Virtualized QoS support in software defined networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12192109-B2
Application number	US-202318371454-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 22, 2023
Priority date	Jun 8, 2021
Publication date	Jan 7, 2025
Grant date	Jan 7, 2025

Abstract

A network system that implements quality of service (QoS) by rate limiting at a logical network entity is provided. The logical network entity includes multiple transport nodes for transporting network traffic in and out of the logical network entity. The system monitors traffic loads of the multiple transport nodes of the logical network entity. The system allocates a local CR and a local BS to each of the multiple transport nodes. The allocated local CR and the local BS are determined based on the CR and BS parameters of the logical network entity and based on the monitored traffic loads. Each transport node of the logical network entity in turn controls an amount of data being processed by the transport node based on a token bucket value that is computed based on the local CR and the local BS of the transport node.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method performing distributed rate limiting on a plurality of host computers, the method comprising:
identifying a QoS (Quality of Service) value that is collectively assigned to a plurality of managed forwarding elements (MFEs) executing on the plurality of host computers;
based on the identified QoS value, assigning, to each host computer, an initial rate limit specifying an amount of packets that the MFE executing on the host computer is allowed to process;
monitoring amount of traffic processed by the MFEs;
based on the monitoring, adjusting the assigned rate limit on a set of two or more of the host computers to adjust how the MFEs on the set of host computers process the packets;
wherein assigning the initial rate limit comprises providing each host computer with a committed rate (CR) parameter and a burst size (BS) parameter that conjunctively control a rate at which the MFE on the host computer forwards packets.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MFEs are configured to implement a logical forwarding element (LFE) for a logical network that is defined over a physical network that comprises the MFEs.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the QOS value is a QoS value associated with the LFE.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the LFE is a logical router, and the MFEs are managed software routers executing on the host computers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rate of packets forwarded by each host computer's MFE is based on a token bucket value that is computed based on the CR and BS parameters provided to each host computer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the assigned rate comprises adjusting the CR and BS parameters for each of the two or more host computers.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the initial rate limit further comprises allocating CR and BS parameters evenly among the plurality host computers.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the BS parameter for each host computer caps an amount of data allowed to be processed by the MFE of the host computer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said monitoring comprises periodically collecting traffic load information from each host computer.

10. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for performing distributed rate limiting on a plurality of host computers, the program for execution by at least one processing unit and comprising sets of instructions for:
identifying a QoS (Quality of Service) value that is collectively assigned to a plurality of managed forwarding elements (MFEs) executing on the plurality of host computers;
based on the identified QoS value, assigning, to each host computer, an initial rate limit specifying an amount of packets that the MFE executing on the host computer is allowed to process;
monitoring amount of traffic processed by the MFEs;
based on the monitoring, adjusting the assigned rate limit on a set of two or more of the host computers to adjust how the MFEs on the set of host computers process the packets;
wherein the set of instructions for assigning the initial rate limit comprises a set of instructions for providing each host computer with a committed rate (CR) parameter and a burst size (BS) parameter that conjunctively control a rate at which the MFE on the host computer forwards packets.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the MFEs are configured to implement a logical forwarding element (LFE) for a logical network that is defined over a physical network that comprises the MFEs.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the QoS value is a QOS value associated with the LFE.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the LFE is a logical router, and the MFEs are managed software routers executing on the host computers.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the rate of packets forwarded by each host computer's MFE is based on a token bucket value that is computed based on the CR and BS parameters provided to each host computer.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the set of instructions for adjusting the assigned rate comprises a set of instructions for adjusting the CR and BS parameters for each of the two or more host computers.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the set of instructions for assigning the initial rate limit further comprises a set of instructions for allocating CR and BS parameters evenly among the plurality host computers.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the BS parameter for each host computer caps an amount of data allowed to be processed by the MFE of the host computer.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein said the set of instructions for monitoring comprises a set of instructions for periodically collecting traffic load information from each host computer.

Assignees

• VMware LLC

Inventors

• Wang Dexiang
• Ravinoothala Sreeram Kumar
• Wang Yong
• Catrouillet Jerome

Classifications

• H04L47/125

  by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering · CPC title

• H04L47/781

  Centralised allocation of resources · CPC title

• H04L47/122

  by diverting traffic away from congested entities · CPC title

• H04L43/0888

  Throughput · CPC title

• H04L47/2433

  Allocation of priorities to traffic types · CPC title