Synchronization of logical network state between global and local managers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11088902-B1
Application number	US-202016906921-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 19, 2020
Priority date	Apr 6, 2020
Publication date	Aug 10, 2021
Grant date	Aug 10, 2021

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method for a global manager that manages a logical network configuration for multiple datacenters that each have a local manager for managing the logical network configuration within the datacenter. Based on detecting that a connection to a particular local manager of a particular datacenter has been restored after a period of unavailability, the method identifies a portion of the logical network configuration that is relevant to the particular datacenter. In a series of transactions, the method transfers the identified portion of the logical network configuration to the particular local manager. During the series of transactions, the method identifies modifications to the identified portion of the logical network configuration to be included in the series of transactions. Upon completion of the series of transactions, the method transfers a notification to the particular local manager indicating completion of the series of transactions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. For a global manager that manages a logical network configuration for a plurality of datacenters, each datacenter having a local manager that manages the logical network configuration within the datacenter, a method comprising:
based on detecting that a connection to a particular local manager of a particular datacenter in the plurality of datacenters has been restored after a period of unavailability, identifying a portion of the logical network configuration that is relevant to the particular datacenter;
in a series of transactions, transferring the identified portion of the logical network configuration to the particular local manager;
during the series of transactions, identifying modifications to the identified portion of the logical network configuration to be included in the series of transactions; and
upon completion of the series of transactions, transferring a notification to the particular local manager indicating completion of the series of transactions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein transferring the identified portion of the logical network configuration to the particular local manager in a series of transactions comprises:
capturing a state of the identified portion of the logical network configuration at a particular time as a series of segments, wherein each captured segment is added to a queue to be transferred to the particular local manager; and
transferring the captured segments from the queue to the particular local manager in the series of transactions.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the series of segments are captured over a period of time and each segment is added to the queue as the segment is captured; and
modifications to the identified portion of the logical network configuration comprise modifications to the state of the identified portion of the logical network configuration during the period of time.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein identifying the modifications comprises adding the modifications to the queue as the modifications are identified.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the queue further comprises (i) a start marker indicating a start of the period of time and (ii) an end marker indicating an end of the period of time, wherein transferring the notification indicating completion of the series of transactions comprises transferring the end marker.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein (i) the segments comprise sections of tables representing logical network state and (ii) the modifications comprise change log entries specifying changes to the sections of the tables.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particular local manager (i) receives and processes each transaction in the series of transactions from the global manager, (ii) receives the notification indicating completion of the series of transactions, and (iii) merges the portion of the logical network configuration and identified modifications received in the series of transactions into a set of logical network configuration data for the particular datacenter after receiving the notification.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the set of logical network configuration data is a first set of logical network configuration data;
prior to connectivity being restored, the local manager stored a second set of logical network configuration data for the particular datacenter; and
after merging the portion of the logical network configuration and identified modifications received in the series of transactions into the first set of logical network configuration data, the particular local manager (i) identifies entities from the second set of logical network configuration data that are not in the first set of logical network configuration data and remain in a database of the particular local manager and (ii) deletes the identified entities from the database.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the particular local manager maintains the second set of logical network configuration data while processing the series of transactions in case of failover at the global manager.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the particular local manager propagates the set of logical network configuration data to physical network elements of the particular datacenter.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising sending a notification to the global manager indicating all of the transactions in the series of transactions have been successfully received, processed, and merged.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the global manager transfers the identified portion of the logical network configuration to the particular local manager using an asynchronous channel, wherein the asynchronous channel maintains a queue of the series of transactions during the transfer until all transactions have been successfully transferred to and processed at the particular datacenter.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein, for each respective local manager of a respective datacenter, the global manager maintains a respective asynchronous channel for communicating with the respective local manager.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the global manager comprises a plurality of site managers, each respective site manager for (i) managing a respective asynchronous channel corresponding to a respective datacenter and (ii) maintaining connectivity data for the respective datacenter.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein a site manager of the particular datacenter (i) detects, through the asynchronous channel, that the connection to the particular local manager has been restored after the period of unavailability and (ii) requests, from the global manager, the identified portion of the logical network configuration to be transferred to the particular datacenter.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein in response to the request, a broker service of the global manager identifies the portion of the logical network configuration relevant to the particular datacenter.

17. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for a global manager that manages a logical network configuration for a plurality of datacenters, each datacenter having a local manager that manages the logical network configuration within the datacenter, the program executable by at least one processing unit, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
based on detecting that a connection to a particular local manager of a particular datacenter in the plurality of datacenters has been restored after a period of unavailability, identifying a portion of the logical network configuration that is relevant to the particular datacenter;
in a series of transactions, transferring the identified portion of the logical network configuration to the particular local manager;
during the series of transactions, identifying modifications to the identified portion of the logical network configuration to be included in the series of transactions; and
upon completion of the series of transactions, transferring a notification to the particular local manager indicating completion of the series of transactions.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the set of instructions for transferring the identified portion of the logical network configuration to the particular local manager in a series of transactions comprises sets of instructions for:
capturing a state of the identified portion of the logical network configuration at a particular time as a series of segments, wherein the series of segments are captured over a period of time and each captured segment is added to a queue as the segment is

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Palavalli Amarnath
• Muppala Suresh
• Chandrashekhar Ganesan
• Dhawan Medhavi
• Dorr Josh
• Rogozinsky Alexander

Classifications

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• H04L43/20

  the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV · CPC title

• H04L41/0894

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title