Embedding overlay virtual network addresses in underlying substrate network addresses

• US 8,046,480 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cohn, Daniel T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Colin; Carl
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rashid; Harunur
• Application Number:
  US12/060,138
• Publication Number:
  US 20090248896A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,303 Days
• Field of Search: 709/238, 709/245, 709/217, 709/223, 709/224, 709/230
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/672 Short addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/251 between different IP versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212

Abstract

Techniques are described for managing communications between multiple computing nodes, such as computing nodes that are separated by one or more physical networks. In some situations, the techniques may be used to provide a virtual network between multiple computing nodes that are separated by one or more intermediate physical networks, such as from the edge of the one or more intermediate physical networks by modifying communications that enter and/or leave the intermediate physical networks. In some situations, the computing nodes may include virtual machine nodes hosted on one or more physical computing machines or systems, such as by or on behalf of one or more users (e.g., users of a program execution service). The managing of the communications may include using substrate network addresses that are configured to embed virtual network addresses for a virtual network that is overlaid on the underlying physical substrate network.

Claims

1. A method for a computing system to manage communications between computing nodes, the method comprising:

under control of a communication manager module that manages communications for multiple associated computing nodes, the communication manager module being provided by a program execution service that executes multiple programs for multiple customers and the multiple associated computing nodes being provided by the program execution service for use in the executing of the multiple programs,

receiving an indication of an outgoing communication from an executing program on a sending node that is one of the associated computing nodes for the communication manager module, the program being executed on behalf of a first customer of the program execution service and the outgoing communication being intended for a remote destination node that is one of multiple other computing nodes associated with another remote communication manager module of the program execution service, the one other computing node executing one or more other programs on behalf of the first customer, the sending and destination nodes being part of a first virtual network that uses a first network addressing protocol such that the destination node has a first destination network address that is a virtual network address for the first virtual network specified in accordance with the first network addressing protocol, the communication manager module being communicatively connected to the another communication manager module via at least one other second physical network that uses a distinct second network addressing protocol; and

facilitating sending of the outgoing communication from the sending node to the destination node over the at least one second network by,

automatically generating a distinct second destination network address for the destination node that is specified in accordance with the second network addressing protocol, the second destination network address including a partial destination network address for the destination node based on the second network addressing protocol that corresponds to the another communication manager module and including an embedded representation of the first destination network address specified in accordance with the first network addressing protocol, the automatic generating being performed by one or more configured processors of the computing system; and

initiating use of the generated second destination network address to forward the outgoing communication to the destination node via routing of the forwarded communication to the another communication manager module over the at least one second network, the initiating of the use of the generated second destination network address being performed by the one or more configured processors.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sending node is one of multiple virtual machines that are hosted by one of multiple physical computing systems associated with the program execution service, wherein the communication manager module is provided by a virtual machine manager module of the one physical computing system, wherein the destination node is one of multiple virtual machines that are hosted by another of the multiple physical computing systems, and wherein the automatic generating of the distinct second destination network address for the destination node includes interacting with a system manager module of the program execution service to determine the partial destination network address for the destination node that corresponds to the another communication manager module.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first virtual network is a private virtual local network to which the sending node and the destination node belong, wherein one or more other of the multiple computing nodes associated with the communication manager module belong to one or more other virtual networks, wherein the at least one second network is a non-private network over which communications for the first virtual network and for the one or more other virtual networks are forwarded, and wherein the automatically generated second destination network address for the destination node further includes an identifier that represents the first virtual network so as to enable resolution of the first destination network address included in the generated second destination network address.

4. A computer-implemented method for managing communications between computing nodes, the method comprising:

receiving an indication related to a communication to be sent from a source computing node to a destination computing node, the source and destination computing nodes being part of a virtual network that uses a first network addressing protocol such that the destination computing node has a virtual network address for the virtual network specified in accordance with the first network addressing protocol, the source computing node being communicatively connected to the destination computing node via at least one intermediate network that uses a distinct second network addressing protocol, the virtual network being provided for a first customer of a program execution service that executes multiple programs for multiple customers on multiple provided computing nodes, the source and destination computing nodes being part of the multiple provided computing nodes and each executing at least one program from the program execution service on behalf of the first customer;

