Hypervisor restart handling mechanism using random session numbers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11526372-B2
Application number	US-202016871737-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2020
Priority date	Mar 28, 2018
Publication date	Dec 13, 2022
Grant date	Dec 13, 2022

Abstract

Certain embodiments described herein are generally directed to handling a hypervisor restart event in a distributed network system. Embodiments include receiving, by a central controller, a session identifier from a first hypervisor. Embodiments further include comparing, by the central controller, the session identifier to a stored session identifier associated with the first hypervisor. Embodiments further include determining, by the central controller based on the session identifier not matching the stored session identifier associated with the first hypervisor, that the first hypervisor has restarted. Embodiments further include updating, by the central controller, the stored session identifier associated with the first hypervisor to match the session identifier. Embodiments further include identifying, by the central controller, a second hypervisor that is associated with the first hypervisor. Embodiments further include sending, by the central controller, a notification to the second hypervisor that the first hypervisor has restarted.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for handling a hypervisor restart event in a distributed network system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a first hypervisor, a notification from a central controller that includes an identification of a second hypervisor that has restarted, wherein a security association has been established between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor, wherein the security association comprises a security parameter index (SPI) value; and
in response to receiving the notification: removing, by the first hypervisor, the security association with the second hypervisor and establishing, by the first hypervisor, a new security association with the second hypervisor.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the security association comprises a security policy that is shared between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the security policy comprises a distributed networking encryption (DNE) policy.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the first hypervisor and from the central controller, a control message comprising a first session identifier in a header of the control message;
comparing, by the first hypervisor, the first session identifier to a second session identifier stored by the first hypervisor;
determining, by the first hypervisor, based on the comparing, that the first session identifier does not match the second session identifier; and
discarding, by the first hypervisor, the control message based on the first session identifier not matching the second session identifier.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising sending, by the first hypervisor, to the central controller, a notification of the second session identifier.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the second hypervisor, that the second hypervisor has restarted;
generating, by the second hypervisor, a session identifier; and
sending, by the second hypervisor, the session identifier to the central controller.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the central controller stores an association between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the security association comprises an exclusive connection between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor, and wherein the new security association comprises a new exclusive connection between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor.

9. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations for handling a hypervisor restart event in a distributed network system, the operations comprising:
receiving, by a first hypervisor, a notification from a central controller that includes an identification of a second hypervisor that has restarted, wherein a security association has been established between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor, wherein the security association comprises a security parameter index (SPI) value; and
in response to receiving the notification: removing, by the first hypervisor, the security association with the second hypervisor and establishing, by the first hypervisor, a new security association with the second hypervisor.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the security association comprises a security policy that is shared between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the security policy comprises a distributed networking encryption (DNE) policy.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving, by the first hypervisor and from the central controller, a control message comprising a first session identifier in a header of the control message;
comparing, by the first hypervisor, the first session identifier to a second session identifier stored by the first hypervisor;
determining, by the first hypervisor, based on the comparing, that the first session identifier does not match the second session identifier; and
discarding, by the first hypervisor, the control message based on the first session identifier not matching the second session identifier.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise sending, by the first hypervisor, to the central controller, a notification of the second session identifier.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining, by the second hypervisor, that the second hypervisor has restarted;
generating, by the second hypervisor, a session identifier; and
sending, by the second hypervisor, the session identifier to the central controller.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the central controller stores an association between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method for handling a hypervisor restart event in a distributed network system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a first hypervisor, a notification from a central controller that includes an identification of a second hypervisor that has restarted, wherein a security association has been established between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor, wherein the security association comprises a security parameter index (SPI) value; and
in response to receiving the notification: removing, by the first hypervisor, the security association with the second hypervisor and establishing, by the first hypervisor, a new security association with the second hypervisor.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the security association comprises a security policy that is shared between the first hypervisor and the second hypervisor.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the security policy comprises a distributed networking encryption (DNE) policy.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving, by the first hypervisor and from the central controller, a control message comprising a first session identifier in a header of the control message;
comparing, by the first hypervisor, the first session identifier to a second session identifier stored by the first hypervisor;
determining, by the first hypervisor, based on the comparing, that the first session identifier does not match the second session identifier; and
discarding, by the first hypervisor, the control message based on the first session identifier not matching the second session identifier.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises sending, by the first hypervisor, to the central controller, a notification of the second session identifier.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining, by the second hypervisor, that the second hypervisor has restarted;
generating, by the second hypervisor, a session identifier; and
sending, by the second hypervisor, the session identifier to the central controller.

Assignees

• Nicira Inc

Inventors

• Qian Bin
• Chopra Amit
• Wang Dexiang
• Li Chen
• Pan Feng
• Shen Jianjun
• Saxena Aayush
• Ping Yang

Classifications

• G06F21/62

  Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules · CPC title

• G06F2009/4557

  Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing · CPC title

• H04L63/20 Primary

  for managing network security; network security policies in general (filtering policies H04L63/0227) · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/45587

  Isolation or security of virtual machine instances · CPC title