Generating flows for managed interconnection switches

• US 8,830,835 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2012
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Casado, Martin, Koponen, Teemu, Thakkar, Pankaj
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Williams, Elton
• Application Number:
  US13/589,046
• Publication Number:
  US 20130044764A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 370/235, 370/351, 370/392, 370/396, 370/397, 370/400, 370/401, 370/409, 370/465, 709/201, 709/238, 709/249
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/044 comprising hierarchical management structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing

Abstract

A network controller for managing a set of interconnection switching elements that connect segmented networks to a shared physical interconnection network. The network controller includes i) an interface for receiving a logical control plane definition of a logical switching element that couples to a set of network segments at different segmented networks; ii) a control application for translating the logical control plane definition of the logical switching element into a first set of flow entries in a logical forwarding plane; and iii) a virtualization application for translating the first set of flow entries into a second set of flow entries in a physical control plane. The flow entries in the physical control plane are for subsequent conversion by the managed interconnection switching elements into a third set of flow entries in a physical forwarding plane that directs the forwarding of network data by the managed interconnection switching elements.

Claims

1. A network controller for managing a set of physical interconnection switching elements that connect segmented networks to a shared physical interconnection network, the network controller comprising:

a control application for (i) receiving input logical control plane data that defines a logical switching element in terms of a set of tables, the logical switching element for logically connecting a plurality of network segments operating within at least two different segmented networks by coupling logical ports of the logical switching element to the network segments, and (ii) translating the received input logical control plane data into logical forwarding plane data that defines the logical switching element in terms of a first set of flow entries; and

a virtualization application for translating the logical forwarding plane data into physical control plane data that defines the logical switching element in terms of a second set of flow entries that contains the logical forwarding plane data in addition to data binding the logical ports to the physical interconnection switching elements,

wherein the physical control plane data is for distribution to the physical interconnection switching elements in order to direct forwarding of network data by the physical interconnection switching elements.

2. The network controller of claim 1, wherein the control application comprises a first rules engine for translating the logical control plane data into the first set of flow entries and the virtualization application comprises a second rules engine for translating the first set of flow entries into the second set of flow entries.

3. The network controller of claim 1, wherein the control application and virtualization application comprise a same rules engine for performing their respective translations.

4. The network controller of claim 1, wherein the set of tables, the first set of flow entries, and the second set of flow entries are each represented as different sets of nLog tables.

5. The network controller of claim 1, wherein the network controller is one of a plurality of distributed controller instances.

6. The network controller of claim 1, wherein the control application comprises an application programming interface (API) for receiving data to define the input logical control plane data that defines the logical switching element.

7. The network controller of claim 6, wherein the API receives the data from a user interface.

8. The network controller of claim 1, wherein a first of the different segmented networks is segmented using virtual local area network (VLAN) tagging and a second of the different segmented networks is segmented using multi-protocol labeling system (MPLS) labeling.

9. The network controller of claim 1, wherein a first of the different segmented networks is segmented using a first VLAN technique and a second of the different segmented networks is segmented using a second VLAN technique.

10. The network controller of claim 1, wherein a plurality of different network addresses are defined for each network segment, wherein for a particular logical port that couples to a particular network segment, the flow entries specify to logically forward a packet, a destination address of which matches one of the plurality of network addresses defined for the particular network segment, to the particular logical port of the logical switching element.

11. At a network controller that manages a set of interconnection switching elements that connect segmented networks to a common physical interconnection network, a method comprising:

receiving input logical control plane data that defines a logical switching element in terms of a set of tables, the logical switching element for logically connecting a plurality of network segments located in different segmented networks by coupling logical ports of the logical switching element to the network segments, each network segment comprising a plurality of machines;

translating the set of tables into logical forwarding plane data that defines the logical switching element in terms of a first set of lookup entries;

translating the first set of lookup entries into physical control plane data that defines the logical switching element in terms of a second set of lookup entries that contains the logical forwarding plane data in addition to data binding the logical ports to the interconnection switching elements; and

distributing the second set of lookup entries to the managed interconnection switching elements for subsequent conversion into physical forwarding plane data that the managed interconnection switching elements use to forward packets from machines at one network segment to machines at a different network segment, wherein packets sent to a first machine and a second machine at a same particular network segment are forwarded to a same managed interconnection switching element.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein distributing the second set of lookup entries comprises publishing the lookup entries to a database that stores network state information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein translating the set of tables into logical forwarding plane data and translating the first set of lookup entries into physical control plane data comprises using a same rules engine for converting input tables to output tables.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the input tables for translating the set of tables into the logical forwarding plane data comprise the set of tables that define the logical switching element converted into a particular database table format and the output tables comprise the first set of lookup entries.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the input tables for translating the first set of lookup entries into physical control plane data comprise the first set of lookup entries, bindings between the logical ports of the logical switching element and the different network segments, and network addresses of machines located in the different network segments, and the output tables comprise the second set of lookup entries.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the second set of lookup entries comprises (i) lookup entries for mapping different network segments from which a packet is received to ingress logical ports of the logical switching element and (ii) lookup entries for mapping egress logical ports of the logical switching element to different interconnection switching elements.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer-executable code which when executed by at least one processing unit manages a set of interconnection switching elements that connect segmented networks to a common physical interconnection network, the computer-executable code comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving input logical control plane data that defines a logical switching element in terms of a set of tables, the logical switching element for logically connecting a plurality of network segments located in different segmented networks by coupling logical ports of the logical switching element to the network segments, each network segment comprising a plurality of machines;

translating the set of tables into logical forwarding plane data that defines the logical switching element in terms of a first set of lookup entries;

translating the first set of lookup entries into physical control plane data that defines the logical switching element in terms of a second set of lookup entries that contains the logical forwarding plane data in addition to data binding the logical ports to the interconnection switching elements; and

distributing the second set of lookup entries to the managed interconnection switching elements for subsequent conversion into physical forwarding plane data that the managed interconnection switching elements use to forward packets from machines at one network segment to machines at a different network segment, wherein packets sent to a first machine and a second machine at a same particular network segment are forwarded to a same managed interconnection switching element.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the interconnection switching elements are extenders.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein a first one of the plurality of network segments is segmented using virtual local area network (VLAN) tagging and a second one of the plurality of network segments is segmented using multi-protocol labeling system (MPLS) labeling.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein a plurality of different network addresses are defined for each of the plurality of network segments, wherein for a particular logical port that couples to a particular network segment, the lookup entries specify to logically forward a packet, a destination address of which matches one of the plurality of network addresses defined for the particular network segment, to the particular logical port of the logical switching element.