Service processing switch

• US 9,967,200 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2016
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Inventors: Hussain, Zahid, Millet, Tim
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAN, MAN U
• Application Number:
  US15/071,097
• Publication Number:
  US 20160197836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 784 Days
• Field of Search: 370229-235, 370392-401, 709217-246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• 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 45/20 Hop count for routing purposes, e.g. TTL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/60 Router architectures
• 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 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2491 Mapping quality of service [QoS] requirements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/326 with random discard, e.g. random early discard [RED]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6215 Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/623 Weighted service order
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 : for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/062 : for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 : Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/164 : at the network layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 : Negotiation of communication capabilities

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing IP services in an integrated fashion are provided. According to one embodiment, a flow cache is established having multiple entries each identifying one of multiple VR flows through a VR-based network device and corresponding forwarding state information. A packet is received at an input port of a line interface module of the network device and forwarded to a VRE. Flow-based packet classification is performed by the VRE. An attempt is made to retrieve an entry of the flow cache based on a result of the flow-based packet classification. On a flow cache hit, one or more appropriate packet transformations are identified for application to the packet and it is determined whether to process the packet with a VSE based on the corresponding forwarding state information. On a flow cache miss, the new VR flow is added to the flow cache by performing flow learning.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a flow cache having a plurality of entries each identifying one of a plurality of virtual router (VR) flows through a VR-based network device and corresponding forwarding state information;

receiving a packet at an input port of a line interface module of the VR-based network device;

the line interface module forwarding the packet to a virtual routing engine (VRE);

performing, by the VRE, flow-based packet classification on the packet;

attempting, by the VRE, to retrieve an entry of a plurality of entries of the flow cache based on a result of the flow-based packet classification;

on a flow cache hit, determining, based on the corresponding forwarding state information of the retrieved flow cache entry, one or more appropriate packet transformations for application to the packet and whether to process the packet with a virtual service engine (VSE) of the VR-based network device;

on a flow cache miss, identifying the existence of a new VR flow and adding the new VR flow to the flow cache by performing flow learning;

wherein the one or more appropriate packet transformations are associated with Network Address Translation (NAT) and comprise replacing one or more of an original IP source address, an original IP destination address, an original Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) source port, an original TCP destination port, an original User Datagram Protocol (UDP) source port and an original UDP destination port specified within a header of the packet;

wherein the VSE comprises an Advanced Security Engine (ASE) and wherein the method further comprises responsive to receiving, by the ASE, the packet, performing one or more hardware-accelerated security services; and

wherein the ASE includes a key accelerator and wherein the one or more hardware-accelerated security services include performing, by the key accelerator, hardware-assisted Internet Key Exchange (IKE) or hardware-assisted key generation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ASE includes an encryption accelerator chipset and wherein the one or more hardware-accelerated security services include encrypting the packet, by the encryption accelerator chipset, for IP Security (IPSec).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more appropriate packet transformation include substituting a Layer 2 destination address of the packet with a next hop value, decrementing a Time-To-Live (TTL) field and updating an Internet Protocol (IP) header checksum of the packet.

4. A method comprising:

establishing a flow cache having a plurality of entries each identifying one of a plurality of virtual router (VR) flows through a VR-based network device and corresponding forwarding state information;

receiving a packet at an input port of a line interface module of the VR-based network device;

the line interface module forwarding the packet to a virtual routing engine (VRE);

performing, by the VRE, flow-based packet classification on the packet;

attempting, by the VRE, to retrieve an entry of a plurality of entries of the flow cache based on a result of the flow-based packet classification;

on a flow cache hit, determining, based on the corresponding forwarding state information of the retrieved flow cache entry, one or more appropriate packet transformations for application to the packet and whether to process the packet with a virtual service engine (VSE) of the VR-based network device;

on a flow cache miss, identifying the existence of a new VR flow and adding the new VR flow to the flow cache by performing flow learning;

wherein the one or more appropriate packet transformations comprise Differentiated Services (DiffServ) Type of Service (ToS) field marking;

wherein the VSE comprises an Advanced Security Engine (ASE) and wherein the method further comprises responsive to receiving, by the ASE, the packet, performing one or more hardware-accelerated security services; and

wherein the ASE includes a key accelerator and wherein the one or more hardware-accelerated security services include performing, by the key accelerator, hardware-assisted Internet Key Exchange (IKE) or hardware-assisted key generation.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the ASE includes an encryption accelerator chipset and wherein the one or more hardware-accelerated security services include encrypting the packet, by the encryption accelerator chipset, for IP Security (IPSec).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more appropriate packet transformation include substituting a Layer 2 destination address of the packet with a next hop value, decrementing a Time-To-Live (TTL) field and updating an Internet Protocol (IP) header checksum of the packet.

7. A method comprising:

establishing a flow cache having a plurality of entries each identifying one of a plurality of virtual router (VR) flows through a VR-based network device and corresponding forwarding state information;

receiving a packet at an input port of a line interface module of the VR-based network device;

the line interface module forwarding the packet to a virtual routing engine (VRE);

performing, by the VRE, flow-based packet classification on the packet;

attempting, by the VRE, to retrieve an entry of a plurality of entries of the flow cache based on a result of the flow-based packet classification;

on a flow cache hit, determining, based on the corresponding forwarding state information of the retrieved flow cache entry, one or more appropriate packet transformations for application to the packet and whether to process the packet with a virtual service engine (VSE) of the VR-based network device;

on a flow cache miss, identifying the existence of a new VR flow and adding the new VR flow to the flow cache by performing flow learning;

wherein the one or more appropriate packet transformations are associated with Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunneling and comprise encapsulation the packet within another packet;

wherein the VSE comprises an Advanced Security Engine (ASE) and wherein the method further comprises responsive to receiving, by the ASE, the packet, performing one or more hardware-accelerated security services; and

wherein the ASE includes a key accelerator and wherein the one or more hardware-accelerated security services include performing, by the key accelerator, hardware-assisted Internet Key Exchange (IKE) or hardware-assisted key generation.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the ASE includes an encryption accelerator chipset and wherein the one or more hardware-accelerated security services include encrypting the packet, by the encryption accelerator chipset, for IP Security (IPSec).

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more appropriate packet transformation include substituting a Layer 2 destination address of the packet with a next hop value, decrementing a Time-To-Live (TTL) field and updating an Internet Protocol (IP) header checksum of the packet.