facilitating sending of the communication from the source computing node to the destination computing node over the at least one intermediate network, the facilitating being automatically performed by at least one of one or more configured computing systems that provide the program execution service and including automatically generating a destination network address for the destination computing node that is specified in accordance with the second network addressing protocol, the destination network address including a partial destination network address for the destination computing node that corresponds to multiple computing nodes and including a representation of the virtual network address for the destination computing node; and

initiating use of the generated destination network address in routing the communication over the at least one intermediate network to the destination computing node, the initiating use of the generated destination network address being performed by at least one of the one or more configured computing systems.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the automatic generating of the destination network address is performed under control of a first communication manager module of the program execution service that manages communications for one or more computing nodes that include the source computing node, and wherein the partial destination network address corresponds to a remote second communication manager module of the program execution service that manages communications for the multiple computing nodes that include the destination node, such that the routing of the communication over the at least one intermediate network to the destination computing node includes routing the communication to the second communication manager module.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the method further comprises, under control of the second communication manager module, after the communication is routed to the second communication manager module, using the virtual network address included in the generated destination network address to identify the destination computing node, and forwarding the communication to the identified destination computing node.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the generated destination network address further includes an identifier for the virtual network that is assigned by the program execution service, so as to enable identification of the destination computing node for the communication from the generated destination network address based at least in part on determining a computing node to which is assigned the virtual network address for the virtual network.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the partial destination network address of the generated destination network address reflects a topology of the at least one intermediate network so as to correspond to a portion of the at least one intermediate network that includes the multiple computing nodes.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the partial destination network address of the generated destination network address corresponds to a physical sub-network in which the multiple computing nodes are co-located.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the automatic generating of the destination network address is performed under control of a system manager module of the program execution service that maintains information about multiple virtual networks that each include multiple computing nodes, the maintained information including information about computing nodes to which virtual network addresses for the multiple virtual networks are assigned.

11. The method of claim 4 wherein the automatic generating of the destination network address is performed under control of a communication manager module of the program execution service that manages communications for one or more computing nodes that include the source computing node, and wherein the automatic generating of the destination network address includes interacting with a remote system manager module of the program execution service that maintains information about computing nodes to which virtual network addresses are assigned, the interacting including obtaining information from the remote system manager module corresponding to the destination network address.

12. The method of claim 4 wherein the received indication related to the communication to be sent from the source computing node to the destination computing node is an outgoing communication sent by the source computing node, the outgoing communication using the virtual network address of the destination computing node to indicate an intended recipient of the outgoing communication, and wherein the initiating use of the generated destination network address includes forwarding the outgoing communication to the at least one intermediate network so as to use the generated destination network address to route the communication over the at least one intermediate network.

13. The method of claim 4 wherein the received indication related to the communication to be sent from the source computing node to the destination computing node is a request from the source computing node for addressing information for the destination computing node for use in later sending the communication, wherein the method further comprises mapping dummy addressing information for the destination computing node to the generated destination network address and providing the dummy addressing information to the source computing node, and wherein the initiating use of the generated destination network address includes, after the source computing node later sends the communication and uses the provided dummy addressing information to indicate the destination computing node, using the generated destination network address in place of the provided dummy addressing information.

14. The method of claim 4 wherein the source computing node is one of multiple virtual machines hosted by a first physical computing system, wherein the first physical computing system is one of multiple physical computing systems used by the program execution service to perform the executing of the multiple programs for the multiple customers, wherein the method is performed by a virtual machine manager module that executes on the first physical computing system to manage communications by the multiple hosted virtual machines on behalf of the program execution service, and wherein the facilitating of the sending of the communication from the source computing node to the destination computing node over the at least one intermediate network is performed on behalf of the program execution service as part of the providing of the virtual network to the first customer.

