Using virtual networking devices to manage routing cost information

• US 9,219,679 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2015
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Miller, Kevin Christopher, Brandwine, Eric Jason, Doane, Andrew J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhu, Alvin
• Application Number:
  US14/637,211
• Publication Number:
  US 20150180768A1
• Time in Patent Office: 294 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/255, 370/256, 370/401
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0826 for reduction of network costs H04L41/0833 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/121 by minimising delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/14 Routing performance; Theoretical aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing

Abstract

Techniques are described for providing managed virtual computer networks that have a configured logical network topology with virtual networking devices, such as by a network-accessible configurable network service, with corresponding networking functionality provided for communications between multiple computing nodes of the virtual computer network by emulating functionality that would be provided by the virtual networking devices if they were physically present. In some situations, the networking functionality provided for a managed computer network of a client includes receiving routing communications directed to the virtual networking devices and using included routing cost information to update the configuration of the managed computer network, and/or includes determining actual cost information corresponding to use of an underlying substrate network and providing routing cost information to the client that reflects the determined actual cost information, so as to enable the client to modify the configuration of the managed computer network accordingly.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing, by one or more computing systems of a configurable network service, a virtual computer network for a customer of the configurable network service based on configuration information received from the customer, wherein the configuration information indicates that a logical router device of the virtual computer network provides functionality to interconnect computing nodes of the virtual computer network, and wherein the provided functionality of the logical router device is emulated for the virtual computer network;

intercepting, by the one or more computing systems, one or more routing communications directed to the logical router device, the one or more routing communications including routing information for the virtual computer network that indicates one or more costs specified by the customer for at least one of multiple alternative intermediate destinations for communications directed to an indicated final destination;

analyzing, by the one or more computing systems, the one or more costs indicated in the routing information to select one of the alternative intermediate destinations; and

after selecting the one alternative intermediate destination, forwarding, to the selected one alternative intermediate destination, one or more communications directed to the indicated final destination.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising receiving, by the one or more computing systems, the configuration information from the customer via an application programming interface (API) provided by the configurable network service, and wherein the one or more routing communications are received via communications sent to the virtual computer network over a connection with at least one computing system operated by the customer.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising identifying, by the one or more computing systems, the alternative intermediate destinations for the virtual computer network by analyzing the routing information included in the one or more routing communications.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the identified alternative intermediate destinations include two or more computing nodes of the virtual computer network that are configured to forward communications from other computing nodes of the virtual computer network to the indicated final destination.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising identifying the alternative intermediate destinations for the virtual computer network based on the configuration information received from the customer for the virtual computer network.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the identified alternative intermediate destinations include two or more alternative connections between the virtual computer network and one or more other remote computing systems operated by the customer.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the configuration information received from the customer further indicates a network topology for the virtual computer network in which multiple computing nodes of the virtual computer network are separated into two or more logical subnets that are inter-connected by the logical router device, and wherein the method further comprises forwarding multiple communications between computing nodes of different logical subnets and emulating functionality that would be provided by the logical router device for the forwarding if the logical router device was physically provided.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the selecting of the one alternative intermediate destination includes selecting one of the multiple alternative intermediate destinations that has a lowest specified cost.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the selecting of the one alternative intermediate destination includes designating the selected one alternative intermediate destination as being a preferred intermediate destination for communications forwarded to the indicated final destination if the selected one alternative intermediate destination is available.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the selected one alternative intermediate destination is an edge device that forwards communications from one or more first geographical locations of one or more computing nodes of the virtual computer network to one or more other computing nodes at one or more other distinct second geographical locations.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the selected one alternative intermediate destination is a peering router that connects the computing nodes of the virtual computer network to one or more other computing nodes of one or more other virtual computer networks provided by the configurable network service.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the selected one alternative intermediate destination is a connection endpoint for a connection between the computing nodes of the virtual computer network and one or more other distinct computing nodes.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the virtual computer network includes overlaying the virtual computer network on a substrate network, and wherein the intercepting of the one or more routing communications is performed before the one or more routing communications are forwarded over the substrate network, and includes inhibiting forwarding of the intercepted routing communications to the logical router device.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the computing nodes of the virtual computer network are each a virtual machine hosted on one of multiple physical computing systems of the configurable network service, and wherein the providing of the virtual computer network includes configuring one or more virtual machine manager modules that execute on one or more of the physical computing systems to manage communications for the hosted virtual machines.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that configure a computing system to:

