Scalable Virtual Appliance Cloud (SVAC) and Methods Usable in an SVAC

• US 20130242999A1
• Filed: 05/30/2012
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kamble, Keshav G., Leu, Dar-Ren, Mukherjee, Nilanjan, Pandey, Vijoy A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,009,831 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a method for providing scalable virtual appliance cloud (SVAC) services includes receiving incoming data traffic having multiple packets directed toward a SVAC using at least one switching distributed line card (DLC), determining that a packet satisfies a condition of an access control list (ACL), designating a destination port to send the packet based on the condition of the ACL being satisfied, fragmenting the packet into cells, wherein the designated destination port is stored in a cell header of the cells, sending the cells to the destination port via at least one switch fabric controller (SFC), receiving the cells at a fabric interface of an appliance DLC, reassembling the cells into a second packet, performing one or more services on the second packet using the appliance DLC, and sending the second packet to its intended port.

Claims

1. A method for providing scalable virtual appliance cloud (SVAC) services, the method comprising:

receiving incoming data traffic comprising multiple packets directed toward a SVAC using at least one switching distributed line card (DLC);

determining that a packet satisfies a condition of an access control list (ACL);

designating a destination port to send the packet based on the condition of the ACL being satisfied;

fragmenting the packet into at least one cell, wherein the designated destination port is stored in a cell header of the at least one cell;

sending the at least one cell to the destination port via at least one switch fabric controller (SFC);

receiving the at least one cell at a fabric interface of an appliance DLC corresponding to the destination port;

reassembling the at least one cell into a second packet;

performing one or more services on the second packet using the appliance DLC; and

sending the second packet to its intended port.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

automatically incorporating one or more additional appliance DLC into the SVAC upon connecting the one or more additional appliance DLC to the at least one SFC;

automatically removing one or more appliance DLC from the SVAC upon disconnecting the one or more appliance DLC from the at least one SFC;

increasing a processing power of the SVAC upon incorporation of the one or more additional appliance DLC; and

reducing the processing power of the SVAC upon removal of the one or more appliance DLC.

3. A method for providing scalable virtual appliance cloud (SVAC) services, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of cells from one or more switch fabric controller (SFC), wherein one or more services have been requested to be performed on the plurality of cells;

reassembling the plurality of cells into one or more packets using a local network switch of an appliance distributed line card (DLC);

performing the one or more requested services on the one or more packets using the appliance DLC;

fragmenting the one or more packets into cells using the local network switch of the appliance DLC, wherein a packet switching block of the appliance DLC does not learn source or destination addresses from packets received from a local processor of the appliance DLC; and

sending the one or more packets to the one or more SFC using the local network switch of the appliance DLC.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein when multiple services are requested and a particular service is not provided on the appliance DLC, the one or more packets are sent to a second appliance DLC adapted for performing at least one of the other services.

5. A method for providing scalable virtual appliance cloud (SVAC) services, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of packets at a switching distributed line card (DLC), wherein one or more services have been requested to be performed on the plurality of packets;

analysing the plurality of packets to determine one or more services to be performed on one or more portions of the plurality of packets using at least one access control list (ACL);

determining at least one destination port associated with one or more appliance DLC, wherein each of the one or more appliance DLC is adapted for providing the determined one or more services to the one or more packets;

fragmenting the one or more packets into a plurality of cells; and

sending the plurality of cells to the determined at least one destination port via one or more switch fabric controller (SFC).

6. The method as recited in claim 5,

wherein the analyzing the plurality of packets is performed using a switching DLC,

wherein each ACL traps one or more packets based on services to be performed on the one or more packets,

wherein each ACL balances processing loads of the one or more appliance DLC to which the ACL sends packets for performing services thereon,

wherein a local network switch of the switching DLC fragments the one or more packets into the plurality of cells, and

wherein the determining the at least one destination port comprises determining which appliance DLCs are adapted for providing the one or more determined services.