS-less container service; and

capturing network packet details from the virtual bridges using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) dumps.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein at least one of the host computer systems is a virtual machine.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, the operations farther comprising, displaying the determined application dependencies to a user via a user interface.

17. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, wherein the memory includes a program executable in the processor to perform operations for identifying application dependencies in a hybrid environment in which one or more applications run in operating system (OS)-less containers, the operations comprising;

monitoring network traffic at one or more host computer systems, wherein OS-less containers run in at least one of the host computer systems;

monitoring network traffic at virtual bridges to which the OS-less containers are attached; and

identifying network dependencies based on the monitored network traffic at the host computer systems and the monitored network traffic at the virtual bridges,

wherein the application dependencies are determined based on the identified network dependencies.

18. The system of claim 17,

wherein determining the application dependencies includes generating a hash map which has from interne protocol (IP) address, to IP address, and port number as keys and applications as values, and

wherein the dependency of a first application on a second application is identified. When the first and second applications are associated with the same key in the hash map.

19. The system of claim 17, Wherein the network traffic at the host computer systems and the network traffic at the virtual bridges are monitored via agents registered to the host computer systems.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the agents further identify the network dependencies and transmit information on the connections to a central service which determines the application dependencies.