Network system and method of synchronizing path information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9444611-B2
Application number	US-201314371993-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2013
Priority date	Jan 16, 2012
Publication date	Sep 13, 2016
Grant date	Sep 13, 2016

Abstract

The network system has a switch and a controller. The switch performs processes of a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which are defined a rule and an action to uniformly control a packet as a flow. The controller transmits a control message to the switch to perform a setting of the flow entry, holds a flow entry identical to the flow entry set to the switch, manages a synchronization state per unity of a flow entry and preferentially synchronizes, in a case the flow entry is not synchronized, a specific flow entry between the switch.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A network system comprising:
a switch configured to perform processes of a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which are defined a rule and an action to uniformly control a packet as a flow; and
a controller configured to transmit a control message to said switch to perform a setting of said flow entry, holds another flow entry identical to said flow entry set to said switch, manages a synchronization state per unity of a flow entry and preferentially synchronizes, in a case one of said flow entries is not synchronized, a specific flow entry between said switch,
wherein each of said controller and said switch comprises:
means configured to hold a flow table, wherein the flow table comprises a set of flow entries and is provided a column of synchronization flag for each flow entry and wherein the synchronization flag shows a synchronization state of a corresponding flow entry;
means configured to hold a specific entry synchronization flag, wherein a part of the flow entries is the specific entry and wherein the specific entry synchronization flag shows a synchronization state of a specific entry; and
means configured to update, in a case of detecting a communication interruption of a secure channel, values of synchronization flags and specific entry synchronization flags of all flow entries into “false”,
wherein said controller further comprises:
means configured to synchronize the specific entry when detecting the specific entry synchronization flag value to be “false” and to update, in respect to each of said controller itself and said switch, the values of the synchronization flag and specific entry synchronization flag of the synchronized specific entry into “true”; and
means configured to synchronize, in a case the specific entry synchronization flag value is “true” and the packet the switch received and the specific entry does not match, a flow entry of which source and destination match with the received packet and updating, in respect to each of said controller itself and said switch, synchronization flag of synchronized flow entry into “true”.

2. A network system comprising:
a switch configured to perform processes of a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which are defined a rule and an action to uniformly control a packet as a flow; and
a controller configured to transmit a control message to said switch to perform a setting of said flow entry, holds another flow entry identical to said flow entry set to said switch, manages a synchronization state per unity of a flow entry and preferentially synchronizes, in a case one of said flow entries is not synchronized, a specific flow entry between said switch,
wherein each of said controller and said switch comprises:
means configured to hold a flow table, wherein the flow table comprises a set of flow entries and is provided a column of synchronization flag for each flow entry and wherein the synchronization flag shows a synchronization state of a corresponding flow entry;
means configured to hold a specific entry synchronization flag, wherein a part of the flow entries is the specific entry and wherein the specific entry synchronization flag shows a synchronization state of a specific entry; and
means configured to update, in a case of detecting a communication interruption of a secure channel, values of synchronization flags and specific entry synchronization flags of all flow entries into “false”,
wherein said switch further comprises:
means configured to discard, in a case the specific entry synchronization flag value is “false”, the received packet;
means configured to search, in a case the specific entry synchronization flag value is “true”, for a flow entry matching with the received packet in the flow table of said switch;
means configured to verify, whether a specific entry matching with the received packet is found as a result of the search;
means configured to verify, in a case no specific entry matching with the received packet is found, whether a flow entry of which source and destination match with the received packet if found;
means configured to verify, in a case a flow entry of which source and destination match with the received packet is found, whether the synchronization flag value of the found flow entry is “true”;
means configured to inquire, in a case no flow entry of which source and destination match with the received packet is found or in a case synchronization flag value of a found flow entry is not “true” but “false”, a flow entry related to the received packet to said controller and waiting for a response; and
means configured to select, a flow entry of a highest priority among flow entries matching with the received packet, referring to an action of the selected flow entry and processing the packet in accordance with a described content.

3. The controller used in the networks system according to claim 1 .

4. The switch used in the network system according to claim 1 .

5. A path information synchronizing method comprising:
a switch processing a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which a rule and an action are defined to uniformly control a packet as a flow;
a controller transmitting a control message to said switch to perform a setting to said flow entry;
said controller holding a flow entry identical to said flow entry set to said switch, managing a synchronization state per unity of a flow entry and preferentially synchronizing, in a case one of the flow entries is not synchronized, a specific flow entry between said switch;
each of said controller and said switch holding a flow table, wherein the flow table comprises a set of flow entries and is provided a synchronization flag column for each flow entry and wherein the synchronization flag shows a synchronization state of a corresponding flow entry;
each of said controller and said switch holding a specific entry synchronization flag, wherein a part of the flow entries comprises a specific entry and wherein the specific entry synchronization flag shows a synchronization state of a specific entry;
each of said controller and said switch, in a case of detecting a secure channel communication disconnection, updating values of synchronization flags and specific entry synchronization flags of all flow entries into “false”;
said controller, in a case of detecting the specific entry synchronization flag value to be “false”, synchronizing the specific entry and updating, in respect to each of said controller itself and said switch, the values of the synchronization flag and the specific entry synchronization flag of the synchronized specific entry; and
said controller, in a case specific entry synchronization flag value is “true” but the packet said switch received and the specific entry do not match, synchronizing the flow entry of which source and destination match with the received packet and updating, in respect to each of said controller itself and said switch, the synchronization flag of the synchronized flow entry into “true”.

6. A path information synchronizing method comprising:
a switch processing a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which a rule and an action are defined to uniformly control a packet as a flow;
a controller transmitting a control message to said switch to perform a setting to said flow entry;
said controller holding a flow entry identical to said flow entry set to said switch, managing a synchronization state per unity of a flow entry and preferentially synchronizing, in a case one of the flow entries is not synchronized, a specific flow entry between said switch;
each of said controller and said switch holding a flow table, wherein the flow table comprises a set of flow entries and is provided a synchronization flag col

Assignees

• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Ogawa Hideki

Classifications

• H04L45/021

  Ensuring consistency of routing table updates, e.g. by using epoch numbers · CPC title

• H04L7/0016 Primary

  correction of synchronization errors · CPC title

• H04L45/38

  Flow based routing · CPC title

• H04L67/327

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L41/0866

  Checking the configuration · CPC title