HYBRID CONTROL/DATA PLANE FOR PACKET BROKERING ORCHESTRATION

• US 20170111230A1
• Filed: 10/20/2015
• Published: 04/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetScout Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: VSS Monitoring Incorporated (NetScout Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Saradha, Harding, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 9,876,685 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/342 between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities

Abstract

A system for configuring one or more flows of captured data packets through a hybrid communication network is provided. The system includes first and second segments of the hybrid communication network. The first segment includes a stacked topology of communicatively coupled plurality of network captured traffic distribution devices. The second segment includes one or more OpenFlow switches configured for an OpenFlow protocol. The system also includes a management server communicatively coupled to the first and second segments of the hybrid communication network. The management server includes logic adapted to configure one or more data flows of captured data packets with respect to forwarding the captured data packets between the first and second segments of the hybrid communication network.

Claims

1. A system for configuring one or more flows of data packets through a hybrid communication network, the system comprising:

a first segment of the hybrid communication network, the first segment comprising a stacked topology of communicatively coupled plurality of network captured traffic distribution devices;

a second segment of the hybrid communication network, the second segment comprising one or more OpenFlow switches configured for an OpenFlow protocol; and

a management server communicatively coupled to the first segment and to the second segment, the management server comprising logic integrated with and/or executable by a processor of the management server, the logic being adapted to configure one or more data flows of captured data packets with respect to forwarding the captured data packets between the first and second segments of the hybrid communication network.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more OpenFlow switches comprises a virtual switch.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, the system further comprising a software defined network (SDN) controller communicatively coupled to the management server and connected to the second segment of the hybrid communication network, the SDN controller comprising logic configured to determine SDN routes through the second segment of the hybrid communication network.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein the management server is configured to communicate with the SDN controller through a suitable application programming interface (API) at the SDN controller.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the API comprises Representational State Transfer (REST) API.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the stacked topology comprises a first network captured traffic distribution device communicatively coupled to a second network captured traffic distribution device via a communication link, wherein the first and second network captured traffic distribution device are associated with configuration information, the first network captured traffic distribution device being configured to receive captured network traffic from a source, exchange configuration information with the second network captured traffic distribution device, and transmit received captured network traffic to the network captured traffic distribution device, the second network captured traffic distribution device is configured to exchange configuration information with the first network captured traffic distribution device, receive captured traffic transmitted from the first network captured traffic distribution device, and transmit received captured network traffic toward a target destination, and wherein the communication link is configured to facilitate communication between the first and second network captured traffic distribution devices.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the stacked topology includes a large capacity device communicatively coupled to at least one additional network captured traffic distribution device via at least one stacking link.

8. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein the management server logic is further adapted to obtain topology information from the plurality of network captured traffic distribution devices.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the management server logic is further adapted to obtain topology information from the one or more OpenFlow switches using the SDN controller.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the management server logic is adapted to configure the one or more data flows of captured data packets between the first segment and the second segment of the hybrid communication network based on the obtained topology information.

11. A method for configuring one or more flows of data packets through a hybrid communication network comprising a first segment and a second segment, the first segment comprising a stacked topology of communicatively coupled plurality of network captured traffic distribution devices, the second segment comprising one or more OpenFlow switches configured for an OpenFlow protocol, the method comprising:

receiving a new data flow entry from a user, the new data flow entry comprising at least ingress port information and egress port information;

determining whether the ingress port and the egress port belong to the same segment of the hybrid communication network;

identifying an optimum bridge connection between the first segment and the second segment of the hybrid communication network, in response to determining that the ingress port and the egress port do not belong to the same segment of the hybrid communication network; and

determining an optimum path from the ingress port to the egress port through the hybrid communication network via the identified optimum bridge connection.

12. The method as recited claim 11, the method further comprising generating a traffic policy corresponding to the determined optimum path and sending the generated traffic policy to a software defined network (SDN) controller connected to the second segment of the hybrid communication network, the SDN controller comprising logic configured to determine SDN routes through the second segment of the hybrid communication network.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, the method further comprising sending a configuration message corresponding to the generated traffic policy to the stacked topology of communicatively coupled plurality of network captured traffic distribution devices.

14. The method as recited claim 12, the method further comprising:

obtaining information related to a shortest path between the ingress port and the egress port from the SDN controller, in response to determining that both the ingress port and the egress port belong to the second segment of the hybrid communication network;

generating a traffic policy corresponding to the obtained shortest path; and

sending the generated traffic policy to the SDN controller.

15. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the optimum path is determined based on the filtering resource availability of the first and second segments of the hybrid communication network.

16. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the optimum path is determined based on the load level analysis of the first and second segments of the hybrid communication network.

17. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the optimum path is determined based on the combined topology information of the first and second segments of the hybrid communication network.

18. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the SDN controller is configured to communicate with the second segment of the hybrid communication network using an OpenFlow protocol.

19. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein at least one of the one or more OpenFlow switches comprises a virtual switch.

20. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the stacked topology comprises a first network captured traffic distribution device communicatively coupled to a second network captured traffic distribution device via a communication link, wherein the first and second network captured traffic distribution device are associated with configuration information, the first network captured traffic distribution device being configured to receive captured network traffic from a source, exchange configuration information with the second network captured traffic distribution device, and transmit received captured network traffic to the network captured traffic distribution device, the second network captured traffic distribution device is configured to exchange configuration information with the first network captured traffic distribution device, receive captured traffic transmitted from the first network captured traffic distribution device, and transmit received captured network traffic toward a target destination, and wherein the communication link is configured to facilitate communication between the first and second network captured traffic distribution devices.