Network virtualization of containers in computing systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017272400-A1
Application number	US-201615193020-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 25, 2016
Priority date	Mar 17, 2016
Publication date	Sep 21, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques of network virtualization of containers in cloud-based system are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a selection of a host in the computer system to instantiate a container in response to a request from a user. In response to the received selection, the method includes identifying parameters of network operations on the selected host to instantiate the requested container and assigning a network address to the container to be instantiated on the selected host in the computer system, the assigned network address is addressable from outside of the selected host without network name translation. The method can then include transmitting an instruction to the selected host to instantiate the requested container based on the assigned network address.

First claim

I/We claim:

1 . A method performed by a computing device in a computing system having a plurality of hosts interconnected by a computer network, comprising:
receiving a request to instantiate a container from a user, the container including a software package having a software application in a filesystem sufficiently complete for execution of the application in an operating system by a processor; in response to the received request, selecting one of the hosts in the computing system as a container host to instantiate the requested container; based on the selection of the host, configuring network settings for the requested container to be instantiated on the selected host in the computing system, the network settings including an assigned IP address based on which the container is accessible from outside of the selected host without network name translation; and transmitting an instruction to the selected host to instantiate the requested container based on the configured network settings, the instantiated container being network addressable from outside of the container host.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein selecting one of the hosts in the computing system includes selecting a physical server in the computing system as the container host.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein selecting one of the hosts in the computing system includes selecting a virtual machine hosted on a physical server in the computing system as the container host.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the assigned IP address includes a first IP address in a virtual network; and
the selected host has a second assigned IP address in the same virtual network.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the assigned IP address includes a first IP address in a first virtual network; and
the selected host has a second assigned IP address in a second virtual network different than the first virtual network, the first IP address is the same as the second IP address.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein configuring network settings for the requested container includes:
querying the selected host for parameters of network operations on the selected host;
receiving a response from the selected host, the response containing the parameters of network operations on the selected host; and
determining a software defined network policy as a part of the network settings for the requested container based on the received parameters of network operations on the selected host in the received response.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the software defined network policy including information regarding settings for network route determination and load balancing for the requested container.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the container is a first container;
the host is a first host; and
the method further includes routing a message from a second container or a virtual machine to the first container based on the assigned IP address of the first container, the second container or the virtual machine residing on a second host different than the first host.

9 . The method of claim 6 wherein:
the container is a first container;
the container host includes a first virtual machine; and
the method further includes routing a message from a second container to the first container based on the assigned IP address of the first container, the second container residing on a second virtual machine different than the first virtual machine.

10 . A computing device in a computing system having a plurality of hosts interconnected by a computer network, the computing device comprising:
a processor; and a memory having instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to perform a process including:
receiving a selection of one of the hosts in the computing system as a container host to instantiate a container in response to a request from a user, the container including a software package having a software application in a filesystem sufficiently complete for execution of the application in an operating system by a processor;
based on the received selection, configuring network settings for the requested container to be instantiated on the selected host in the computing system, the network settings including an assigned network address based on which the container is accessible from outside of the selected host without network name translation at the container host; and
transmitting an instruction to the selected host to instantiate the requested container based on the configured network settings.

11 . The computing device of claim 10 wherein selecting one of the hosts in the computing system includes selecting a physical server in the computing system as the container host.

12 . The computing device of claim 10 wherein selecting one of the hosts in the computing system as the container host includes selecting a virtual machine hosted on a physical server in the computing system as the container host.

13 . The computing device of claim 10 wherein:
the assigned IP address includes a first IP address in a virtual network; and
the selected host has a second assigned IP address in the same virtual network.

14 . The computing device of claim 10 wherein:
the assigned IP address includes a first IP address in a first virtual network; and
the selected host has a second assigned IP address in a second virtual network different than the first virtual network.

15 . The computing device of claim 10 wherein configuring network settings for the requested container includes:
transmitting a query to the selected host for parameters of network operations on the selected host;
receiving a response from the selected host in response to the transmitted query, the response containing the parameters of network operations on the selected host; and
determining the network settings for the requested container based on the received parameters of network operations on the selected host in the received response.

16 . The computing device of claim 10 wherein the determined network settings include information regarding settings for network route determination and load balancing for the requested container.

17 . A method performed by a computing device in a computing system having a plurality of hosts interconnected by a computer network, comprising:
receiving a selection of a host in the computing system to instantiate a container in response to a request from a user, the container including a software package having a software application in a filesystem sufficiently complete for execution of the application in an operating system on the selected host; in response to the received selection,
identifying parameters of network operations on the selected host to instantiate the requested container; and
based on the identified parameters of the network operations on the selected host, assigning a network address to the container to be instantiated on the selected host in the computing system, the assigned network address is addressable from outside of the selected host without network name translation; and
transmitting an instruction to the selected host to instantiate the requested container based on the assigned network address.

18 . The method of claim 17 wherein identifying the parameters of network operations includes:
transmitting a query to the selected host for the parameters of network operations on the selected host; and
receiving a response from the selected host in response to the transmitted query, the response containing the parameters of net

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Bansal Deepak
• Srivastava Nisheeth
• Sharma Sushant

Classifications

• G06F9/5077 Primary

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title

• H04L67/1025

  Dynamic adaptation of the criteria on which the server selection is based · CPC title

• H04L41/0806

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L61/1582 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L61/457 Primary

  containing identifiers of data entities on a computer, e.g. file names · CPC title