Using service planes to perform services at the edge of a network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021314423-A1
Application number	US-202016904377-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 17, 2020
Priority date	Apr 6, 2020
Publication date	Oct 7, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Some embodiments provide novel methods for providing a set of services for a logical network associated with an edge forwarding element acting between a logical network and an external network. In some embodiments, the services are provided using a logical service forwarding plane that connects the edge forwarding element to a set of service nodes that each provide a service in the set of services. The service classification operation of some embodiments identifies a chain of multiple service operations that has to be performed on the data message. In some embodiments, identifying the chain of service operations includes selecting a service path to provide the multiple services. After selecting the service path, the data message is sent along the selected service path to have the services provided. The data message is returned to the edge forwarding element by a last service node in the service path that performs the last service operation and the edge forwarding element performs next hop forwarding on the data message.

First claim

1 . A method for providing a plurality of services at a router of a datacenter, the method comprising:
at the router,
performing, for a data message received for routing, a service classification operation to determine that a particular chain of a plurality of service operations has to be performed on the data message;
selecting, for the particular service chain, a service path to provide the plurality of services;
sending the data message along the selected service path to have the plurality of services performed; and
performing next hop forwarding on the data message after receiving the data message from a service node that performs a last service operation.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the router of the datacenter is a logical router of a logical network implemented by physical forwarding elements of the datacenter.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein performing the next hop forwarding identifies a next hop within the logical network as a next hop for the received data message.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein performing the next hop forwarding identifies a next hop in the external network as a next hop for the received data message.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the logical router is an edge router at a boundary between the logical network and an external network.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the received data message is a data message crossing the boundary between the logical network and the external network.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the service path is selected by a load balancing operation from a plurality of service paths associated with the particular service chain.

8 . A method for providing a plurality of services at a router of a datacenter, the method comprising:
at the router,
performing, for a data message received for routing, a service classification operation to determine that a particular chain of a plurality of service operations has to be performed on the data message;
selecting, for the particular service chain, a service path to provide the plurality of services, wherein the service path comprises a plurality of service nodes that connect to a logical service forwarding plane;
sending the data message along the logical service forwarding plane to forward the data message through the selected service path in order to have the plurality of services performed on the data message; and
performing next hop forwarding on the data message after receiving the data message from a service node that performs a last service operation.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the logical forwarding service plane is implemented as a service logical forwarding element using a service virtual network identifier.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of service nodes comprise at least one of a service virtual machine and a service appliance.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein each service node is associated with a service proxy that operates between the logical service forwarding plane and the service node to facilitate implementing the service path.

12 . A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for providing a plurality of services at a router of a datacenter, the program for execution by at least one processing unit, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
at the router,
performing, for a data message received for routing, a service classification operation to determine that a particular chain of a plurality of service operations has to be performed on the data message;
selecting, for the particular service chain, a service path to provide the plurality of services;
sending the data message along the selected service path to have the plurality of services performed; and
performing next hop forwarding on the data message after receiving the data message from a service node that performs a last service operation.

13 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the router of the datacenter is a logical router of a logical network implemented by physical forwarding elements of the datacenter.

14 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , wherein a next hop identified by the set of instructions for performing the next hop forwarding is a next hop within the logical network.

15 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , wherein a next hop identified by the set of instructions for performing the next hop forwarding is a next hop in the external network.

16 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , wherein
the logical router is an edge router at a boundary between the logical network and an external network, and the received data message is a data message crossing the boundary between the logical and external network.

17 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the set of instructions for selecting the service path comprises a set of instructions for selecting the service path from a plurality of service paths associated with the particular service chain using a load balancing operation.

18 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the service path comprises a plurality of service nodes that connect to a logical service forwarding plane, and the selected service path is a path through the plurality of service nodes using the logical service forwarding plane.

19 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the logical forwarding service plane is implemented as a service logical forwarding element using a service virtual network identifier.

20 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of service nodes comprise at least one of a service virtual machine and a service appliance and each service node is associated with a service proxy that operates between the logical service forwarding plane and the service node to facilitate implementing the service path.

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Rolando Pierluigi
• Jain Jayant
• Koganty Raju
• Mundaragi Kantesh
• Zhang Yuxiao
• Mishra Rahul
• Naveen Akhila
• Furtado Elton

Classifications

• H04L45/745

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04L67/04

  specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability · CPC title

• H04L45/0377

  for service chaining · CPC title

• H04L45/037

  Routes obligatorily traversing service-related nodes · CPC title

• H04L43/20

  the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV · CPC title