Service function bundling for service function chains

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9729441-B2
Application number	US-201514879785-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 9, 2015
Priority date	Oct 9, 2015
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

A packet forwarding method that includes receiving a packet from a traffic classifier at a host that comprises a virtual machine (VM), and a first hypervisor for the host that provides a first set of routing instructions that provides routing instruction to forward the packet to a port of the VM, and wherein the VM comprises a plurality of virtual network functions (VNFs), and a second hypervisor for the VM that provides a second set of routing instructions that provides routing instructions to forward the packet to the plurality of VNFs based on an input, processing, by the host, the packet using the plurality of VNFs in accordance with the first set of routing instructions and the second set of routing instructions, and forwarding, by the host, the processed packet to a network device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A packet forwarding method comprising:
receiving a packet from a traffic classifier at a host that comprises:
a virtual machine (VM); and
a first hypervisor for the host that provides a first set of routing instructions that provides routing instruction to forward the packet to a port of the VM; and
wherein the VM comprises:
a plurality of virtual network functions (VNFs); and
a second hypervisor for the VM that provides a second set of routing instructions that provides routing instructions to forward the packet to the plurality of VNFs;

processing, by the host, the packet using the plurality of VNFs in accordance with the first set of routing instructions and the second set of routing instructions; and
forwarding, by the host, the processed packet to a network device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of routing instructions only provides routing information for forwarding packets between the host and the VM.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second set of routing instructions comprises instructions to forward the processed packet to the port where the packet is received after processing the packet using the plurality of VNFs.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of routing instructions associates the port with the plurality of VNFs.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second set of routing instructions maps an outgoing port to forward the packet to an incoming port, a Media Access Control (MAC) source address, a MAC destination address, Internet Protocol (IP) source address, an IP destination address, a protocol of the packet, or combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second set of routing instructions only provides routing information for forwarding packets between the port and a data port on each of the VNFs from the plurality of VNFs.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the packet using the plurality of VNFs comprises:
receiving the packet from the VM at a data port of a VNF of the plurality of VNFs;
processing the packet using the VNFs; and
forwarding the processed packet back to the VM via the data port.

8. A host comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a packet from a traffic classifier;
a transmitter configured to forward a processed packet to a network device;
a memory; and
a processor operably coupled to the receiver, the transmitter, and the memory, and configured to:
implement a virtual machine (VM) and a first hypervisor for the host that provides a first set of routing instructions that provides routing instruction to forward the packet to a port of the VM, wherein the VM comprises:
a plurality of virtual network functions (VNFs); and
a second hypervisor for the VM that provides a second set of routing instructions that provides routing instructions to forward the packet to the plurality of VNFs based on the port of the VM where the packet is received; and

process the packet using the plurality of VNFs in accordance with the first set of routing instructions and the second set of routing instructions.

9. The host of claim 8 , wherein the first set of routing instructions only provides routing information for forwarding packets between the host and the VM.

10. The host of claim 8 , wherein the second set of routing instructions comprises instructions to forward the processed packets to the port where the packet is received after processing the packet using the plurality of VNFs.

11. The host of claim 8 , wherein the first set of routing instructions associates the port with the plurality of VNFs.

12. The host of claim 8 , wherein the second set of routing instructions maps an outgoing port to forward the packet to an incoming port, a Media Access Control (MAC) source address, a MAC destination address, Internet Protocol (IP) source address, an IP destination address, a protocol of the packet, or combinations thereof.

13. The host of claim 8 , wherein the second set of routing instructions only provides routing information for forwarding packets between the port and a data port on each of the VNFs from the plurality of VNFs.

14. The host of claim 8 , wherein processing the packet using the plurality of VNFs comprises:
receiving the packet from the VM at a data port of a first of the plurality of VNFs;
processing the packet using the first VNF; and
forwarding the processed packet back to the VM via the data port for processing at a second of the plurality of VNFs.

15. A packet forwarding method comprising:
receiving a packet from a traffic classifier at a host that comprises:
a virtual machine (VM); and
a first hypervisor for the host that provides a first set of routing instructions that provides routing information between the host and the VM; and
wherein the VM comprises:
a plurality of virtual network functions (VNFs); and
a second hypervisor for the VM that provides a second set of routing instructions that provides routing instructions between a port on the VM and a data port on each VNF from a plurality of VNFs; and

processing, by the host, the packet using the VNFs in accordance with the first set of routing instructions and the second set of routing instructions, wherein the first set of instructions provides routing instructions to forward the packet to the port of the VM, and wherein the second set of routing instructions provides routing instructions to forward the packet to the plurality of VNFs based on the port of the VM where the packet is received; and
forwarding, by the host, the processed packet to a network device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second set of routing instructions comprises instructions to forward the processed packet to the port where the packet is received after processing the packet using the plurality of VNFs.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second set of routing instructions maps a source address of the packet to an outgoing port to forward the packet.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second set of routing instructions maps an incoming port where the packet is received to an outgoing port to forward the packet.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first set of routing instructions does not comprise instructions for forwarding the packet among the plurality of VNFs within the VM.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein processing the packet using the plurality of VNFs comprises:
receiving the packet from the VM at a data port of a VNF from the plurality of VNFs;
processing the packet using the VNF; and
forwarding the processed packet back to the VM via the data port.

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Sunavala Farhad P
• Huang Mark Xiang-Quan

Classifications

• H04L45/74 Primary

  Address processing for routing · CPC title

• H04L61/6022

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L61/2007

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• H04L45/72

  Routing based on the source address · CPC title