Discovery-less virtual addressing in software defined networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11070515-B2
Application number	US-201916454328-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2019
Priority date	Jun 27, 2019
Publication date	Jul 20, 2021
Grant date	Jul 20, 2021

Abstract

A virtual address of a destination of a packet is parsed into a set of virtual address components. A subset of the set of virtual address components is tokenized into a token. The token is converted into at least a portion of a hostname. A look-up of a real network address corresponding to the hostname is performed. The packet is caused to be transmitted to the real network address, wherein the real network address corresponds to a host machine on a physical network, the receiving virtual entity operating on the host machine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
parsing, using a processor and a memory, a virtual address of a destination virtual entity of a packet into a set of virtual address components;
tokenizing a subset of the virtual address components into a token;
converting the token into at least a portion of a hostname;
looking up a real network address corresponding to the hostname; and
causing the packet to be transmitted to the real network address, wherein the real network address corresponds to a host machine on a physical network, the destination virtual entity operating on the host machine.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a virtual address component comprises: a portion of an Internet Protocol(IP) address.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the portion is defined as an octet component of an IPv4 address.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the portion comprises only a subset of bits from a defined octet component of an IPv4 address.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the portion comprises (i) a first subset of bits from a first defined octet component of an IPv4 address and (ii) a second subset of bits from a second defined octet component of an IPv4 address.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a virtual address component comprises: a portion of Media Access Control (MAC) address.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving the packet from a sending virtual entity operating in a virtual data processing environment;
determining that the real network address of the host machine of the destination virtual entity is unknown in the virtual data processing environment; and
omitting a discovery operation on the physical network to determine an association between the destination virtual entity and the host machine.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the virtual data processing environment comprises a software defined network (SDN), and wherein the packet is received at a controller in the SDN.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination virtual entity comprises a virtual machine (VM).

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination virtual entity comprises a container.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tokenizing comprises:
applying a function to combine a first virtual address component and a second virtual address component from the subset of virtual address components to form a combined component; and applying a transformation to the combined component.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
forming, as a part of the tokenizing, a set of tokens, a first token in the set of tokens using a different subset of virtual address components relative to a second token in the set of tokens, the set of tokens comprising the token; and
converting a subset of the set of tokens into the at least the portion of the hostname.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the hostname comprises a rack identifier where the host machine is physically located.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the hostname comprises a sled identifier where the host machine is physically located.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adding a prefix to the portion of the hostname, wherein the prefix is preset.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adding a prefix to the portion of the hostname, wherein the prefix is derived from a second subset of virtual address components.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adding a prefix to the portion of the hostname, wherein the prefix comprises an identifier in a geographical location of the host machine.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adding a postfix to the portion of the hostname, wherein the postfix comprises an identifier in a network location of the host machine in the physical network.

19. A computer usable program product comprising a computer-readable storage device, and program instructions stored on the storage device, the stored program instructions comprising:
program instructions to parse a virtual address of a destination virtual entity of a packet into a set of virtual address components;
program instructions to tokenize a subset of the virtual address components into a token;
program instructions to convert the token into at least a portion of a hostname;
program instructions to look up a real network address corresponding to the hostname; and
program instructions to cause the packet to be transmitted to the real network address, wherein the real network address corresponds to a host machine on a physical network, the destination virtual entity operating on the host machine.

20. The computer usable program product of claim 19 , wherein the stored program instructions are stored in a computer readable storage device in a data processing system, and wherein the stored program instructions are transferred over a network from a remote data processing system.

21. The computer usable program product of claim 19 , wherein the stored program instructions are stored in a computer readable storage device in a server data processing system, and wherein the stored program instructions are 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, further comprising:
program instructions to meter use of the downloaded program instructions; and
program instructions to generate an invoice based on the metered use.

22. A computer system comprising a processor, a computer-readable memory, and a computer-readable storage device, and program instructions stored on the storage device for execution by the processor via the memory, the stored program instructions comprising:
program instructions to parse a virtual address of a destination virtual entity of a packet into a set of virtual address components;
program instructions to tokenize a subset of the virtual address components into a token;
program instructions to convert the token into at least a portion of a hostname;
program instructions to look up a real network address corresponding to the hostname; and
program instructions to cause the packet to be transmitted to the real network address, wherein the real network address corresponds to a host machine on a physical network, the destination virtual entity operating on the host machine.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Cochran Marc
• Gampel Eran
• Sagi Gal

Classifications

• H04L45/745 Primary

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04L61/4552

  Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories · CPC title

• H04L2101/35

  containing special prefixes · CPC title

• H04L2101/355

  containing special suffixes · CPC title

• H04L2101/686

  using dual-stack hosts, e.g. in Internet protocol version 4 [IPv4]/Internet protocol version 6 [IPv6] networks · CPC title