Network consolidation for virtualized servers

• US 8,027,354 B1
• Filed: 04/29/2009
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Portolani, Maurizio, Elsen, Christian
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh; Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wong; Blanche
• Application Number:
  US12/432,532
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/431
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for virtualized server kernel and virtual networks consolidation. The network consolidation allows a data center to migrate from an infrastructure that uses multiple dedicated gigabit Ethernet Network Adapters to manage system virtualization and migration to an infrastructure using consolidated, redundant, 10 gigabit Ethernet adapters. Different priority classes may be defined for different classes of network traffic such as hypervisor management traffic, inter-host virtual machine migration traffic, virtual machine production traffic, virtualized switching control plane traffic, etc. Further, an enhanced transmission standard may be used to specify a minimum bandwidth guarantee for certain traffic classes. Thus, the hypervisor management and inter-host virtual machine migration traffic may be transmitted, even the presence of congestion.

Claims

1. A computing system, comprising:

a processor;

a physical network interface device configured to schedule data frames for transport on a physical Ethernet network according to (i) a Class of Service (CoS) tag added to a given data frame and (ii) a minimum bandwidth allocation, wherein the Classes of Service include at least a first class for virtualized server management traffic and a second class for inter-host virtual machine migration traffic, and wherein the minimum bandwidth allocation guarantees at least a fraction of bandwidth available from the physical network interface device to the virtualized server management traffic and to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic; and

a memory containing a hypervisor running a virtual switching device configured to add the CoS tags to data frames received from a virtual network interface provided to a virtual machine executing on the computing system.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the physical network interface device on the computing system comprises a 10 Gb Ethernet network adapter.

3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the Classes of Service are defined according to an 802.1p standard and wherein the CoS tags are added to the data frames according to an 802.1Q standard.

4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the minimum bandwidth allocations are defined according to an 802.1Qaz Enhanced Transmission Standard and the data frames are scheduled for transport on the physical Ethernet network according to the 802.1Qaz Enhanced Transmission Standard.

5. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of Classes of Service further includes a third class for network storage traffic, and wherein the wherein the minimum bandwidth allocation guarantees at least a fraction of bandwidth available from the physical network interface to the network storage traffic.

6. The computing system of claim 5, wherein the network storage traffic comprises at least one of Network File System (NFS) traffic, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) traffic, and iSCSI traffic.

7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of Classes of Service further includes a fourth class for virtual switch control plane traffic, and the wherein the minimum bandwidth allocation guarantees at least a fraction of bandwidth available from the physical network interface to the virtual switch control plane traffic.

8. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the hypervisor is configured for:

receiving a message stored in data frames tagged as belonging to the virtualized server management traffic class, wherein the message is a request to migrate a selected one of the virtual machines on the computing system to a second computing system;

tagging, by the virtual switching device on the hypervisor, data frames migrating the selected virtual machine as belonging to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic class;

transmitting the selected virtual machine from the computing system to the second computing system, wherein the data frames tagged as belonging to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic class are allocated at least the fraction of bandwidth allocated to the inter-host migration traffic class, and wherein a hypervisor on a second computing system initiates execution of the selected virtual machine on the second computing system.

9. A computer-implemented method for consolidating virtualized server kernel and virtual networks in a data center, comprising:

defining a plurality of Classes of Service (CoS) for network traffic, including, at least a first class for virtualized server management traffic and a second class for inter-host virtual machine migration traffic;

defining a minimum bandwidth allocation to guarantee at least a fraction of bandwidth provided by a physical Ethernet network to the virtualized server management traffic and to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic;

adding a CoS tag to data frames originating from a computing system executing a hypervisor and one or more virtual machines, wherein each CoS tag identifies the respective data frame as belonging to one of the defined plurality of Classes of Service; and

