Query failure diagnosis in software-defined networking (SDN) environments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10938632-B2
Application number	US-201916278198-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2019
Priority date	Dec 28, 2018
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

Example methods are provided for a network management entity to perform query failure diagnosis in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment. The method may comprise receiving a request to diagnose a query failure; and generating and sending control information to a host to cause the host to inject, at a first network element, a diagnostic packet for transmission along a datapath to a query failure via multiple second network elements. The diagnostic packet may be a query configured according to a query protocol supported by the query server. The method may also comprise: receiving report information associated with the diagnostic packet from at least one of the following: the first network element, the multiple second network elements and the query failure; and based on the report information, determining a diagnosis result associated with the query failure.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for a network management entity to perform query failure diagnosis in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment, wherein the method comprises:
receiving a request to diagnose a query failure affecting a virtualized computing instance that is supported by a host and connected with a query server via a first network element;
generating and sending control information to the host to cause the host to inject, at the first network element, a diagnostic packet for transmission along a datapath to the query server via multiple second network elements,
wherein the diagnostic packet is a query configured according to a query protocol supported by the query server, and includes a flag to cause the first network element, the multiple second network elements and the query server to generate and send report information associated with the diagnostic packet to the network management entity;
receiving report information associated with the diagnostic packet from at least one of the following: the first network element, the multiple second network elements and the query server; and
based on the report information, determining a diagnosis result associated with the query failure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the diagnosis result comprises:
based on report information indicating that the diagnostic packet is dropped at one of the multiple second network elements, determining that the query failure is caused by unreachability of the query server from the first network element.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the diagnosis result comprises:
based on report information indicating that the diagnostic packet is delivered to the query server but an error is detected by the query server, determining that the query failure is caused by the error.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating and sending the control information comprises:
generating the control information to include the diagnostic packet and an instruction to cause the host to inject the diagnostic packet at the first network element.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein generating and sending the control information comprises:
configuring the diagnostic packet to according to the query protocol in the form of Domain Name Service (DNS) protocol to diagnose a name resolution failure, wherein the diagnostic packet is a DNS query for information associated with a domain name.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a second request to diagnose a second query failure affecting the query server;
based on the second request, generating and sending second control information to inject, at a third network element to which the query server is connected, a second diagnostic packet for transmission to the virtualized computing instance via the multiple second network elements;
receiving second report information associated with the second diagnostic packet from at least one of the following: the first network element, the multiple second network elements and the third network element; and
based on the second report information, determining a second diagnosis result associated with the second query failure.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein generating and sending the second control information comprises:
configuring the second diagnostic packet to according to the network configuration protocol in the form of DNS, wherein the diagnostic packet is a DNS response packet.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that includes a set of instructions which, in response to execution by a processor of a computer system, cause the processor to perform query failure diagnosis in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment, wherein the method comprises
receiving a request to diagnose a query failure affecting a virtualized computing instance that is supported by a host and connected with a query server via a first network element;
generating and sending control information to the host to cause the host to inject, at the first network element, a diagnostic packet for transmission along a datapath to the query server via multiple second network elements,
wherein the diagnostic packet is a query configured according to a query protocol supported by the query server, and includes a flag to cause the first network element, the multiple second network elements and the query server to generate and send report information associated with the diagnostic packet to the computer system;
receiving report information associated with the diagnostic packet from at least one of the following: the first network element, the multiple second network elements and the query server; and
based on the report information, determining a diagnosis result associated with the query failure.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein determining the diagnosis result comprises:
based on report information indicating that the diagnostic packet is dropped at one of the multiple second network elements, determining that the query failure is caused by unreachability of the query server from the first network element.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein determining the diagnosis result comprises:
based on report information indicating that the diagnostic packet is delivered to the query server but an error is detected by the query server, determining that the query failure is caused by the error.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein generating and sending the control information comprises:
generating the control information to include the diagnostic packet and an instruction to cause the host to inject the diagnostic packet at the first network element.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein generating and sending the control information comprises:
configuring the diagnostic packet to according to the query protocol in the form of Domain Name Service (DNS) protocol to diagnose a name resolution failure, wherein the diagnostic packet is a DNS query for information associated with a domain name.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a second request to diagnose a second query failure affecting the query server;
based on the second request, generating and sending second control information to inject, at a third network element to which the query server is connected, a second diagnostic packet for transmission to the virtualized computing instance via the multiple second network elements;
receiving second report information associated with the second diagnostic packet from at least one of the following: the first network element, the multiple second network elements and the third network element; and
based on the second report information, determining a second diagnosis result associated with the second query failure.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein generating and sending the second control information comprises:
configuring the second diagnostic packet to according to the network configuration protocol in the form of DNS, wherein the diagnostic packet is a DNS response packet.

15. A computer system configured to perform query failure diagnosis in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment, wherein the computer system comprises:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following:
receive

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Huang Qiao
• Han Donghai
• Wang Qiong
• Ye Benli
• Wang Xu
• Cheng Jia

Classifications

• H04L41/0677 Primary

  Localisation of faults · CPC title

• H04L43/10 Primary

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L61/5014

  using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP] · CPC title

• H04L61/4511

  using domain name system [DNS] · CPC title

• H04L41/14

  Network analysis or design · CPC title