Control Device and Control Method in SDN Network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016254995-A1
Application number	US-201615148819-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 6, 2016
Priority date	Nov 7, 2013
Publication date	Sep 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A preset flow table matching policy in a switching device is set, a flow table for processing data by a switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding and an action that needs to be executed in the flow table are generated according to the matching policy and capability information of the switching device, and the flow table is sent to the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding such that the control device may generate, according to different flow table information of the switching device and with reference to different data forwarding policies, a corresponding flow table to be executed by the switching device, which manages switching devices of different types, and enables a switching device that has multiple flow tables to flexibly implement a data forwarding function in use of a preset policy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A control device in a software-defined network (SDN), wherein the SDN comprises at least one switching device, and wherein the control device is configured to:
acquire flow table capability information of the switching device; perform, according to the flow table capability information and a preset flow table matching policy, policy matching on the switching device that data needs to pass through during forwarding; generate a flow table for forwarding the data by the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding; allocate an action that needs to be executed in the flow table; and send the flow table to the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding.

2 . The control device in the SDN according to claim 1 , wherein the control device is further configured to set at least one matching policy, and wherein the matching policy is used to match capability information of the switching device to acquire the flow table for forwarding the data by the switching device.

3 . The control device in the SDN according to claim 2 , wherein the matching policy comprises:
a first matching policy, wherein the first matching policy requires that all requirements of data forwarding be met, and requires that all actions required during data forwarding be executed; a second matching policy, wherein the second matching policy does not require that all requirements of data forwarding be met, and requires that an action supported by the switching device be executed; and a third matching policy, wherein the third matching policy requires that a lowest requirement of data forwarding be met, and requires that the action that needs to be executed during data forwarding be executed.

4 . The control device in the SDN according to claim 2 , further configured to perform matching on the flow table of the switching device according to a preset principle and according to the flow table capability information and the matching policy, to acquire the flow table for forwarding the data by the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding, wherein the switching device comprises at least one flow table, and wherein the preset principle comprises at least one of the following principles:
selecting a table whose match field is completely comprised in a required match field; selecting an exact match table prior to a wildcard match table; selecting another table with a smallest quantity of match fields when a field that is not comprised in a matching requirement exists in the exact match table; and selecting another table with a smallest table identifier (ID).

5 . The control device in the SDN according to claim 1 , further configured to allocate the action that needs to be completed according to an order of a table identifier (ID) of the flow table.

6 . The control device in the SDN according to claim 1 , further configured to send the flow table obtained after matching to the switching device using a FlowMod message.

7 . The control device in the SDN according to claim 3 , further configured to perform matching on the flow table of the switching device according to the acquired flow table capability information and according to an order from the first matching policy to the third matching policy.

8 . The control device in the SDN according to claim 1 , further configured to set priorities for delivered flow tables according to quantities of flow table entries.

9 . The control device in the SDN according to claim 1 , wherein after obtaining the flow table for forwarding the data by the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding, the control device is further configured to make the following adjustment to the flow table that comprises matched inport:
inport tables of all other matching policies except a matching policy for layer 2 forwarding match a DstMac field to distinguish between services when the DstMac field exists in an inport table of the switching device, wherein a jump may be performed randomly between tables; inport tables of all matching policies need to match a same field, when no DstMac field exists in the inport table of the switching device, and the inport table is a wildcard match table, wherein a smaller table identifier (ID) of a flow table entry goto indicates a higher set priority; and in an action of the flow table entry of the inport table, goto table can jump only to a next table when no DstMac field exists in the inport table, and the inport table is an exact match table.

10 . The control device in the SDN according to claim 1 , further configured to:
generate different unified policies according to switching devices of different types, wherein the unified policy is applicable to all switching devices of a same type; and generate, according to the unified policies, flow tables corresponding to the switching devices.

11 . A control method in a software-defined network (SDN), wherein the SDN network comprises at least one switching device, and wherein the method comprises:
acquiring flow table capability information of the switching device; performing, according to the flow table capability information and a preset flow table matching policy, policy matching on the switching device that data needs to pass through during forwarding; generating a flow table for forwarding the data by the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding; allocating an action that needs to be executed in the flow table; and sending the generated flow table to the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding.

12 . The control method in the SDN according to claim 11 , wherein before performing policy matching on the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding, the method further comprises setting at least one matching policy, wherein the matching policy is used to match capability information of the switching device to acquire the flow table for forwarding the data by the switching device, and wherein after generating the flow table for forwarding the data by the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding, the method further comprises allocating, according to the matching policy used to generate the flow table, an action that needs to be executed to the flow table obtained by matching.

13 . The control method in the SDN according to claim 12 , wherein setting at least one policy comprises:
a first matching policy, wherein the first matching policy requires that all requirements of data forwarding be met, and requires that all actions required during data forwarding be executed; a second matching policy, wherein the second matching policy does not require that all requirements of data forwarding be met, and requires that an action supported by the switching device be executed; and a third matching policy, wherein the third matching policy requires that a lowest requirement of data forwarding be met, and requires that an action that needs to be executed during data forwarding be executed.

14 . The control method in the SDN according to claim 12 , wherein generating the flow table for forwarding the data by the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding comprises generating, according to a preset principle and according to the flow table capability information and the matching policy, the flow table for forwarding the data by the switching device that the data needs to pass through during forwarding, wherein the switching device comprises at least one flow table, and wherein the

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Yongcan
• Lin Ke
• Tian Yingjun

Classifications

• H04L47/20

  Traffic policing · CPC title

• H04L45/54 Primary

  Organization of routing tables · CPC title

• H04L45/38

  Flow based routing · CPC title

• H04L41/342

  between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L41/022

  Multivendor or multi-standard integration · CPC title