DISTRIBUTED NETWORK SERVICES

• US 20140280499A1
• Filed: 09/26/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Avi Networks, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Basavaiah, Murali, Rajagopalan, Ranganathan
• Granted Patent: US 9,483,286 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable

Abstract

Providing a distributed network service includes: receiving network traffic at a first physical device; and executing a service engine to participate in the distributed network service. The distributed network service is provided to at least the first target application instance executing in a first VM on the first physical device, and a second target application instance executing in a second VM on a second physical device; and a shared state of the distributed network service is maintained with respect to the first physical device and the second physical device.

Claims

1. A physical device comprising:

one or more communication interfaces configured to receive network traffic; and

one or more processors coupled to the one or more communication interfaces, configured to;

execute a service engine to participate in a distributed network service, wherein;

the distributed network service is provided to at least a first target application instance executing in a first VM on the physical device, and a second target application instance executing in a second VM on a second physical device; and

a shared state of the distributed network service is maintained with respect to the physical device and the second physical device.

2. The physical device of claim 1, wherein the service engine is a part of a network service layer shared by at least the physical device and the second physical device.

3. The physical device of claim 1, wherein the distributed network service includes one or is more of:

a load balancing service, a security service, a content acceleration and transportation service, a network analytics service, or a compression service.

4. The physical device of claim 1, wherein to execute the service engine to participate in the distributed network service includes to:

receive a request to establish the distributed network service for at least the first target application instance and the second target application instance; and

configure a virtual switch on a hypervisor to intercept traffic that is received by the virtual switch and designated for the first VM.

5. The physical device of claim 4, wherein the virtual switch is configured to be in-line with respect to the first VM.

6. The physical device of claim 1, wherein to configure the service engine to provide the distributed network service to the first target application instance further includes to activate the distributed network service.

7. The physical device of claim 1, wherein the shared state is a part of synchronized global information that is synchronized across the physical device and other physical devices.

8. The physical device of claim 1, wherein:

network traffic designated for the first target application instance is intercepted by a virtual switch and redirected to the service engine; and

the distributed network service is applied to the network traffic designated for the first target application instance.

9. The physical device of claim 1, wherein:

the first target application instance is configured to operate in a first tier; and

the one or more processors are further configured to;

execute a third target application instance in a second tier;

perform the distributed network service on the network traffic with respect to target application instances that belong to the first tier; and

perform the distributed network service on the network traffic with respect to target application instances that belong to the second tier.

10. The physical device of claim 1, wherein:

the distributed network service includes a load balancing service; and

one of a plurality of target application instances executing on a respective plurality of physical devices is selected by the load balancing service as a selected target application instance to process a received packet.

11. The physical device of claim 1, wherein:

the distributed network service includes a load balancing service;

one of a plurality of target application instances executing on a respective plurality of physical devices is selected by the load balancing service as a selected target application instance to process a received packet; and

the selected target application instance is selected based at least in part on topological information.

12. The physical device of claim 11, wherein:

the topological information includes a topological load L_ij=C_i*(H_ij+1);

L_ij corresponds to a load measurement of target application i with respect to load balancing component j;

C_i corresponds to number of connections being handled by application i; and

H_ij corresponds to number of hops between target application i and the load balancing component j.

13. A method of providing a distributed network service, comprising:

receiving network traffic at a first physical device; and

executing a service engine to participate in the distributed network service, wherein;

the distributed network service is provided to at least the first target application instance executing in a first VM on the first physical device, and a second target application instance executing in a second VM on a second physical device; and

a shared state of the distributed network service is maintained with respect to the first physical device and the second physical device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising sharing a network service layer with at least the second physical device, wherein the service engine is included in the network service layer.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the distributed network service includes one or more of:

a load balancing service, a security service, a content acceleration and transportation service, a network analytics service, or a compression service.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein executing the service engine to participate in the is distributed network service includes:

receiving a request to establish the distributed network service for at least the first target application instance and the second target application instance; and

configuring a virtual switch on a hypervisor to intercept traffic that is received by the virtual switch and designated for the first VM.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the virtual switch is configured to be in-line with respect to the first VM.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein configuring the service engine to provide the distributed network service to the first target application instance further includes to activate the distributed network service.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the shared state is a part of synchronized global information that is synchronized across at least the first physical device and the second physical device.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein:

network traffic designated for the first target application instance is intercepted by a virtual switch and redirected to the service engine; and

the distributed network service is applied to the network traffic designated for the first target application instance.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the first target application instance is configured to operate in a first tier; and

the method further comprises;

executing a third target application instance in a second tier;

performing the distributed network service on the network traffic with respect to target application instances that belong to the first tier; and

performing the distributed network service on the network traffic with respect to target application instances that belong to the second tier.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the distributed network service includes a load balancing service; and

one of a plurality of target application instances executing on a respective plurality of physical devices is selected by the load balancing service as a selected target application instance is to process a received packet.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the distributed network service includes a load balancing service;

one of a plurality of target application instances executing on a respective plurality of physical devices is selected by the load balancing service as a selected target application instance to process a received packet; and

the selected target application instance is selected based at least in part on topological information.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein:

the topological information includes a topological load L_ij=C_i*(H_ij+1);

L_ij corresponds to a load measurement of target application i with respect to load balancing component j;

C_i corresponds to number of connections being handled by application i; and

H_ij corresponds to number of hops between target application i and the load balancing component j.

25. A computer program product for providing a distributed network service, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving network traffic at a first physical device; and

executing a service engine to participate in the distributed network service;

wherein;

the distributed network service is provided to at least a first target application instance executing in a first VM in the first physical device, and a second target application instance executing in a second VM executing in a second physical device; and

a shared state of the distributed network service is maintained with respect to the first physical device and the second physical device.