IMPLEMENTING AN INTERFACE BETWEEN TUPLE AND MESSAGE-DRIVEN CONTROL ENTITIES

• US 20170091004A1
• Filed: 02/16/2016
• Published: 03/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shakimov, Amre, Wang, Su, Chanda, Anupam, Thakkar, Pankaj
• Granted Patent: US 10,204,122 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/00 Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention provide a novel method for interfacing between a first tuple-based controller and a second controller using a message-based protocol. The method of some embodiments identifies a set of changed tuples stored in a set of output tables, generates a set of messages based on the changed tuples, and sends the generated set of messages to a second controller. In some embodiments, the first and second controllers are parts of a network control system that manages forwarding elements to implement a logical network.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program, which when executed by a set of processing units, interfaces between a first tuple-based controller and a second controller using a message-based protocol, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

identifying a set of changed tuples stored in a set of tables;

generating a set of messages based on the changed tuples; and

sending the generated set of messages to the second controller.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the set of changed tuples comprises monitoring the set of tables.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the message-based protocol is the protobuf protocol.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for generating the set of messages comprises a set of instructions for generating n messages based on m data tuples, wherein n and m are different.

5. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of tables is a set of input tables, wherein the set of instructions for generating the set of messages comprises a set of instructions for generating a first set of tuples in a set of cacheable output tables and a second set of tuples in a set of non-cacheable output tables.

6. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of instructions for generating the first and second sets of tuples comprises a set of instructions for performing a series of table joins on the set of input tables to create records in the sets of cacheable and non-cacheable output tables.

7. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for, upon determining that a connection with the second controller has been re-established, sending a set of messages to the second controller based on tuples stored in the set of cacheable output tables.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of instructions for sending the set of messages comprises sets of instructions for:

sending a first set of messages based on the first set of tuples and a second set of messages based on the second set of tuples; and

removing only the second set of tuples from the set of non-cacheable output tables.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of cacheable output tables are for storing physical information identified by the first controller, wherein the physical information comprises virtual interface (VIF) information for a set of managed forwarding elements managed by the first controller.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of non-cacheable output tables are for storing logical information regarding the set of managed forwarding elements, wherein the logical information comprises mappings of the VIF information to elements of a logical network.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the logical information further comprises at least one of a virtual machine (VM) Internet Protocol (IP) address, a VM Media Access Control (MAC) address, a virtual tunnel end point (VTEP) IP address, and a VTEP IP address.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein a key is used to filter the requested information, wherein the key is a virtual network identifier (VNI) for a logical network associated with at least one machine attached to a forwarding element managed by the first controller.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for processing the changed tuples comprises a set of instructions for identifying a dependence of a first set of dependent tuples stored in a first table on a second set of tuples stored in a second table.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the dependence is based on a key stored in the first and second tables, wherein the key is a virtual network identifier (VNI) for a logical network associated with at least one machine attached to a forwarding element managed by the first controller.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the set of instructions for processing the changed tuples further comprises identifying a dependence of a third set of dependent tuples stored in a third table on the second set of tuples.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the set of instructions for processing the changed tuples further comprises identifying a dependence of a third set of dependent tuples stored in a third table on the first set of dependent tuples.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the changed set of tuples indicate a particular type of operation, wherein the set of instructions for processing the changed tuples comprises identifying a dependence of a first set of tuples stored in a first table on a second set of tuples stored in a second table when the particular type of operation is a first type of operation, and identifying a dependence of the second set of tuples on the first set of tuples when the particular type of operation is a second type of operation.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17, wherein the set of changed tuples comprise a flag to indicate whether the operation is an insert operation or a delete operation.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first table is registered for notifications for changes to the second set of tuples stored in the second table, wherein the set of instructions for generating the set of messages comprises, when the first table receives a notification regarding changes to the second set of tuples, updating a reference in the first set of dependent tuples, wherein the reference indicates whether messages based on the first set of dependent tuples can be sent.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein the reference is a counter, wherein the set of instructions for sending the generated set of messages comprises determining whether the counter has a particular value.