Methods and apparatus for virtualizing switch control plane engine

• US 8,958,420 B1
• Filed: 03/30/2012
• Issued: 02/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Shekhar, Ravi, Vohra, Quaizar, O'Gorman, Michael, Frailong, Jean-Marc, Ratkovic, Aleksandar, Sreenivasamurthy, Shesha
• Primary Examiner(s): Cho, Un C
• Assistant Examiner(s): PASCUAL PEGUERO, NATALI
• Application Number:
  US13/435,919
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/384, 370/386, 709/223, 709/226
• US Class Current: 370/384
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/50 Circuit switching systems, i.e. systems in which the path is physically permanent during the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric

Abstract

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a scheduler disposed at a control device of a switch fabric system. The scheduler is configured to receive a control plane request associated with the switch fabric system having a data plane and a control plane separate from the data plane. The scheduler is configured to designate a control plane entity based on the control plane request and state information of each control plane entity from a set of control plane entities associated with the control plane and instantiated as a virtual machine. The scheduler is configured to send a signal to a compute device of the switch fabric system in response to the control plane request such that the control plane entity is instantiated as a virtual machine at the compute device.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a scheduler disposed at a control device of a switch fabric system and configured to be included in a plurality of schedulers, the scheduler configured to receive a control plane request associated with the switch fabric system having a data plane and a control plane separate from the data plane;

the scheduler configured to designate a control plane entity based on the control plane request and state information of each control plane entity from a plurality of control plane entities associated with the control plane and instantiated as a virtual machine;

the scheduler configured to select a compute device from a plurality of compute devices and not remaining compute devices from the plurality of compute devices based, at least in part, on an affinity attribute value and an anti-affinity attribute value of the control plane entity and of each control plane entity from the plurality of control plane entities; and

the scheduler configured to send a signal to the compute device of the switch fabric system in response to the control plane request such that the control plane entity is instantiated as a virtual machine at the compute device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the control plane entity is a first control plane entity, the plurality of control plane entities including a second control plane entity;

the scheduler configured to designate the first control plane entity such that the first control plane entity is associated with a priority attribute value, the second control plane entity is associated with a priority attribute value; and

one of the priority attribute value of the first control plane entity or the priority attribute value of the second plane entity is a primary value and the remaining priority attribute value of the first control plane entity or the priority attribute value of the second control plane entity is a secondary value.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the compute device is a first compute device;

the plurality of control plane entities includes a first control plane entity having a priority attribute value and a second control plane entity having a priority attribute value lower than the priority attribute value of the first control plane entity;

the scheduler configured to receive a signal indicating that a second compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative; and

the scheduler configured to modify the priority attribute value of the second control plane entity in response to the signal indicating that the second compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the compute device is a first compute device;

the plurality of control plane entities includes (1) a first control plane entity having a priority attribute value, (2) a second control plane entity having a priority attribute value lower than the priority attribute value of the first control plane entity and (3) a third control plane entity having a priority attribute value lower than the priority attribute value of the second control plane entity;

the scheduler configured to receive a signal indicating that a second compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative; and

the scheduler configured to increase the priority attribute value of the second control plane entity and increase the priority attribute value of the third control plane entity in response to the signal indicating that the second compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the compute device is a first compute device, the signal is a first signal, the control plane entity is a first control plane entity;

the plurality of control plane entities includes a second control plane entity, the virtual machine instantiated for the second control plane entity is located at a second compute device of the switch fabric system before the scheduler receives the control plane request; and

the scheduler configured to send a second signal to the second compute device of the switch fabric system in response to the control plane request and based on the state information such that the virtual machine instantiated for the second control plane entity is moved to a third compute device of the switch fabric system.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the signal is a first signal;

each control plane entity from the plurality of control plane entities being associated with a plurality of attribute values before the scheduler receives the control plane request; and

the scheduler configured to modify at least one attribute value for a control plane entity from the plurality of control plane entities in response to the control plane request and based on the state information.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

a scheduler agent disposed at a compute device of a switch fabric system having a data plane and a control plane separate from the data plane, the scheduler agent configured to receive a signal designating a control plane entity associated with the control plane;

the control plane entity having been designated based on a control plane request for the switch fabric system and state information of each control plane entity from a plurality of control plane entities associated with the control plane; and

the scheduler agent configured to configure a virtual machine on the compute device in response to the signal based, at least in part on an affinity attribute value and an anti-affinity attribute value of the control plane entity and of each control plane entity from the plurality of control plane entities.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the control plane entity is a first control plane entity, the compute device configured to configure a virtual machine associated with a second control plane entity;