provide, by the computing system, a virtual computer network for a customer of a configurable network service based on configuration information received from the customer, wherein the configuration information indicates a virtual router device of the virtual computer network that logically interconnects at least first and second computing nodes of the virtual computer network;

forward one or more communications between the first and second computing nodes and emulate functionality of the virtual router device for the forwarding;

intercept, by the computing system, one or more routing communications that are directed to the virtual router device despite the virtual router device not being physically provided, wherein the one or more routing communications include routing information for the virtual computer network that indicates, for at least one of multiple alternative intermediate destinations for use in forwarding communications directed to an indicated final destination, one or more costs specified by the customer for the at least one alternative intermediate destination;

analyze, by the computing system, the one or more costs indicated in the routing information and selecting one of the alternative intermediate destinations as a preferred intermediate destination for the indicated final destination; and

after selecting the one alternative intermediate destination, forward, to the selected one alternative intermediate destination, one or more communications directed to the indicated final destination.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the identified alternative intermediate destinations include two or more computing nodes of the virtual computer network that are configured to forward communications from other computing nodes of the virtual computer network to the indicated final destination, or include two or more alternative connections between the virtual computer network and one or more other remote computing systems operated by the customer.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the configuration information received from the customer further indicates a network topology for the virtual computer network in which multiple computing nodes of the virtual computer network are separated into two logical subnets that are inter-connected by the virtual router device, and wherein the stored contents include software instructions that, when executed, further configure the computing system to forward multiple communications between computing nodes of the two logical subnets and to emulate functionality that would be provided by the virtual router device for the forwarding if the virtual router device was physically provided.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the selected one alternative intermediate destination is an edge device that forwards communications from one or more first geographical locations of one or more computing nodes of the virtual computer network to one or more other computing nodes at one or more other distinct second geographical locations, or is a peering router that connects the computing nodes of the virtual computer network to one or more other computing nodes of one or more other virtual computer networks provided by the configurable network service, or is a connection endpoint for a connection between the computing nodes of the virtual computer network and one or more other distinct computing nodes.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the stored contents include software instructions that, when executed, further configure the computing system to provide the configurable network service, and to provide multiple other virtual computer networks to multiple other customers using hardware devices provided by the configurable network service.

20. A computing system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more modules that, when executed by at least one of the processors, configure the at least one processor to provide a configurable network service, the providing of the configurable network service including;

providing a virtual computer network for a customer of the configurable network service based on configuration information received from the customer, wherein the configuration information indicates a virtual router device of the virtual computer network that logically interconnects multiple computing nodes of the virtual computer network;

forwarding one or more communications between the multiple computing nodes and emulating functionality of the virtual router device for the forwarding;

intercepting one or more routing communications that are directed to the virtual router device and block further forwarding of the one or more routing communications, wherein the one or more routing communications include routing information for the virtual computer network that indicates, for at least one of multiple alternative intermediate destinations for use in forwarding communications directed to an indicated final destination, one or more costs specified by the customer for the at least one alternative intermediate destination;

analyzing the one or more costs indicated in the routing information and selecting one of the alternative intermediate destinations as a preferred intermediate destination for the indicated final destination; and

after selecting the one alternative intermediate destination, forwarding, to the selected one alternative intermediate destination, one or more communications directed to the indicated final destination, for further forwarding of the one or more communications from the selected one alternative intermediate destination to the indicated final destination.

21. The computing system of claim 20 wherein the identified alternative intermediate destinations include two or more computing nodes of the virtual computer network that are configured to forward communications from other computing nodes of the virtual computer network to the indicated final destination, or include two or more alternative connections between the virtual computer network and one or more other remote computing systems operated by the customer.

22. The computing system of claim 20 wherein the configuration information received from the customer further indicates a network topology for the virtual computer network in which the multiple computing nodes of the virtual computer network are separated into at least two logical subnets that are inter-connected by the virtual router device, and wherein the one or more modules include software instructions that, when executed, further configure the at least one processor to forward multiple communications between computing nodes of the at least two logical subnets and to emulate functionality that would be provided for the forwarding by the virtual router device if physically provided.

23. The computing system of claim 20 wherein the selected one alternative intermediate destination is an edge device that forwards communications from one or more first geographical locations of one or more computing nodes of the virtual computer network to one or more other computing nodes at one or more other distinct second geographical locations, or is a peering router that connects the computing nodes of the virtual computer network to one or more other computing nodes of one or more other virtual computer networks provided by the configurable network service, or is a connection endpoint for a connection between the computing nodes of the virtual computer network and one or more other distinct computing nodes.