Hot service flow hardware offloads based on service priority and resource usage

• US 9,203,771 B1
• Filed: 02/20/2013
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: F5 Networks, Inc. (F5 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: F5 Networks, Inc. (F5 Incorporated)
• Inventors: Cai, Hao, Barthelow, Michael Thomas, Szabo, Paul Imre, Michels, Timothy Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad, Edan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shah, Saumit
• Application Number:
  US13/772,194
• Time in Patent Office: 1,014 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/230.1, 370/231, 370/232, 370/235, 370/236, 370/351, 370/389, 370/392, 709/225, 709/226, 709/227, 709/238, 709/239, 709/240, 709/241, 709/242, 709/244, 709/245
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/621 Individual queue per connection or flow, e.g. per VC

Abstract

Embodiments are directed towards improving the performance of network traffic management devices by optimizing the management of hot connection flows. A packet traffic management device (“PTMD”) employs a data flow segment (“DFS”) and control segment (“CS”). The CS performs high-level control functions and per-flow policy enforcement for connection flows maintained at the DFS, while the DFS performs statistics gathering, and per-packet policy enforcement, on connection flows maintained at the DFS. The DFS may include high-speed flow caches and other high-speed components. Making efficient use of the high speed flow cache capacity may be improved by maximizing the number of hot connection flows based on unique service and network traffic characteristics through adaptive feedback pattern learning together with administrator configurable service preferences that may have flow control data for most bandwidth hungry and desired hot services offloaded to the high-speed flow cache, at appropriate time.

Claims

1. A method for managing communication over a network with a traffic management device (TMD) that includes a plurality of components and is operative to perform actions, comprising:

employing at least one data flow segment (DFS) component to provide packet level flow handling for a portion of a plurality of connection flows;

employing at least one control segment (CS) component to perform actions, including;

managing the plurality of connection flows and handling a remainder portion of the plurality of connection flows;

generating, based on at least one received network packet for at least one of the plurality of managed connection flows, directional-bound patterns indicating directional traffic distributions within each service type within a plurality of service types;

generating, based on the at least one received network packet for the at least one of the plurality of managed connection flows, service patterns indicating a traffic distribution among the plurality of services;

employing the generated directional-bound patterns and service patterns to determine each hot connection flow in the plurality of managed connection flows to be handled by the DFS component; and

employing the DFS component to handle each determined hot connection flow, wherein the directional bound patterns and service patterns are employed by the CS to determine when one or more hot connection flows allocated for handling by the DFS is instead handled by the CS.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing traffic metrics for the plurality of service types using a real time feedback loop;

analyzing traffic patterns and characteristics; and

using results of the analysis to perform real time adaptive service prioritization of at least one directional flow within a connection flow.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing traffic patterns; and

employing results of the analysis to differentiate services and service directions.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

employing by the CS a configurable direction-bound ratio threshold used to tune offload decisions for flows within a same service and adjust for a traffic imbalance between a server-bound and a client-bound flow.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the directional-bound patterns are configured to provide information about the traffic distribution between a server-bound and a client-bound traffic within the same service type.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining each hot connection flow further comprises modifying the determined hot connection flow based on a hot service priority, a service prediction, or a service quality of service preference.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining each hot connection to be handled by the DFS component includes determining an offload for a connection flow to the DFS component specific to a direction of the flow such that at least a flow in one direction is offloaded to the DFS component while a flow in an opposite direction for a same connection is not offloaded to the DFS component.

8. A network device, comprising:

a memory that is operative to store instructions; and

one or more non-transitory processing devices that is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, including;

employing at least one data flow segment (DFS) component to provide packet level flow handling for a portion of a plurality of connection flows;

employing at least one control segment (CS) component to perform actions, including;

managing the plurality of connection flows and handling a remainder portion of the plurality of connection flows;

generating, based on at least one received network packet for at least one of the plurality of managed connection flows, directional-bound patterns indicating directional traffic distributions within each service type within a plurality of service types;

generating, based on the at least one received network packet for the at least one of the plurality of managed connection flows, service patterns indicating a traffic distribution among the plurality of services;

employing the generated directional-bound patterns and service patterns to determine each hot connection flow in the plurality of managed connection flows to be handled by the DFS component; and

employing the DFS component to handle each determined hot connection flow, wherein the directional bound patterns and service patterns are employed by the CS to determine when one or more hot connection flows allocated for handling by the DFS is instead handled by the CS.

9. The network device of claim 8, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, further including:

analyzing traffic metrics for the plurality of services using a real time feedback loop;

analyzing traffic patterns and characteristics; and

using results of the analysis to perform real time adaptive service prioritization of at least one directional flow within a connection flow for a given service.

10. The network device of claim 8, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, further including:

analyzing traffic patterns; and

employing results of the analysis to differentiate services and service directions.