the second control plane entity is associated with an affinity attribute value and an anti-affinity attribute value; and

at least one of (1) the affinity attribute value of the first control plane entity corresponding to the affinity attribute value of the second control plane entity, or (2) the anti-affinity attribute value of the first control plane entity not corresponding to the anti-affinity attribute value of the second control plane value.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the control plane entity is a first control plane entity, the compute device is a first compute device, the first control plane entity having a priority attribute value different than a priority attribute value of a second control plane entity associated with a virtual machine instantiated at a second compute device.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the control plane entity is a first control plane entity, the compute device is a first compute device;

the first control plane entity has a priority attribute value lower than a priority attribute value of a second control plane entity at a first time associated with a virtual machine instantiated at a second compute device when the second compute device is operative; and

the priority attribute value of the first control plane entity at a second time is higher than the priority attribute value of the second control plane entity at the first time when the second compute device is not operative.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the plurality of control plane entities includes (1) a first control plane entity having a priority attribute value, (2) a second control plane entity having a priority attribute value lower than the priority attribute value of the first control plane entity and (3) a third control plane entity having a priority attribute value lower than the priority attribute value of the second plane entity; and

the scheduler agent configured to send a signal indicating that the compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative such that the priority attribute value of the second control plane entity and the priority attribute value of the third control plane entity are increased in response to the signal indicating that the compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the compute device is a first compute device; and

the scheduler agent configured to send a signal indicating a status of the virtual machine on the first compute device, the scheduler agent configured to receive a signal to un-instantiate the virtual machine on the first compute device after the signal is sent, the virtual machine for the control plane entity being configured at a second compute device after the signal is sent from the scheduler agent.

13. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the scheduler agent is configured to receive the signal designating the control plane entity from a scheduler at a control device;

the compute device is a first compute device; and

the scheduler agent configured to send, to the scheduler at the control device, an update of state information of the control plane entity when the state information of the control plane entity changes.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving a control plane request associated with a switch fabric system having a data plane and a control plane separate from the data plane;

designating a control plane entity based on the control plane request and state information of each control plane entity from a plurality of control plane entities associated with the control plane and instantiated as a virtual machine;

selecting a compute device from a plurality of compute devices and not remaining compute devices from the plurality of compute devices based, at least in part, on an affinity attribute value and an anti-affinity attribute value of the control plane entity and of each control plane entity from the plurality of control plane entities; and

sending a signal to the compute device of the switch fabric system in response to the control plane request such that the control plane entity is instantiated as a virtual machine at the compute device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the compute device is a first compute device;

each control plane entity from the plurality of control plane entities is associated with an affinity attribute value and an anti-affinity attribute value;

the designating the control plane entity including designating the control plane entity such that the control plane entity is associated with the affinity attribute value and the anti-affinity attribute value; and

the method further comprising;

selecting, before the signal is sent, a second compute device from the plurality of compute devices and not remaining compute devices from the plurality of compute devices based, at least in part, on the affinity attribute value and the anti-affinity attribute value of the control plane entity and of each control plane entity from the plurality of control plane entities.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the control plane entity is a first control plane entity, the plurality of control plane entities including a second control plane entity;

the designating the first control plane entity including designating the first control plane entity such that the first control plane entity is associated with a priority attribute value;

the second control plane entity is associated with a priority attribute value; and

one of the priority attribute value of the first control plane entity or the priority attribute value of the second plane entity is a primary value and the remaining attribute value of the first control plane entity or the priority attribute value of the second control plane entity is a secondary value.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the compute device is a first compute device;

the plurality of control plane entities includes a first control plane entity having a priority attribute value and a second control plane entity having a priority attribute value lower than the priority attribute value of the first control plane;

the method further comprising;

receiving a signal indicating that a second compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative; and

modifying the priority attribute value of the second control plane entity in response to the signal indicating that the second compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the compute device is a first compute device;

the plurality of control plane entities includes (1) a first control plane entity having a priority attribute value, (2) a second control plane entity having a priority attribute value lower than the priority attribute value of the first control plane entity and (3) a third control plane entity having a priority attribute value lower than the priority attribute value of the second plane entity;

the method further comprising;

receiving a signal indicating that a second compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative; and

increasing the priority attribute value of the second control plane entity and increasing the priority attribute value of the third control plane entity in response to the signal indicating that the second compute device associated with the first control plane entity is not operative.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the control plane entity is a first control plane entity, the method further comprising:

modifying, after the sending, at least one attribute value for a second control plane entity from the plurality of control plane entities in response to the control plane request and based on the state information.