15. The method of claim 4 wherein the initiating use of the generated destination network address in routing the communication over the at least one intermediate network to the destination computing node is performed so as to enable an overlay of the virtual network on the at least one intermediate network for the communication without encapsulating the communication in one or more distinct communications to be sent over the at least one intermediate network.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents configure a computing system to manage communications, by performing a method comprising:

receiving an indication related to a communication intended for a destination node, the destination node being part of a first virtual network that uses a first network addressing protocol and having an associated first virtual network address using the first network addressing protocol, the communication being from a program executing on a sending node on behalf of a first customer of a program execution service that executes multiple programs for multiple customers on multiple provided computing nodes and to be sent via one or more networks that use a distinct second network addressing protocol, the first virtual network being provided for the first customer of the program execution service, the sending and destination nodes being part of the multiple provided computing nodes and each executing at least one program from the program execution service on behalf of the first customer;

automatically determining a destination network address for the destination node using the second network addressing protocol, the destination network address including a partial destination network address for the destination node that corresponds to multiple computing nodes based on the second network addressing protocol and including an indication of the first virtual network address for the destination node, the automatic determining being performed by the configured computing system; and

initiating use of the determined destination network address in routing the communication over the one or more networks to the destination node.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the sending node is one of multiple virtual machines hosted by a physical computing system, wherein the one or more networks are part of at least one intermediate physical network between the sending node and destination node that uses the second networking addressing protocol, wherein the method is performed by a virtual machine manager module of the program execution service that executes on the physical computing system to manage communications by the multiple hosted virtual machines and further comprises forwarding the communication to the one or more networks using the determined destination network address so as to enable an overlay of the first virtual network on the one or more networks, wherein the first network addressing protocol is Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), wherein the second network addressing protocol is Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), and wherein the determining of the destination network address for the destination node includes generating the destination network address.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the configured computing system.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the contents are instructions that when executed program the configured computing system to perform the method.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the contents include one or more data structures comprising one or more entries for use in storing network addresses, the one or more entries including a first entry that contains the first network address specified in accordance with the first network addressing protocol.

21. A system structured to manage communications between computing nodes, comprising:

one or more memories of one or more computing systems; and

at least one of multiple communication manager modules of a program execution service that are configured to manage communications between multiple computing nodes via one or more intermediate networks, the multiple computing nodes being associated with the program execution service that executes multiple programs on behalf of multiple customers of the program execution service, such that each communication manager module manages communications for an associated group of the multiple computing nodes by;

after receiving an indication related to one or more communications from a source computing node to a destination computing node that is part of the associated group for another of the communication manager modules, the source computing node being one of the computing nodes of the associated group for the communication manager module, determining a destination network address for use with the one or more communications that is specified in accordance with a network addressing protocol used by the one or more intermediate networks, the determined destination network address including a partial network address that corresponds to the another communication manager module whose associated group of computing nodes includes the destination node, the determined destination network address further including an indication of a network address of the destination node specified in accordance with a distinct other network addressing protocol used by the source computing node; and

initiating use of the determined destination network address to forward the one or more communications over the one or more intermediate networks to the destination computing node.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the determining by a communication manager module of the destination network address for use with one or more communication includes interacting with a remote system manager module of the program execution service that maintains information about the associated group of computing nodes for each of the communication manager modules, the interacting including providing an indication to the system manager module of the destination node network address specified in accordance with the other network addressing protocol used by the source computing node, the interacting further including receiving an indication from the system manager module of the partial network address that corresponds to the another communication manager module whose associated group of computing nodes includes the destination computing node, and wherein the system further comprises the system manager module.

23. The system of claim 21 further comprising multiple computing systems that provide the multiple communication manager modules, one or more of the computing systems each hosting multiple virtual machines that each provide one of the multiple computing nodes and executing one of the communication manager modules as part of a virtual machine manager module for the computing system, such that the computing nodes provided by the hosted virtual machines of the computing system are the associated group of computing nodes for the executing communication manager module.

24. The system of claim 21 wherein the at least one communication manager modules each includes software instructions for execution in memory of one or more computing systems.

25. The system of claim 21 wherein each of the at least one communication manager modules consists of a means for managing outgoing communications for an associated group of one or more of the multiple computing nodes by:

after receiving an indication related to one or more communications from a source computing node to a destination computing node that is part of the associated group for another of the communication manager modules, the source computing node being one of the computing nodes of the associated group for the communication manager module, determining a destination network address for use with the one or more communications that is specified in accordance with a network addressing protocol used by the one or more intermediate networks, the determined destination network address including a partial network address that corresponds to the another communication manager module whose associated group of computing nodes includes the destination node, the determined destination network address further including an indication of a network address of the destination node specified in accordance with a distinct other network addressing protocol used by the source computing node; and

providing an indication of the determined destination network address for use in sending the one or more communications over the one or more intermediate networks to the destination computing node.