Forwarding Policies on a Virtual Service Network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016173579-A1
Application number	US-201615048290-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 19, 2016
Priority date	Dec 6, 2012
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In providing packet forwarding policies in a virtual service network that includes a network node and a pool of service load balancers serving a virtual service, the network node: receives a virtual service session request from a client device, the request including a virtual service network address for the virtual service; compares the virtual service network address in the request with the virtual service network address in each at least one packet forwarding policy; in response to finding a match between the virtual service network address in the request and a given virtual service network address in a given packet forwarding policy, determines the given destination in the given packet forwarding policy; and sends the request to a service load balancer in the pool of service load balancers associated with the given destination, where the service load balancer establishes a virtual service session with the client device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for providing forwarding policies in a virtual service network, the virtual service network comprising a network node and a pool of service load balancers serving a virtual service associated with a virtual service network address, comprising:
receiving a virtual service session request from a client device by the network node, the virtual service session request comprising the virtual service network address for the virtual service served by the pool of service load balancers, wherein the network node comprises at least one packet forwarding policy comprising a range of virtual service network addresses associated with a destination; comparing by the network node the virtual service network address in the virtual service session request with the range of virtual service network addresses in each packet forwarding policy; in response to finding that the virtual service network address in the virtual service session request is included in the range of virtual service network addresses in a packet forwarding policy, determining the destination in the packet forwarding policy by the network node; and sending the virtual service session request to a service load balancer in the pool of service load balancers associated with the destination, wherein the service load balancer establishes a virtual service session with the client device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein after the service load balancer establishes the virtual service session with the client device, the method further comprises:
receiving a virtual service request from the client device through the virtual service session by the network node, the virtual service request comprising the virtual service network address for the virtual service; comparing by the network node the virtual service network address in the virtual service request with the range of virtual service network addresses in each packet forwarding policy; in response to finding that the virtual service network address in the virtual service request is included in the range of virtual service network addresses in a packet forwarding policy, determining a destination in the packet forwarding policy by the network node; and sending the virtual service request to a server selected from a pool of servers by the service load balancer associated with the destination by the network node.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving a virtual service data packet from the client device through the virtual service session by the network node, the virtual service data packet comprising the virtual service network address for the virtual service; comparing by the network node the virtual service network address in the virtual service data packet with the range of virtual service network addresses in each packet forwarding policy; in response to finding that the virtual service network address in the virtual service data packet is included in the range of virtual service network addresses in a packet forwarding policy, determining a destination in the packet forwarding policy by the network node; and sending the virtual service data packet to a service load balancer associated with the destination by the network node; and sending a service packet to the selected server by the service load balancer.

4 . The method of claim 1 , the method further comprises:
receiving a data packet of the virtual service session by the network node from the service load balancer over a data network, the data packet comprising a client network address of the client device as a destination for the data packet; retrieving the client network address from the data packet by the network node; and sending the data packet to the client device using the client network address by the network node.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the data packet comprises a virtual service session request response or a virtual service request response.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination comprises a second network node, wherein the sending the virtual service session request to a service load balancer in the pool of service load balancers associated with the destination comprises:
sending the virtual service session request to the second network node, wherein the second network node comprises a second packet forwarding policy comprising a range of virtual service network addresses associated with a second destination; comparing by the second network node the virtual service network address in the virtual service session request with the range of virtual service network addresses in the second packet forwarding policy; in response to finding that the virtual service network address in the virtual service session request is included in the range of virtual service network addresses in the second packet forwarding policy, determining a second destination in the second packet forwarding policy by the second network node; and sending the virtual service session request to the service load balancer associated with the second destination, wherein the service load balancer establishes a virtual service session with the client device.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the destination in the packet forwarding policy by the network node comprises:
finding by the network node that the virtual service network address in the virtual service session request is included in a first range of virtual service network addresses in a first packet forwarding policy and included in a second range of virtual service network addresses in a second packet forwarding policy; selecting by the network node either the first packet forwarding policy or the second packet forwarding policy based on additional information comprised in the first and second packet forwarding policies; and determining the destination in the selected packet forwarding policy by the network node.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the additional information comprises one or more of the following: a multi-path factor; and a traffic policy.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the first packet forwarding policy comprises a first destination associated with a first service load balancer in the pool of service load balancers, wherein the second packet forwarding policy comprises a second destination associated with a second service load balancer in the pool of service load balancers, wherein the first service load balancer is different from the second service load balancer, wherein the determining the destination in the selected packet forwarding policy by the network node comprises:
in response to selecting the first packet forwarding policy, determining the first destination associated with the first service load balancer in the first packet forwarding policy by the network node; and in response to selecting the second packet forwarding policy, determining the second destination associated with the second service load balancer in the second packet forwarding policy by the network node.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network node comprises a first packet forwarding policy for a first virtual service and a second packet forwarding policy for a second virtual service, wherein the comparing by the network node the virtual service network address in the virtual service session request with the range of virtual service network addresses in each packet forwarding policy comprises:
determining by the network node whether the virtual service session request is for the first virtual service or the second virtual service; in response to determining that the virtual service session request is for the first virtual service, comparing by the network node the virtual service network addr

Assignees

• A10 Networks Inc

Inventors

• Jalan Rajkumar
• Kamat Gurudeep

Classifications

• H04L67/42

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/1002 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/32

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L45/74

  Address processing for routing · CPC title

• H04L67/1001 Primary

  for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers · CPC title