scheduling, by a physical network interface device on the computing system, each data frame for transport on the physical Ethernet network according to the respective CoS tag and the minimum bandwidth allocation.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the data frames are received from a virtual network interface provided to each of the one or more virtual machines executing on the computing system and wherein a virtual switch running inside the hypervisor adds the CoS tags to the respective data frames.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the physical network interface device on the computing system comprises a 10 Gb Ethernet Network Adapter.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the Classes of Service are defined according to an 802.1p standard and wherein the CoS tags are added to the data frames according to an 802.1Q standard.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the minimum bandwidth allocations are defined according to an 802.1Qaz Enhanced Transmission Standard and the data frames are scheduled for transport on the physical Ethernet network according to the 802.1Qaz Enhanced Transmission Standard.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of Classes of Service further include a third class for network storage traffic, and wherein the method further comprises defining a minimum bandwidth allocation to guarantee at least a fraction of bandwidth provided by the physical Ethernet network to the network storage traffic.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the network storage traffic comprises at least one of Network File System (NFS) traffic, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) traffic, and iSCSI traffic.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of Classes of Service further include a fourth class for virtual switch control plane traffic, and wherein the method further comprises defining a minimum bandwidth allocation to guarantee at least a fraction of bandwidth provided by the physical Ethernet network to the virtual switch control plane traffic.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a message encapsulated in data frames tagged as belonging to the virtualized server management traffic class, wherein the message is a request to migrate a selected one of the virtual machines on the computing system to a second computing system;

tagging, by a virtual switch on the computing system, data frames for migrating the selected virtual machine as belonging to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic class;

transmitting, over the physical Ethernet network, the selected virtual machine from the computing system to the second computing system, wherein the data frames tagged as belonging to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic class are allocated at least the fraction of bandwidth allocated to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic class; and

initiating execution of the selected virtual machine by a hypervisor on the second computing system.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a virtual machine hypervisor and a virtual switch which, when executed on a processor, performs an operation for consolidating virtual machine networks in a data center, the operation comprising:

defining a plurality of classes of service (CoS) for network traffic, including, at least a first class for virtualized server management traffic and a second class for inter-host virtual machine migration traffic;

defining a minimum bandwidth allocation to guarantee at least a fraction of bandwidth provided by a physical Ethernet network to the virtualized server management traffic and to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic;

adding a CoS tag to data frames originating from a computing system executing the virtual machine hypervisor and one or more virtual machines, wherein each CoS tag identifies the respective data frame as belonging to one of the defined plurality of classes of service; and

transmitting the tagged data frames to a physical network interface device on the computing system, wherein the physical network interface device is configured to schedule each data frame for transport on the physical Ethernet network according to the respective CoS tag and the minimum bandwidth allocation.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the physical network interface device on the computing system comprises a 10 Gb Ethernet Network Adapter.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the Classes of Service are defined according to an 802.1p standard and wherein the CoS tags are added to the data frames according to an 802.1Q standard.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the minimum bandwidth allocations are defined according to an 802.1Qaz Enhanced Transmission Standard and the data frames are scheduled for transport on the physical Ethernet network according to the 802.1Qaz Enhanced Transmission Standard.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the plurality of Classes of Service further include a third class for network storage traffic, and wherein the operation further comprises defining a minimum bandwidth allocation to guarantee at least a fraction of bandwidth provided by the physical Ethernet network to the network storage traffic.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the network storage traffic comprises at least one of Network File System (NFS) traffic, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) traffic, and iSCSI traffic.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the plurality of classes of service traffic further include a fourth class for virtual switch control plane traffic, and wherein the operation further comprises defining a minimum bandwidth allocation to guarantee at least a fraction of bandwidth provided by the physical Ethernet network to the virtual switch control plane traffic.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a message encapsulated in data frames tagged as belonging to the virtualized server management traffic class, wherein the message is a request to migrate a selected one of the virtual machines on the computing system to a second computing system;

tagging, by the virtual switch on the computing system, data frames migrating the selected virtual machine as belonging to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic class;

transmitting, over the physical Ethernet network, the selected virtual machine from the computing system to the second computing system, wherein the data frames tagged as belonging to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic class are allocated at least the fraction of bandwidth allocated to the inter-host virtual machine migration traffic class; and

initiating execution of the selected virtual machine by a hypervisor on the second computing system.