Identifying a local congestion control algorithm of a virtual machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10833996-B2
Application number	US-201916240529-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2019
Priority date	Mar 14, 2016
Publication date	Nov 10, 2020
Grant date	Nov 10, 2020

Abstract

At an application executing in conjunction with a vSwitch in a host system, using a processor assigned to the vSwitch in the host system, a flow of a number of packets is received from a VM. At the application, a set of CWND values is computed using a corresponding set of congestion control algorithms. At the application, a determination is made whether any of the CWND values in the set of CWND values match the number of packets in the flow within a tolerance value. In response to a CWND value in the set of CWND matching the number of packets in the flow within the tolerance value, a conclusion is drawn that a type of the congestion control algorithm which computed the matching CWND value is the type of a local congestion control algorithm implemented within the VM.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at an application executing in conjunction with a virtual switch (vSwitch) in a host system, using a processor assigned to the vSwitch in the host system, a flow of a number of packets from a virtual machine (VM);
computing, at the application, a set of congestion window values (CWND values) using a corresponding set of congestion control algorithms;
determining, at the application, whether any of the CWND values in the set of CWND values match the number of packets in the flow within a tolerance value;
concluding, responsive to a matching CWND value in the set of CWND matching the number of packets in the flow within the tolerance value, that a type of the congestion control algorithm which computed the matching CWND value is the type of a local congestion control algorithm implemented within the VM; and
coordinating at the vSwitch, without the VM knowing about the coordinating, a datacenter-level congestion control with the type of the local congestion control algorithm at the VM.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the application, a second flow of a second number of packets from a second VM;
computing, at the application, a second set of CWND values using a corresponding second set of congestion control algorithms;
determining, at the application, whether any of the CWND values in the second set of CWND values match the second number of packets in the second flow within the tolerance value; and
concluding, responsive to no CWND value in the second set of CWND matching the second number of packets in the second flow within the tolerance value, that a type of a local congestion control algorithm implemented within the second VM cannot be determined.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second set of congestion control algorithms is a subset of the set of congestion control algorithms.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
further concluding that the congestion control algorithm which computed the matching CWND value is also implemented as the local congestion control algorithm within the VM.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tolerance value is zero, causing the match to be an exact match.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of congestion control algorithms execute using the processor assigned to the vSwitch.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of congestion control algorithms invoked by the application using the processor assigned to the vSwitch.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the VM also executes in the host system, wherein the vSwitch is external to the VM in the host, and wherein data communications to and from the VM occur through the vSwitch.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the period is between sending the packet to the receiver and receiving a response packet corresponding to the packet from the receiver.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, using the matching CWND value in the set of CWND values, a similarity index indicative of a degree of match between the type of the congestion control algorithm which computed the matching CWND value and the type of the local congestion control algorithm implemented within the VM; and
determining, responsive to a second matching CWND value in a second set of CWND matching a second number of packets in a second flow within the tolerance value, a second similarity index indicative of a second degree of match between a type of a second congestion control algorithm which computed the second matching CWND value.

11. A computer usable program product comprising a computer readable storage device including computer usable code, the computer usable code when executed by a processor causing a set of operations to be performed, the set of operations comprising:
receiving, at an application executing in conjunction with a virtual switch (vSwitch) in a host system, using a processor assigned to the vSwitch in the host system, a flow of a number of packets from a virtual machine (VM);
computing, at the application, a set of congestion window values (CWND values) using a corresponding set of congestion control algorithms;
determining, at the application, whether any of the CWND values in the set of CWND values match the number of packets in the flow within a tolerance value;
concluding, responsive to a matching CWND value in the set of CWND matching the number of packets in the flow within the tolerance value, that a type of the congestion control algorithm which computed the matching CWND value is the type of a local congestion control algorithm implemented within the VM; and
coordinating at the vSwitch, without the VM knowing about the coordinating, a datacenter-level congestion control with the type of the local congestion control algorithm at the VM.

12. The computer usable program product of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving, at the application, a second flow of a second number of packets from a second VM;
computing, at the application, a second set of CWND values using a corresponding second set of congestion control algorithms;
determining, at the application, whether any of the CWND values in the second set of CWND values match the second number of packets in the second flow within the tolerance value; and
concluding, responsive to no CWND value in the second set of CWND matching the second number of packets in the second flow within the tolerance value, that a type of a local congestion control algorithm implemented within the second VM cannot be determined.

13. The computer usable program product of claim 12 , wherein the second set of congestion control algorithms is a subset of the set of congestion control algorithms.

14. The computer usable program product of claim 11 , further comprising:
further concluding that the congestion control algorithm which computed the matching CWND value is also implemented as the local congestion control algorithm within the VM.

15. The computer usable program product of claim 11 , wherein the tolerance value is zero, causing the match to be an exact match.

16. The computer usable program product of claim 11 , wherein the set of congestion control algorithms execute using the processor assigned to the vSwitch.

17. The computer usable program product of claim 11 , wherein the set of congestion control algorithms invoked by the application using the processor assigned to the vSwitch.

18. The computer usable program product of claim 11 , wherein the computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is transferred over a network from a remote data processing system.

19. The computer usable program product of claim 11 , wherein the computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a server data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is downloaded over a network to a remote data processing system for use in a computer readable storage device associated with the remote data processing system.

20. A data processing system comprising:
a storage device, wherein the storage device stores computer usable program code; and
a processor, wherein the processor executes the computer usable program code, and wherein the computer usable program code when executed by the processor causing a set of operations to be performed, the set of operations comprises:
receiving, at an application executing in conjunction with a virtual switch (vSwitch) in a host system, using a

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Agarwal Kanak B
• Carter John
• Felter Wesley M
• GU Yu
• He Keqiang
• Rozner Eric J

Classifications

• H04L47/12 Primary

  Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion · CPC title

• H04L43/16 Primary

  Threshold monitoring · CPC title

• H04L43/0882

  Utilisation of link capacity · CPC title

• H04L47/27

  Evaluation or update of window size, e.g. using information derived from acknowledged [ACK] packets · CPC title

• H04L43/026

  using flow identification · CPC title