Source imposition of network routes in computing networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9954772-B2
Application number	US-201514851361-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 11, 2015
Priority date	Jun 26, 2015
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

Various techniques for source imposition of network routes are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving label values at a source host from a label server. The individual label values corresponding to a network route to one of the hosts or network nodes in the computing network. The method also includes constructing a label stack to reach a destination virtual machine on a destination computing device in the computing network based on the received label values corresponding to the destination computing device and a location of the source computing device in the computing network. The method also includes imposing the constructed label stack on a packet destined to the destination virtual machine on the destination computing device.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method performed by a source computing device in a computing network, the method comprising:
receiving a set of label values from a label server, the individual label values corresponding to a network route to a destination computing device or a network node in the computing network, the network node interconnecting the source computing device to the destination computing device;
constructing a label stack to reach a destination virtual machine hosted on the destination computing device based on:
the received set of label values corresponding to the destination computing device or the network node; and
a location of the source computing device in the computing network relative to the destination computing device;

imposing the constructed label stack on a packet destined to the destination virtual machine on the destination computing device; and
transmitting the packet with the imposed label stack to the destination virtual machine via the computing network.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a request to the label server, the request including a network address of the destination virtual machine, a virtual network identification corresponding to the network address, and a location of the source computing device; and
wherein receiving the set of label values includes receiving the set of label values in response to transmitting the request to the label server.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the computing network includes an underlay network organized as multiple domains in a hierarchy;
the method further includes transmitting a request to the label server, the request including a network address of the destination virtual machine, a virtual network identification corresponding to the network address, and a domain to which the source computing device belongs; and
receiving the set of label values includes receiving the set of label values in response to transmitting the request to the label server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the set of label values includes receiving the set of label values from the label server, the individual label values corresponding with a network route having an associated quality of service value.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the computing network includes an underlay network organized as multiple domains in a hierarchy; and
constructing the label stack includes:
determining if the destination computing device and the source computing device are in one domain; and
in response to determining that the destination computing device and the source computing device are in the same domain, constructing a label stack having a single label value corresponding to a network route from the source computing device to the destination computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the computing network includes an underlay network organized as multiple domains in a hierarchy; and
constructing the label stack includes:
determining if the destination computing device and the source computing device are in same domain; and
in response to determining that the destination computing device and the source computing device are not in the same domain, constructing a label stack having a first label value corresponding to a first network route from the source computing device to an upper-level domain and a second label value corresponding to a second network route from the upper-level domain to the destination computing device.

7. A method performed by a source computing device in a computing network having an underlay network and an overlay network implemented on the underlay network, the method comprising:
when transmitting a message from the source computing device to a destination virtual machine in the computing network,
transmitting a request to a label server via the computing network, the request containing data representing a network address of the destination virtual machine, a virtual network identification to which the network address belongs, and a source identification of the source computing device in the underlay network;
receiving, from the label server and via the computing network, a label descriptor having an identification of a destination computing device in the underlay network on which the destination virtual machine is hosted and an associated label value corresponding to a network route in the underlay network to reach the destination computing device;
constructing, at the source computing device, a label stack to reach the destination virtual machine based on the received label descriptor corresponding to the destination computing device by comparing a location of the target computing device relative to the source computing device in the underlay network according to the identifications of the source and destination computing devices; and
imposing, at the source computing device, the constructed label stack on a packet destined to the destination virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein:
the underlay network is organized as multiple domains in a hierarchy; and
transmitting the request includes transmitting a request to the label server, the request containing data representing a network address of the destination virtual machine, a virtual network identification to which the network address belongs, and an identification of a domain in the underlay network to which the source computing device belongs.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein:
the underlay network is organized as multiple domains in a hierarchy and the overlay network including a virtual network; and
transmitting the request includes transmitting a request to the label server, the request containing data representing a virtual network address of the destination virtual machine, a virtual network identification to which the virtual network address belongs, and an identification of a domain in the underlay network to which the source computing device belongs.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein:
the received label descriptor includes a set of label descriptors each being associated with a quality of service value; and
constructing the label stack includes constructing, at the source computing device, the label stack by selecting one of the label descriptors associated with a quality of service value that corresponds to a target quality of service value.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein:
the underlay network is organized as multiple domains in a hierarchy; and
constructing, at the source computing device, the label stack includes:
determining whether the source computing device and the destination computing device are in a single domain in the underlay network according to the identifications of the source and destination computing devices; and
in response to determining that the destination computing device and the destination computing device are in a single domain in the underlay network, constructing a label stack having a single label value corresponding to a network route from the source computing device to the destination computing device via one or more network nodes in the single domain of the underlay network.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein:
the underlay network is organized as multiple domains in a hierarchy; and
constructing, at the source computing device, the label stack includes:
determining whether the destination computing device and the destination computing device are in a single domain in the underlay network according to the identifications of the source and destination computing devices; and
in response to determining that the destination computing device and the destination computing device are not in a single domain in the underlay

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Black Benjamin
• Cseh Dawn
• Laberge Tim
• Nkposong Edet

Classifications

• H04L45/50 Primary

  using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS] · CPC title

• H04L45/02

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04L45/04

  Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing · CPC title

• H04L45/745

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04L45/38

  Flow based routing · CPC title