PROVIDING CLOUD-BASED SERVICES USING DYNAMIC NETWORK VIRTUALIZATION

• US 20100322255A1
• Filed: 06/22/2009
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Hao, Fang, Mukherjee, Sarit, Song, Haoyu, Lakshman, T.V.
• Granted Patent: US 9,210,065 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/398
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• 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 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

The invention is directed to providing cloud-based services using dynamic network virtualization. Embodiments of the invention provide a cloud-based service over a system that has a dynamic network virtualization architecture. The architecture includes a set of distributed forwarding elements with centralized control, and at least one virtual machine that is bound to one of the forwarding elements. These features enable the virtual machine to be migrated across a wide area network while maintaining its original IP address and service continuity.

Claims

1. A method of providing a cloud-based service over a packet switching network via a system having a dynamic network virtualization architecture comprising a plurality of forwarding elements controlled by a central controller and a plurality of virtual machines, each said machine being associated with one of the forwarding elements, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first forwarding element, a data packet of said service;

determining, by the first forwarding element, a destination of the data packet;

forwarding, responsive to said destination being a virtual machine associated with the first forwarding element, the data packet directly to the virtual machine;

receiving the data packet at the destination; and

processing the data packet by the destination in accordance with said service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding comprises:

forwarding, responsive to said virtual machine being associated with a second forwarding element, the data packet to the virtual machine via the second forwarding element.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein forwarding further comprises:

forwarding, responsive to the destination being external to said architecture, the data packet to the destination in accordance with an external forwarding table of the first forwarding element.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein forwarding further comprises:

forwarding the data packet to the second forwarding element via one of;

a tunneled connection between the first and second forwarding elements, a multiprotocol label switched path between the first and second forwarding elements, or dedicated facilities between the first and second forwarding elements.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

advertising, by the first forwarding element, an address of the virtual machine to a system of the packet switching network that is external to said architecture.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein advertising is controlled by the central controller.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising prior to determining:

discovering, by the virtual machine, the first forwarding element;

registering, by the virtual machine, the virtual machine with the first forwarding element, thereby causing said machine to be associated with the first forwarding element;

sending, by the first forwarding element, to the central controller an indication of an association so formed between said machine and the first forwarding element; and

configuring, by the central controller, a remainder of the plurality of forwarding elements with said association.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein configuring comprises updating a forwarding table on each of the remainder of forwarding elements with the association.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein registering comprises:

sending, by the virtual machine, a first registration message to the first forwarding element.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

sending, by a third forwarding element to which the virtual machine was formerly associated, a second registration message to systems in a subnet to which the third forwarding element belongs to indicate that the third forwarding element will act as a proxy for the virtual machine.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first and second registration messages are address resolution protocol messages.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein registering further comprises:

determining whether or not a security policy of the central controller will be violated by registering the virtual machine.

13. A system for providing a cloud-based service over a packet switching network, comprising:

a plurality of forwarding elements for routing data packets of said service;

a central controller for controlling the plurality of forwarding elements; and

a virtual machine for processing data packets of said service, the virtual machine being associated with a first forwarding element of the plurality of forwarding elements.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a plurality of connections interconnecting the plurality of forwarding elements such that each forwarding element is connected to at least one other forwarding element.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one connection of the plurality of connections is one of:

a tunneled connection, a multiprotocol label switched path, or a dedicated facilities connection.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the first forwarding element comprises an indication of the virtual machine being associated with the first forwarding element.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein a second forwarding element of the plurality of forwarding elements comprises said indication.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the first and second forwarding elements further comprises a respective forwarding table in which said indication is stored along with routing information for sending a data packet of said service to the virtual machine.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the central controller is operable to configure the respective forwarding tables on the first and second forwarding elements with said routing information.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the virtual machine is operable to register itself with the first forwarding element thereby causing the virtual machine to be associated with the first forwarding element.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the first forwarding element is operable to convey said indication to the central controller.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the central controller is further operable to configure said indication on the second forwarding element.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a plurality of virtual machines wherein each virtual machine is associated with one of the forwarding elements.

24. A method of migrating a virtual machine providing a cloud-based service to a user population via a system having a dynamic network virtualization architecture comprising a plurality of forwarding elements controlled by a central controller, the method comprising:

receiving, by the virtual machine, a first data packet of said service from a first forwarding element to which the virtual machine is bound by a first binding, the first data packet having a destination address of the virtual machine;

detecting, by the system, a change in the user population;

discovering, by the virtual machine responsive to said change, a second forwarding element;

forming, by the virtual machine, a second binding with the second forwarding element;

receiving, at the central controller, an indication of the second binding;

initiating, by the central controller, release of the first binding; and

receiving, by the virtual machine, a second data packet of said service from the second forwarding element, the second data packet having a destination address of the virtual machine.

25. A virtualized logical router, comprising:

a plurality of geographically distributed forwarding elements for routing data packets, the forwarding elements interconnected by facilities forming a virtual backplane and each forwarding element being operable to function as a virtual line card having multiple virtual ports; and

a central controller for configuring and managing the plurality of forwarding elements.

26. The router of claim 25, wherein the forwarding elements are part of a data center and the facilities are dedicated facilities.

27. The router of claim 25, wherein the facilities comprise one of MPLS bandwidth-guaranteed paths or tunnels through a public Internet.