Packet control method, switch, and controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017142000-A1
Application number	US-201715421667-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 1, 2017
Priority date	Aug 11, 2014
Publication date	May 18, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The embodiments disclose a packet control method, a switch, and a controller. The method includes receiving, by a switch, a packet, and processing the packet according to a pipeline, where an original packet is stored in a buffer, and a buffer location of the original packet is identified by using a buffer identifier. The method also includes when the packet fails to match a flow table, sending, by the switch, a first packet message to a controller, where the first packet message carries the buffer identifier, all or partial content of the packet; receiving, a second packet message sent by the controller, where the second packet message carries the buffer identifier and a packet processing instruction, and the packet processing instruction includes indication information of a specified flow table. Additionally, the method includes reprocessing, the packet according to the packet processing instruction and starting at the specified flow table.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a switch, a packet; processing, by the switch, the packet according to a pipeline, wherein original content of the packet is an original packet, the original packet is stored in a buffer, and a buffer location of the original packet is identified by a buffer identifier; sending, by the switch, a first packet message to a controller, in response to the packet not matching a flow table, wherein the first packet message reports information about the packet to the controller and requests that the controller determine a processing method for the packet, and wherein the first packet message carries the buffer identifier and all or part of content of the packet; receiving, by the switch, a second packet message sent by the controller, wherein the second packet message delivers, to the switch, a packet processing instruction for processing the packet, wherein the second packet message carries the buffer identifier and the packet processing instruction, the packet processing instruction comprises indication information of a specified flow table, and the specified flow table is a start flow table that is in the pipeline and is used by the switch for reprocessing the packet; and reprocessing, by the switch, the packet according to the packet processing instruction and starting at the specified flow table.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
storing, by the switch, the original packet into the buffer; and generating the buffer identifier, wherein the buffer identifier is carried in messages in processing the packet according to a flow table.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein, before sending the first packet message to the controller, the method comprises:
receiving, by the switch, a carry original packet instruction sent by the controller, wherein the carry original packet instruction instructs the switch to add the original packet into the first packet message in response to the switch sending the first packet message; adding, by the switch, all of the original packet, a part of the original packet, or a transformation of the original packet into the first packet message; and sending, by the switch to the controller, the first packet message.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein reprocessing the packet according to the packet processing instruction comprises:
obtaining, by the switch, the original packet using the buffer identifier; and reprocessing, by the switch, the obtained original packet according to the packet processing instruction and starting at a flow table at a first level, wherein the specified flow table is at the first level in the pipeline.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein reprocessing the packet according to the packet processing instruction comprises:
obtaining, by the switch, a flow table identifier of a current flow table for the original packet in the processing process using the buffer identifier; obtaining, by the switch from the buffer, a current packet obtained after the original packet is processed; and sending, by the switch according to the packet processing instruction, the current packet to a location that is in the pipeline and that is indicated by the flow table identifier of the current flow table to continue processing, wherein the specified flow table is a flow table identified by the flow table identifier.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein before receiving the second packet message sent by the controller, the method further comprises:
receiving, by the switch, an instruction of the controller for performing an addition, a deletion, or a modification operation on the flow table; and performing the addition, the deletion, or the modification operation on the flow table according to the instruction.

7 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a controller, a first packet message sent by a switch, wherein the first packet message reports information about a packet to the controller and requests that the controller determine a processing method for the packet, wherein the first packet message carries a buffer identifier and all or a part of a content of the packet, wherein original content of the packet is an original packet, and wherein the buffer identifier identifies a buffer location of the original packet; performing, by the controller, analysis processing on the information about the packet, and generating a packet processing instruction; and sending, by the controller, a second packet message to the switch, wherein the second packet message delivers, to the switch, the packet processing instruction for processing the packet, the second packet message carries the buffer identifier and the packet processing instruction, the packet processing instruction comprises indication information of a specified flow table, and the specified flow table is a start flow table that is in a pipeline and is for reprocessing the packet.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
sending, by the controller, a buffer instruction to the controller, before receiving, by the controller, the first packet message sent by a switch, wherein the buffer instruction instructs the switch to store the original content that is of the packet and that is specified by the controller.

9 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
sending, by the controller to the switch, an instruction for performing an addition, deletion, or modification operation on the specified flow table, before sending, by the controller, the second packet message to the switch.

10 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
sending, by the controller, a carry original packet instruction to the switch, before receiving, by the controller, the first packet message sent by the switch, wherein the carry original packet instruction instructs the switch to add the original packet into the first packet message in response to the switch sending the first packet message.

11 . A switch, comprising:
a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program for execution by the processor, the program including instructions for:
processing a packet according to a pipeline, wherein original content of the packet is an original packet, the original packet is stored in a buffer, and a buffer location of the original packet is identified by a buffer identifier;
sending a first packet message to a controller, in response to the packet not matching a flow table, wherein the first packet message reports information about the packet to the controller and requests that the controller determine a processing method for the packet, and wherein the first packet message carries the buffer identifier and all or part of a content of the packet;
receiving a second packet message sent by the controller, wherein the second packet message delivers, to the switch, a packet processing instruction for processing the packet, wherein the second packet message carries the buffer identifier and the packet processing instruction, wherein the packet processing instruction comprises indication information of a specified flow table, and wherein the specified flow table is a start flow table that is in the pipeline and is for reprocessing the packet; and
reprocessing the packet according to the packet processing instruction and starting at the specified flow table.

12 . The switch according to claim 11 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for:
storing the original packet into the buffer; and generating the buffer identifier, wherein the buffer identifier is carried in messages in the process o

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cai Hui
• Hu Weiqi

Classifications

• H04L45/16 Primary

  Multipoint routing · CPC title

• H04L45/745

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04L45/64 Primary

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• H04L9/40

  Network security protocols · CPC title