11. The network device of claim 8, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, further including:

employing by the CS a configurable direction-bound ratio threshold used to tune offload decisions for flows within a same service and adjust for a traffic imbalance between a server-bound or client-bound flow.

12. The network device of claim 8, wherein the at least one CS component performs actions, further including:

receiving an eviction message from the DFS component for at least one connection flow that is evicted from the DFS component;

when it is determined the evicted connection flow is closed or terminated, discarding the closed or terminated connection flow and associated flow control data; and

when the evicted connection flow is neither closed nor terminated, transferring management of the evicted connection flow by the CS component.

13. The network device of claim 8, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, further including:

in response to detecting that one directional flow within a connection flow for a given service is designated for offloading for processing by the DFS component, selectively also designating for offloading the other directional flow within the connection flow for the given service.

14. The network device of claim 8, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, further including:

analyzing traffic patterns within a given service;

predicting a change in traffic patterns based on the analysis; and

in response to predicting the change in traffic patterns for the given service, modifying at least one designation of a determined hot connection flow for offloading to the DFS component.

15. An apparatus comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium, having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, that in response to execution by a network device, cause the network device to perform operations, comprising:

employing at least one data flow segment (DFS) component to provide packet level flow handling for a portion of a plurality of connection flows;

employing at least one control segment (CS) component to perform actions, including;

managing the plurality of connection flows and handling a remainder portion of the plurality of connection flows;

generating, based on at least one received network packet for at least one of the plurality of managed connection flows, directional-bound patterns indicating directional traffic distributions within each service type within a plurality of service types;

generating, based on the at least one received network packet for the at least one of the plurality of managed connection flows, service patterns indicating a traffic distribution among the plurality of services;

employing the generated directional-bound patterns and service patterns to determine each hot connection flow in the plurality of managed connection flows to be handled by the DFS component; and

employing the DFS component to handle each determined hot connection flow, wherein the directional bound patterns and service patterns are employed by the CS to determine when one or more hot connection flows allocated for handling by the DFS is instead handled by the CS.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the network device is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, further including:

analyzing traffic metrics for the plurality of services using a real time feedback loop;

analyzing traffic patterns and characteristics; and

using results of the analysis to perform real time adaptive service prioritization of at least one directional flow within a connection flow for a given service.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the network device is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, further including:

employing by the CS a configurable direction-bound ratio threshold used to tune offload decisions for flows within a same service and adjust for a traffic imbalance between a server-bound or client-bound flow.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein determining each hot connection flow further comprises determining hot connection flow candidates based on service directional patterns indicating in part a traffic distribution between server-bound and client-bound traffic within a same service type.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the network device is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, further including:

in response to detecting that one directional flow within a connection flow for a given service is designated for offloading for processing by the DFS component, selectively also designating for offloading the other directional flow within the connection flow for the given service.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the network device is operative to execute instructions that enable actions, further including:

analyzing traffic patterns within a given service;

predicting a change in traffic patterns based on the analysis; and

in response to predicting the change in traffic patterns for the given service, modifying at least one designation of a determined hot connection flow for offloading to the DFS component.

21. A method that manages communication over a network with a traffic management device (TMD) that includes a plurality of components and is operative to perform actions, comprising:

employing at least one data flow segment (DFS) component to provide packet level flow handling for a portion of a plurality of connection flows;

employing at least one control segment (CS) component to perform actions, including;

managing the plurality of connection flows and handling a remainder portion of the plurality of connection flows;

generating at least one connection flow metric based on at least one received network packet for at least one of the plurality of managed connection flows, the at least one connection flow metric providing information for each directional flow of packets for each of a plurality of services;

employing the at least one connection flow metric to determine each hot connection flow in the plurality of managed connection flows;

determining each hot connection flow to be handled by the DFS component based on a directional-bound traffic patterns within a same service type, and service patterns across different services within the plurality of services;

modifying the hot connection flows that are determined to be handled by the DFS component based on real-time service priorities, service predictions, and a service usage limit; and

employing the DFS component to handle each determined hot connection flow, wherein the directional bound patterns and service patterns are employed by the CS to determine when one or more hot connection flows allocated for handling by the DFS is instead handled by the CS.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprises:

employing at least one control segment (CS) component to perform actions, further including;

receiving an eviction message from the DFS component for at least one connection flow that is evicted from the DFS component;

when it is determined the evicted connection flow is closed or terminated, discarding the closed or terminated connection flow and associated flow control data; and

when the evicted connection flow is neither closed nor terminated, transferring management of the evicted connection flow by the CS component.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprises:

employing at least one CS component to perform actions, further including;

configuring the DFS component to evict a connection flow in preference to an existing connection flow or a new connection flow;

receiving an eviction message from the DFS component for at least one connection flow evicted from the DFS component;

when it is determined that the evicted connection flow is closed or terminated, discarding the closed or terminated connection flow and associated flow control data; and

when the evicted connection flow is neither closed nor terminated, rejecting an associated client connection request.