Managing communications between computing nodes

• US 9,369,302 B1
• Filed: 06/24/2008
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dickinson, Andrew B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Goldberg, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US12/145,411
• Time in Patent Office: 2,912 Days
• Field of Search: 724/9
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses

Abstract

Techniques are described for managing communications sent to and/or from multiple computing nodes, such as for a group of computing nodes that are part of one or more private networks. In at least some situations, the techniques are used in conjunction with providing network address translation (“NAT”) functionality to a group of computing nodes that share one or more networks, such as to provide NAT functionality in a distributed and asymmetric manner using multiple computing devices that perform different types of operations at different locations within the private network.

Claims

1. A system configured to manage network communications, comprising:

a processor of a computing system; and

a system manager module that is configured to, when executed by the processor, manage a first network by;

configuring one or more first computing devices to use supplied mapping information that includes one or more second network addresses for the one or more external second networks, wherein the one or more first computing devices are configured to communicate with the first network and with the one or more external second networks and are further configured to manage incoming communications intended for multiple computing nodes that are part of the first network based at least in part on the mapping information, each of the multiple computing nodes having a distinct first network address specified in accordance with the first network; and

configuring one or more second computing devices to use the mapping information, wherein the one or more second computing devices are located within the first network and are further configured to manage outgoing communications from the first network that include a first outgoing communication sent from a source node that is one of the multiple computing nodes of the first network to an external destination that is not part of the first network, the managing of the outgoing communications by the one or more second computing devices including;

determining one of the one or more second network addresses to use in the first outgoing communication for the source node based at least in part on the mapping information;

forwarding the outgoing communication along with the determined one second network address to the external destination without using any network address translation functionality of the first computing devices; and

initiating an update of the mapping information used by the one or more first computing devices to reflect the use of the determined one second network address for the source node.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the first network is a private network and the first network addresses are private network addresses, wherein the one or more external second networks are a public network and the second network addresses are public network addresses, wherein the first computing devices are each network address translation devices at an edge of the first network, and wherein the second computing devices include multiple computing devices that are part of the private network and that each execute a communication manager module.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein each of the communication manager modules executing on the second computing devices includes software instructions for execution by at least one processor of the computing device that is executing the communication manager module.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the determining of the second network address is performed by the communication manager module executing on one of the multiple computing devices without using any information provided by the network address translation devices and without having previously received any indication of any incoming communication from the external destination.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the initiating of the update of the mapping information includes providing an indication of the determined second network address for that executing communication manager module to one or more of the network address translation devices.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein the one or more first computing devices are connected to one or more additional nodes external to the first network that are part of the one or more external second networks, wherein the one or more distinct second computing devices are not directly connected to any nodes external to the first network, and wherein the forwarding of the outgoing communication to the external destination includes:

modifying the outgoing communication to use the determined one second network address as a source address; and

initiating forwarding of the modified outgoing communication to the external destination over the one or more external second networks.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising one or more storage devices that store the mapping information, and wherein the one or more second computing devices are further configured to provide an indication of the determined second network address to the system manager module for use in updating the stored mapping information.