Managing failure behavior for computing nodes of provided computer networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9736016-B2
Application number	US-201514631675-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2015
Priority date	Oct 27, 2010
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

Techniques are described for providing managed computer networks. In some situations, the techniques include managing communications for computing nodes of a managed computer network by using one or more particular computing nodes of the managed computer network that are configured to operate as intermediate destinations to handle at least some communications that are sent by and/or directed to one or more other computing nodes of the managed computer network. In addition, the techniques may include managing the communications in accordance with configured failure behavior specified for one or more computing nodes of the computer network, such as specified failure behavior for a computing node configured to operate as an intermediate destination that indicates how communications that would otherwise be routed via the intermediate destination computing node are to be handled if the intermediate destination computing node fails or is otherwise unavailable (e.g., to block or allow such communications).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
configuring, by one or more computing systems of a configurable network service that provides a virtual computer network, initial mapping information to use for forwarding communications for the virtual computer network, wherein the initial mapping information indicates that a first computing node of the virtual computer network is an intermediate destination for at least some communications sent during operation of the virtual computer network, and wherein the configuring includes configuring a manager that is associated with a second computing node of the virtual computer network to use the initial mapping information to manage communications sent by the second computing node;
receiving, by the configured manager, information regarding a first communication that is from the second computing node and to an intended final destination distinct from the first computing node;
determining, by the configured manager and based on the initial mapping information having an association of the intended final destination to the first computing node, to forward the first communication to the first computing node as an intermediate destination;
initiating, by the configured manager, forwarding the first communication to the first computing node;
updating, by the one or more computing systems while the operation of the virtual computer network is ongoing, and based on the first computing node becoming unavailable to act as the intermediate destination after the forwarding of the first communication, the initial mapping information to implement a failure behavior that is specified to be used when the first computing node becomes unavailable; and
managing, by the one or more computing systems and during further operation of the virtual computer network, a second sent communication for the virtual computer network by using the updated mapping information to determine a manner of handling the second sent communication based on unavailability of the first computing node.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising, before the updating of the initial mapping information:
determining, by the one or more configured computing systems and based on the initial mapping information, to forward an indicated communication to an intended final destination without using the first computing node as an intermediate destination; and
initiating forwarding, over an underlying substrate network on which the virtual computer network is overlaid, the indicated communication to the intended final destination without providing the indicated communication to the first computing node.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the updating of the initial mapping information includes configuring the manager to use the updated mapping information for communications sent by the second computing node after the updating, and wherein the method further comprises, after the updating of the initial mapping information:
receiving, by the configured manager, information regarding a third communication that is from the second computing node and to the intended final destination of the second communication;
determining, by the configured manager and based on the updated mapping information lacking the association of the intended final destination to the first computing node, an alternative manner of handling the third communication without forwarding the third communication to the first computing node as an intermediate destination; and
initiating, by the configured manager, handling the third communication in the determined alternative manner.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the second sent communication would have been forwarded to the first computing node if the initial mapping information was in use, wherein the specified failure behavior indicates, while the first computing node is unavailable and for communications that would otherwise be forwarded to the first computing node as an intermediate destination, to forward those communications to intended final destinations of those communications, and wherein the managing of the second sent communication in the determined manner includes forwarding the second sent communication to an intended final destination for the second sent communication without forwarding the second sent communication to the first computing node.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the specified failure behavior indicates to, while the first computing node is unavailable and for communications that would otherwise be forwarded to the first computing node as an intermediate destination, block those communications from being forwarded to intended final destinations of those communications, and wherein the managing of the second sent communication in the determined manner includes blocking the second sent communication from being provided to an intended final destination for the second sent communication and from being forwarded to the first computing node.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the specified failure behavior indicates to, while the first computing node is unavailable and with respect to communications that would otherwise be forwarded to the first computing node as an intermediate destination, perform at least one action, wherein the managing of the second sent communication in the determined manner includes performing the at least one action without forwarding the second sent communication to the first computing node, and wherein the at least one action includes one or more actions from a group of actions that includes sending one or more notifications to a client of the configurable network service for whom the configurable network service provides the virtual computer network, removing one or more computing nodes from the virtual computer network, adding one or more computing nodes to the virtual computer network, executing one or more specified software programs, replacing the unavailable first computing node with another computing node that is configured to perform functionality of the first computing node, implementing a subset of the functionality of the first computing node for the communications that would otherwise be directed to the first computing node as an intermediate destination, or modifying the communications that would otherwise be directed to the first computing node as an intermediate destination to cause one or more networking devices in an underlying substrate network to determine how to further forward the modified communications.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising, before the configuring of the initial mapping information:
receiving configuration information from a client of the configurable network service for the virtual computer network that specifies the failure behavior;
creating, by the configurable network service, the virtual computer network for the client based on the received configuration information; and
providing the virtual computer network for the client by overlaying the virtual computer network on a substrate network.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 wherein the configuration information further includes a specified network topology for the virtual computer network that indicates the first computing node is located between a computing node that sends the second sent communication and an intended final destination for the second sent communication, wherein the configuring of the initial mapping information includes specifying the first computing node as the intermediate destination for the second sent communication based on the specified network topology, and wherein the providing of the virtual computer network is performed without

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Brandwine Eric Jason

Classifications

• H04L45/22

  Alternate routing · CPC title

• H04L41/0654

  using network fault recovery (ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437) · CPC title

• H04L41/147

  for predicting network behaviour · CPC title

• H04L69/40 Primary

  for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection (management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06) · CPC title

• H04L41/0681 Primary

  Configuration of triggering conditions · CPC title