Fabric computing system having an embedded software defined network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10599458-B2
Application number	US-201514603496-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2015
Priority date	Jan 23, 2015
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

A Forward Fabric platform system for coupling to a data center platform. The Forward Fabric platform system includes a plurality of nodes, an interconnect backplane coupled between the nodes, and a Forward Fabric Manager (FFM) coupled to the nodes via the interconnect backplane for controlling and managing the Forward Fabric platform system. The Forward Fabric manager creates at least one secure partition (s-Par) application executing within at least one of the nodes. At least one of the nodes having a secure partition (s-Par) application executing therein also includes a software defined network (SDN) controller executing therein for receiving configuration information and providing at least one secure and non-stop Forward Fabric endpoint on the Forward Fabric platform system for connecting with at least one endpoint on the data center platform. At least one of the nodes having a secure partition (s-Par) application executing therein also includes a traffic control component and a router switch component. At least one the nodes is coupled to the data center platform via one or more non-stop fabric segments.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A Forward Fabric system for coupling to a data center platform, the Forward Fabric system comprising:
a processor;
a memory coupled to the processor;
a plurality of nodes, wherein each node includes at least one of one or more applications, operating systems, virtual machines, and hypervisor applications running thereon;
an interconnect backplane coupled between the plurality of nodes;
a Forward Fabric Manager (FFM) coupled to the plurality of nodes via the interconnect backplane for controlling and managing the Forward Fabric system; and
a physical router switch coupled to the Forward Fabric manager and coupled to the plurality of nodes,
wherein the Forward Fabric manager creates at least one secure partition (s-Par) application executing within at least one of the plurality of nodes,
wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes having a secure partition (s-Par) application executing therein also includes a software defined network (SDN) controller executing therein for receiving configuration information and providing at least one secure and non-stop Forward Fabric endpoint on the Forward Fabric system for connecting with at least one endpoint on the data center platform,
wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes having a secure partition (s-Par) application executing therein also includes an interconnect service partition for accepting and interpreting at least one configuration command from the SDN controller and for implementing a configuration based on the configuration command,
wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes having a secure partition (s-Par) application executing therein also includes a router switch component for performing at least one switching function within the Forward Fabric system,
wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes is coupled to the data center platform via at least one SDN controller, and
wherein the at least one SDN controller allows the plurality of nodes to communicate with the data center platform without any network cards and without any host bus adapters.

2. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the physical router switch includes a routing component and at least one switching component for providing systems level switching and routing functions within the Forward Fabric system.

3. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes is coupled to at least one other node via at least one non-stop fabric segment.

4. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a Stealth application component coupled to at least one of the Forward Fabric manager and the SDN controller, wherein the Stealth application component conceals communication endpoints of the Forward Fabric system in such a way that the communication endpoints of the Forward Fabric system are not detectable by the data center platform.

5. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes includes at least one partition executing therein.

6. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes includes at least one virtual machine (VM) executing therein.

7. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes includes a hypervisor executing therein.

8. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the router switch components is an interconnect service partition (ICSP).

9. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the Forward Fabric manager creates at least one virtual local area network (vLAN) within the Forward Fabric system and assigns partitions to the at least one virtual local area network.

10. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the Forward Fabric manager creates at least one virtual data center within the Forward Fabric system.

11. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one component within at least one of the plurality of nodes is coupled to the data center platform via a platform/partition specific connection.

12. The Forward Fabric system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the secure partition (s-Par) application further comprises a virtualization system for a host computing device having at least one host processor and system resources including memory divided into most privileged system memory and less privileged user memory, the virtualization system including:
a virtualization ultraboot application that operates in the less privileged user memory and divides the host computing device into a plurality of virtual partitions including at least one user guest partition and at least one system partition, the at least one virtual guest partition, and the at least one system partition maintaining a resource database for use in managing the use of the at least one host processor and the system resources;
at least one monitor that operates in the most privileged system memory and maintains guest applications in the at least one virtual guest partition within memory space allocated by the virtual service partition to the at least one virtual guest partition; and
a context switch between the at least one monitor and the respective virtual guest partitions and the virtual service partition for controlling multitask processing in the partitions on the at least one host processor.

13. A Forward Fabric architecture, comprising:
a data center platform;
a Forward Fabric system coupled to the data center, wherein the Forward Fabric includes:
a processor;
a memory coupled to the processor;
a plurality of nodes, wherein each node includes at least one of one or more applications, operating systems, virtual machines, and hypervisor applications running thereon;
an interconnect backplane coupled between the plurality of nodes; and
a Forward Fabric Manager (FFM) coupled to the plurality of nodes via the interconnect backplane for controlling and managing the Forward Fabric system; and
a physical router switch coupled to the Forward Fabric manager and coupled to the plurality of nodes,
wherein the Forward Fabric manager creates at least one secure partition (s-Par) application executing within at least one of the plurality of nodes,
wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes having a secure partition (s-Par) application executing therein also includes a software defined network (SDN) controller executing therein for receiving configuration information and providing at least one secure and non-stop Forward Fabric endpoint on the Forward Fabric system for connecting with at least one endpoint on the data center platform,
wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes having a secure partition (s-Par) application executing therein also includes an interconnect service partition for accepting and interpreting at least one configuration command from the SDN controller and for implementing a configuration based on the configuration command,
wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes having a secure partition (s-Par) application executing therein also includes a router switch component for performing at least one switching function within the Forward Fabric system,
wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes is coupled to the data center platform via at least one SDN controller, and
wherein the at least one SDN controller allows the plurality of nodes to communicate with the data center platform without any network cards and without any host bus adapters.

14. The Forward Fabric architecture as recited in claim 13 , wherein the physical router switch includes a rout

Assignees

• Variath Ranjith Menon Puthen
• Hunter Jr James R
• Landis John A
• Unisys Corp

Inventors

• Variath Ranjith Menon Puthen
• Hunter Jr James R
• Landis John A

Classifications

• G06F9/5077

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/45595

  Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances · CPC title

• H04L12/4641

  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 title

• G06F2009/45583

  Memory management, e.g. access or allocation · CPC title