METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CONFIGURING A VIRTUAL NETWORK SWITCH

• US 20150092605A1
• Filed: 12/10/2014
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Aybay, Gunes, Sindhu, Pradeep, Venkatramani, Anjan
• Granted Patent: US 9,882,776 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/35 Switches specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/65 Re-configuration of fast packet switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes sending a configuration signal to a virtual network switch module within a control plane of a communications network. The configuration signal is configured to define a first network rule at the virtual network switch module. The method also includes configuring a packet forwarding module such that the packet forwarding module implements a second network rule, and receiving status information from the virtual network switch module and status information from the packet forwarding module. The status information is received via the control plane.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

sending a configuration signal to a network switch module within a control plane of a communications network such that the network switch module defines a network rule based on the configuration signal;

receiving a data packet from the network switch module when a datum associated with the data packet and determined by the network switch module meets a criterion, the network rule being applied to the data packet by the network switch module when the datum does not meet the criterion; and

applying the network rule in response to receiving the data packet and when the datum meets the criterion.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network switch module is a virtual network switch module.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration signal is a first configuration signal, the method further comprising:

receiving, before the sending, a second configuration signal including a description of the network rule.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications network is a multi-stage switch fabric.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration signal includes a portion of at least one of a filter, an access control list (ACL), or a flow table.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving exception information from the network switch module in response to the network switch module identifying an exception in the data packet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the criterion is based at least in part on a computational capability of a server hosting the network switch module.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a packet forwarding module configured to forward data packets based on a plurality of network rules defined at the packet forwarding module; and

a processor operatively coupled to the packet forwarding module, the processor configured to communicate via the packet forwarding module with a first network switch module hosted at a first computing device and a second network switch module hosted at a second computing device, the first network switch module and the second network switch module each being configured to function as an access switch or a distributed component of an access switch,

the processor configured to cause the first network switch module to apply a first network rule to data packets received at the first network switch module, the processor configured to cause the second network switch module to apply a second network rule to data packets received at the second network switch module.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the packet forwarding module includes an application specific integrated circuit to perform data packet classification.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to receive status information from the first network switch module and status information from the second network switch module.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to determine a utilization value associated with the packet forwarding module, the processor configured to remove a network rule from the plurality of network rules defined at the packet forwarding module and configured to cause the first network switch module to apply that network rule to data packets received at the first network switch module.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to define the plurality of network rules at the packet forwarding module.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to receive at least one of protocol packets or exception packets from the first network switch module.

14. A method, comprising:

sending a configuration signal to a network switch module within a control plane of a communications network such that the network switch module defines a first network rule based on the configuration signal;

causing a packet forwarding module to implement a second network rule;

receiving, via the control plane, status information from the network switch module;

receiving, via the control plane, status information from the packet forwarding module; and

cause the packet forwarding module to transfer the second network rule from the packet forwarding module to the network switch module based on the status information from the network switch module and the status information from the packet forwarding module.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the receiving the status information from the network switch module is at a first time and the configuration signal is a first configuration signal, the method further comprising:

receiving, at a second time after the first time, a third network rule; and

sending, at a third time after the second time, a second configuration signal to the network switch module such that the network switch module defines the third network rule based on the second configuration signal.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the receiving the status information from the network switch module is at a first time and the configuration signal is a first configuration signal, the method further comprising:

sending, at a second time after the first time, a second configuration signal to the network switch module in response to at least one of the status information from the network switch module or the status information from the packet forwarding module, the network switch module defining a third network rule after receiving and based on the second configuration signal.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the configuration signal includes an instruction to change a data value stored at a memory associated with the network switch module.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, before the sending, a configuration file including a description of the first network rule and a description of the second network rule.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the configuration signal is a first configuration signal, the method further comprising:

receiving a data packet from the network switch module within a data plane of the communications network; and

sending a second configuration signal from the network switch module within the control plane of the communications network in response to the receiving the data packet from the network switch module, the network switch module defining a third network rule after receiving and based on the second configuration signal.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the network switch module is a virtual network switch module hosted at a first computing device; and

the packet forwarding module is a virtual network switch module hosted at a second computing device.