Network system, switch, and methods of network configuration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9548933-B2
Application number	US-201314383072-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2013
Priority date	Mar 5, 2012
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

A network system of the present invention includes a switch and controllers. The switch processes on a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which are defined a rule and an action. The controllers set the flow entry to a flow table of the switch. The switch assigns a flow table to each controller, searches when receiving a packet from outside for a flow table matching with the packet in all flow tables, ignores a flow entry set by a controller of which a status of connection is invalid among flow entries matching with the packet and processes the packet in accordance with an action of a flow entry set by a controller of which a status of connection is valid.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A network system, comprising:
an OpenFlow™ switch configured to perform a process on a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which are defined a rule and an action for uniformly controlling a packet as a flow; and
a plurality of OpenFlow™ controllers configured to set said flow entry to a flow table of said switch,
wherein said OpenFlow™ switch assigns a flow table to each of said plurality of OpenFlow™ controllers, searches when receiving a packet from outside for a flow table matching with said packet in all flow tables, verifies a status of connection with each of said plurality of OpenFlow™ controllers, ignores a flow entry set by a controller of which a status of connection is invalid among flow entries matching with said packet and processes said packet in accordance with an action of a flow entry set by an OpenFlow™ controller of which a status of connection is valid.

2. The network system according to claim 1 , wherein said OpenFlow™ switch adopts, if a plurality of flow entries set by a controller of which a status of connection is valid exists, a flow entry of which a priority level of said flow entry itself is highest and adopts, if a plurality of flow entries with a same priority level exist, a flow table of which a priority level of a flow table in which said flow entry is set is highest.

3. The network system according to claim 1 , wherein each of said plurality of OpenFlow™ controllers sets a flow entry for packet-in, in which are set a matching condition to match a packet to make said switch transfer to said each OpenFlow™ controller itself and an action to transfer said packet to said each OpenFlow™ controller itself, to perform a load balancing.

4. A controller used in the network system according to claim 1 .

5. A switch, comprising:
an interface; and
a processor connected to said interface,
wherein said processor is configured to:
communicate with each of a plurality of controllers which set a flow entry in which are defined a rule and an action for uniformly controlling a packet as a flow; and
manage a flow table, assigned to each controller, in which is set a flow entry by said each controller,
wherein said processor searches, when receiving a packet from outside, a flow entry matching with said packet in all flow tables,
wherein said processor verifies a status of connection with said each controller, and
wherein said processor is configured to ignore a flow entry set by a controller of which a connection status is invalid and processing said packet in accordance to an action of a flow entry set by a controller of which a connection status is valid, among flow entries matching with said packet.

6. The switch according to claim 5 , wherein said processor adopts, if a plurality of flow entries set by a controller of which a connection status is valid exist, a flow entry of which a priority level of the flow entry itself is highest, and
wherein said processor adopts, if a plurality of flow entries with a same priority level exist, a flow entry of which a priority level of a flow table in which said flow entry is set is highest.

7. A method of configuring a network, the method comprising:
a switch performing a process on a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which are defined a rule and an action for uniformly controlling a packet as a flow;
a plurality of controllers setting said flow entry to a flow table of said switch;
said switch assigning a flow table for each of said plurality of controllers;
said switch searching, when receiving a packet from outside, a flow entry matching with said packet in all flow tables;
said switch verifying a status of connection with each of said plurality of controllers; and
said switch ignoring a flow entry set by a controller of which a connection status is invalid and processing said packet in accordance with an action of a flow entry set by a controller of which a connection status is valid, among flow entries matching with said packet.

8. The method of configuring a network according to claim 7 , further comprising:
said switch adopting, if a plurality of flow entries set by a controller of which a connection status is valid exist, a flow entry of which a priority level of said flow entry itself is highest; and
said switch adopting, if a plurality of flow entries with a same priority level exist, a flow entry of which a priority level of a flow table in which said flow entry is set is highest.

9. The method of configuring a network according to claim 7 , further comprising:
each of said plurality of controllers setting a flow entry for packet-in in which are set a matching condition to match a packet to make said switch transfer to said each controller itself and an action to transfer said packet to said each controller itself, to perform a load balancing.

10. A non-transitory recording medium storing a program to make a controller execute operations of the method of configuring a network according to claim 7 .

11. A non-transitory recording medium storing a program to make a switch execute each operation defined to be realized by a switch in a method of configuring a network, said method comprising:
said switch performing a process on a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which are defined a rule and an action for uniformly controlling a packet as a flow;
said switch assigning a flow table for each of said plurality of controllers;
said switch searching, when receiving a packet from outside, a flow entry matching with said packet in all flow tables;
said switch verifying a status of connection with each of said plurality of controllers; and
said switch ignoring a flow entry set by a controller of which a connection status is invalid and processing said packet in accordance with an action of a flow entry set by a controller of which a connection status is valid, among flow entries matching with said packet.

12. The non-transitory recording medium storing the program according to claim 11 to further make the switch execute each operation defined to be realized by the switch in the method of configuring the network, the method further comprising:
said switch adopting, when a plurality of flow entries set by a controller of which a connection status is valid exist, a flow entry of which a priority level of said flow entry itself is highest; and
said switch adopting, when a plurality of flow entries with a same priority level exist, a flow entry of which a priority level of a flow table in which said flow entry is set is highest.

Assignees

• Murakami Takahiko
• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Murakami Takahiko

Classifications

• H04L47/2441 Primary

  relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ] · CPC title

• H04L45/64

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• H04L41/042

  comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network · CPC title

• H04L47/20

  Traffic policing · CPC title