Information processing apparatus, information processing system, and computer-readable recording medium having stored program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9584469-B2
Application number	US-201414477916-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2014
Priority date	Sep 30, 2013
Publication date	Feb 28, 2017
Grant date	Feb 28, 2017

Abstract

An information processing apparatus is connectable to an external network, and includes a plurality of units, an external network interface, and an internal network interface. The external network interface is provided in at least one of the plurality of units, and connected to the external network. The internal network interface is provided in each of the plurality of units, and is connected to an internal network which is established by a second address system independent from a first address system of the external network connected to the external network interface. Then, the internal network interface of each of the plurality of units conducts communication between the plurality of units using the second address system. Therefore, the internal network having no influence on the external network can be established.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information processing apparatus which is connectable to an external network, comprising:
a plurality of units;
an external network interface configured to be provided in at least one of the plurality of units and to be connected to the external network; and
an internal network interface configured to be provided in each of the plurality of units and to be connected to an internal network which is established by a second address group different from a first address group of the external network connected to the external network interface,
the internal network interface of each of the plurality of units conducts communication between the plurality of units using the second address group,
each of the plurality of units includes a processor, an operating system (OS) and a loopback device which conducts inter-process communication in the OS,
an address group in the inter-process communication conducted by the loopback device is used as the second address group,
the internal network interface receives a packet addressed to its own unit from another unit according to the second address group, and
the processor in a unit at a transmission destination among each of the plurality of units, to which the packet generated by a first process at a transmission source is transmitted, sends the packet, which is addressed to its own unit and received by the internal network interface, to a second process at the transmission destination through the loopback device, and captures a response packet, which is generated by the second process at the transmission destination and passes through the loopback device, to the first process at the transmission source.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the internal network is established by a general-purpose communication line which is not Internet Protocol (IP) communication or a shared memory between the plurality of units.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the processor captures a packet generated by the first process at the transmission source and passing through the loopback device, and
the internal network interface outputs the packet captured to the internal network, and transmits the packet to the unit at the transmission destination according to the second address group.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the processor in each of the plurality of units blocks the packet, which passes through the loopback device, between the loopback device and a kernel of the OS.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein in the unit at the transmission destination,
the processor captures a response packet, which is generated by the second process at the transmission destination and passes through the loopback device, to the first process at the transmission source, and
the internal network interface outputs the response packet captured to the internal network, and sends the response packet to the first process at the transmission source according to the second address group.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein in the unit at the transmission destination, the processor blocks the response packet, which passes through the loopback device, between the loopback device and the kernel of the OS.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the processor in the at least one of the plurality of units connected to the external network performs address conversion between the first address group of the external network and the second address group of the internal network to conduct communication between a terminal and the plurality of units.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the internal network interface selects a packet addressed to its own unit and transfers the packet to the processor while transferring, to other unit, a packet other than the packet addressed to its own unit.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of units are a plurality of virtual machines, each of which is established on a hypervisor.

10. An information processing system comprising:
an external network; and
an information processing apparatus configured to be connectable to the external network and to be communicably connected to a terminal through the external network, wherein the information processing apparatus includes
an external network interface which is provided in at least one of the plurality of units and connected to the external network, and
an internal network interface which is provided in each of the plurality of units and connected to an internal network established by a second address group different from a first address group of the external network connected to the external network interface,
the internal network interface of each of the plurality of units conducts communication between the plurality of units using the second address group,
each of the plurality of units includes a processor, an operating system (OS) and a loopback device which conducts inter-process communication in the OS,
an address group in the inter-process communication conducted by the loopback device is used as the second address group,
the internal network interface receives a packet addressed to its own unit from another unit according to the second address group, and
the processor in a unit at a transmission destination among each of the plurality of units, to which the packet generated by a first process at a transmission source is transmitted, sends the packet, which is addressed to its own unit and received by the internal network interface, to a second process at the transmission destination through the loopback device, and captures a response packet, which is generated by the second process at the transmission destination and passes through the loopback device, to the first process at the transmission source.

11. The information processing system according to claim 10 , wherein the internal network is established by a general-purpose communication line which is not Internet Protocol (IP) communication or a shared memory between the plurality of units.

12. The information processing system according to claim 10 , wherein
the processor captures a packet generated by a first process at a transmission source and passing through the loopback device, and
the internal network interface outputs the packet captured to the internal network, and transmits the packet to a unit at a transmission destination according to the second address group.

13. The information processing system according to claim 12 , wherein the processor in each of the plurality of units blocks the packet, which passes through the loopback device, between the loopback device and a kernel of the OS.

14. The information processing system according to claim 13 , wherein in the unit at the transmission destination,
the processor captures a response packet, which is generated by the second process at the transmission destination and passes through the loopback device, to the first process at the transmission source, and
the internal network interface outputs the response packet captured to the internal network, and sends the response packet to the first process at the transmission source according to the second address group.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having stored therein a program, the program is executed on an operating system (OS) installed in each of a plurality of units of an information processing apparatus,
the informatio

Assignees

• Fujitsu Ltd

Inventors

• Shichino Nobuyuki

Classifications

• G06F13/385 Primary

  for adaptation of a particular data processing system to different peripheral devices · CPC title

• H04L61/2038

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L61/2514

  between local and global IP addresses · CPC title

• H04L61/2007

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L61/2046 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic