Communication system, integrated controller, packet forwarding method and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9614758-B2
Application number	US-201414767675-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2014
Priority date	Mar 7, 2013
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

A communication system includes a first switch that exchanges information with a neighboring switch by a preset routing protocol to form a forwarding table and that references the forwarding table to forward a packet. The communication system also includes a second switch that forwards the packet in accordance with an instruction from a preset controller, the controller that gives the instruction to the second switch, and an integrated controller. The integrated controller instructs the controller to forward the packet along a path specified for the second switch and to generate a virtual network formed by a virtualized switch as the first switch. The information is exchanged between the second switch mapped to the virtual network and the first switch by the preset routing protocol to cause the packet to be forwarded along a pre-calculated path.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication system, comprising:
a first switch that exchanges information with a neighboring switch by a preset routing protocol to form a forwarding table and that references the forwarding table to forward a packet;
a second switch that forwards the packet in accordance with an instruction from a preset controller;
the preset controller that gives the instruction to the second switch; and
an integrated controller that instructs the preset controller to forward the packet along a path specified for the second switch and to generate a virtual network constituted by a virtualized switch as the first switch,
the integrated controller causing information exchange to be performed between the second switch mapped to the virtual network and the first switch by the preset routing protocol to cause the packet to be forwarded along a pre-calculated path,
wherein the first switch is a switch that decides on a path using an IS-IS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System), and
wherein the integrated controller causes the preset controller to output an IS-IS packet destined from the second switch to the first switch so as to allow the information to be exchanged between the first and second switches using the IS-IS.

2. The communication system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a network management apparatus that collects information of the first switch; wherein,
topological information of a network constituted by the first and second switches is collected from the network management apparatus and from the preset controller to calculate a path extending astride the network constituted by the first and second switches.

3. The communication system according to claim 1 , wherein,
the integrated controller causes the preset controller to generate the virtual network that is constituted by the virtualized switch as the first switch and that reflects link costs between the second switches.

4. The communication system according to claim 1 , wherein,
the second switch is an OpenFlow switch; and wherein,
the integrated controller causes the preset controller to set a flow entry for the second switch located on the calculated path to cause the packet to be forwarded along the calculated path.

5. The communication system according to according to claim 1 , wherein,
the first switch is a TRILL switch.

6. An integrated controller configured to:
instruct a preset controller in a network system including a first switch and a second switch, the first switch exchanges information with a neighboring switch by a preset routing protocol to form a forwarding table and references the forwarding table to forward a packet, and the second switch forwards the packet under an instruction from the preset controller,
wherein the integrated controller comprising:
a first unit that instructs the preset controller to forward the packet on a path specified for the second switch;
a second unit that instructs the preset controller to generate a virtual network constituted by a virtualized switch as the first switch; and
a third unit that causes the first switch and the second switch, which is mapped to the virtual network, to perform information exchange by the preset routing protocol so as to cause the packet to be forwarded along a pre-calculated path,
wherein the first switch is a switch that decides on a path using an IS-IS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System); and
wherein the integrated controller causes the preset controller to output an IS-IS packet destined from the second switch to the first switch so as to allow information exchange to be performed between the first and second switches using the IS-IS.

7. The integrated controller according to claim 6 , in which the integrated controller collects topological information of the network constituted by the first and second switches from the preset controller and from the network management apparatus that collects information of the first switch; the integrated controller calculating a path astride the networks constituted by the first and second switches.

8. The integrated controller according to claim 6 , in which the integrated controller causes the preset controller to generate the virtual network that is constituted by a virtualized switch as the first switch and that reflects link costs between the second switches.

9. The integrated controller according to claim 6 , wherein,
the second switch is an OpenFlow switch;
the integrated controller causing the preset controller to set flow entries in the second switch located on the calculated path so as to forward the packet along the calculated path.

10. A method for forwarding a packet comprising:
instructing a controller, which instructs a second switch, to forward a packet on a path specified for the second switch and to generate a virtual network; a first switch that exchanges information with a neighboring switch by a preset routing protocol to form a forwarding table and that references the forwarding table to forward a packet, forming a network, and the second switch, forwarding the packet under an instruction from the controller, forming the network; the virtual network being constituted by a virtualized switch as the first switch; and
causing information exchange to be performed by the preset routing protocol between the first switch and the second switch mapped to the virtual network so as to cause the first and second switches to forward the packet along a pre-calculated path,
wherein the first switch is a switch that decides on a path using an IS-IS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System); and
wherein the controller outputs an IS-IS packet destined from the second switch to the first switch so as to allow the information to be exchanged between the first and second switches using the IS-IS.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program that causes a computer, which instructs a controller, controlling a second switch, to perform:
a first process of instructing the second switch to forward a packet along a specified path and to generate a virtual network;
a first switch that exchanges information with a neighboring first switch by a preset routing protocol to form a forwarding table and that references the forwarding table to forward a packet, forming a network, and the second switch that forwards the packet under an instruction from the controller, forming the network; the virtual network being constituted by a virtualized switch as the first switch; and
a second process of causing the information to be exchanged by a preset routing protocol between the first switch and the second switch mapped to the virtual network so as to cause the first and second switches to forward the packet along a pre-calculated path,
wherein the first switch is a switch that decides on a path using an IS-IS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System); and
wherein the controller outputs an IS-IS packet destined from the second switch to the first switch so as to allow the information to be exchanged between the first and second switches using the IS-IS.

Assignees

• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Oonuki Satoshi

Classifications

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L45/64 Primary

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• H04L41/0826

  for reduction of network costs (H04L41/0833 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04L45/586 Primary

  of virtual routers · CPC title

• H04L41/122

  of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV] · CPC title