Vmware, Inc.

Nicira, Inc.

Rajeev Nair

Jayant Jain

Raju Koganty

Pierluigi Rolando

Rahul Mishra

Kantesh Mundaragi

Wenyi Jiang

Camille Lecuyer

Saahil Gokhale

Boon Seong Ang

Aditya Gajanana Holla

Srikar Tati

Wilson Wang

Rishi Mehta

Madhusudhan Ravi

Guolin Yang

Anuprem Chalvadi

Yang Ping

Shilpi Agarwal

Prerit Rodney

Shrikrishna Khare

Aditya Krishna Sonthy

Zongyun Lai

Vignesh Raghuraman

Ashwin Mahesh Shroff

Kairav Padarthy

Subbarao Narahari

Sami Boutros

Ganesan Chandrashekhar

Alexander Tessmer

Mani Kancherla

Ankur Dubey

Hongwei Zhu

Ayyappan Veeraiyan

Yuxiao Zhang

Samuel Jacob

Aditya G Holla

A method of selecting an egress interface for a source process running on an electronic device is provided. The device implements a TCP/IP stack utilized by a plurality of applications for sending network packets. The method receives a packet from a particular application in the plurality of applications to send to a network destination over a socket tagged with an identifier of the particular application. The method compares the socket tag with a set of network egress interface tags. Each network egress interface tag is associated with a network egress interface in a plurality of network egress interfaces. Each network egress interface tag includes the identifier of an application that utilizes the network egress interface. The method selects a network egress interface with a tag that matches the socket tag. The method sends the packet to the network destination through the selected network egress interface.

Application based egress interface selection

An approach for a dynamic provisioning of multiple RSS engines is provided. In an embodiment, a method comprises monitoring a CPU usage of hardware queues implemented in a plurality of RSS pools, and determining whether a CPU usage of any hardware queue, implemented in a particular RSS pool of the plurality of RSS pools, has increased above a threshold value. In response to determining that a CPU usage of a particular hardware queue, implemented in the particular RSS pool, has increased above the threshold value, it is determined whether the particular RSS pool includes an unused hardware queue (a queue with light CPU usage). If such an unused hardware queue is presented, then an indirection table that is associated with the particular RSS pool is modified to remap one or more data flows from the particular hardware queue to the unused hardware queue.

Dynamic provisioning of multiple RSS engines

Some embodiments provide a method for selecting a transmit queue of a network interface card (NIC) of a host computer for an outbound data message. The NIC includes multiple transmit queues and multiple receive queues. Each of the transmit queues is individually associated with a different receive queue, and the MC performs a load balancing operation to distribute inbound data messages among multiple receive queues. The method extracts a set of header values from a header of the outbound data message. The method uses the extracted set of header values to identify a receive queue which the MC would select for a corresponding inbound data message upon which the NIC performed the load balancing operation. The method selects a transmit queue associated with the identified receive queue to process the outbound data message.

Selection of paired transmit queue

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method of upgrading software defined networking (SDN) modules executing on a host computer. While a first version of the SDN modules is executing on the host computer to perform traffic processing, the method loads a second version of the SDN modules alongside the first version of the SDN modules such that the first and second versions of the SDN modules are executing on the host computer at the same time. The method saves runtime states from the first version of the SDN modules, and transfers responsibility for performing traffic processing from the first version of the SDN modules to the second version of the SDN modules. The method then restores the saved runtime states to the second version of the SDN modules.

Upgrading SDN software by dual-loading modules

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method of upgrading a firewall module executing on a host computer to process traffic sent to and from machines executing on the host computer. While a first version of the firewall module executes on the host computer to process the traffic to and from the machines, the method loads a second version of the firewall module alongside the first version of the firewall module. For each of multiple ports associated with machines executing on the host computer for which the firewall module processes traffic sent to and from the port, the method saves a runtime state of the first version that relates to the port, transfers association of a firewall filter associated with the port from the first version to the second version, and restores the saved runtime state for the port to the second version.

Upgrading firewall module on port-by-port basis

Some embodiments provide a method for performing services for data messages associated with a machine executing on a particular host computer. On the particular host computer, the method configures (1) a first distributed forwarding element (DFE) to forward data messages sent by the machine based on network addresses specified by machine, and (2) a second DFE to forward data messages sent by the machine to a set of one or more other host computers on which a set of one or more service nodes before the data messages are returned to the particular host computer to be forwarded by the first DFE based on the network addresses specified by the machine. Each DFE is implemented by at least one software forwarding element executing (SFE) on the particular host computer and at least one other SFE executing on at least one other host computer.

Providing services with guest VM mobility

Some embodiments provide novel methods for performing services for machines operating in one or more datacenters. For instance, for a group of related guest machines (e.g., a group of tenant machines), some embodiments define two different forwarding planes: (1) a guest forwarding plane and (2) a service forwarding plane. The guest forwarding plane connects to the machines in the group and performs L2 and/or L3 forwarding for these machines. The service forwarding plane (1) connects to the service nodes that perform services on data messages sent to and from these machines, and (2) forwards these data messages to the service nodes. In some embodiments, the guest machines do not connect directly with the service forwarding plane. For instance, in some embodiments, each forwarding plane connects to a machine or service node through a port that receives data messages from, or supplies data messages to, the machine or service node. In such embodiments, the service forwarding plane does not have a port that directly receives data messages from, or supplies data messages to, any guest machine. Instead, in some such embodiments, data associated with a guest machine is routed to a port proxy module executing on the same host computer, and this other module has a service plane port. This port proxy module in some embodiments indirectly can connect more than one guest machine on the same host to the service plane (i.e., can serve as the port proxy module for more than one guest machine on the same host).

Distributed forwarding for performing service chain operations

A method for managing several queues of a network interface card (NIC) of a computer. The method initially configures the NIC to direct data messages received for a data compute node (DCN) executing on the computer to a default first NIC queue. When the DCN requests data messages addressed to the particular DCN to be processed with a first feature for load balancing data messages across multiple queues and a second feature for aggregating multiple related data messages into a single data message, the method configures the NIC to direct subsequent data messages received for the DCN to a second queue in a first subset of queues associated with the first feature if a load on the default first queue exceeds a first threshold. Otherwise, if a load on the first subset of queues exceeds a second threshold, the method configures the NIC to direct subsequent data messages received for the particular DCN to a third queue in a second subset of queues associated with both the first and second features.

Dynamic processing of packets using multiple receive queue features

Providing services by using service insertion and service transport layers

Segregated service and forwarding planes

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method for migrating a machine on a first host computer to a second host computer. At the first host computer, the method gathers a set of service insertion data used by a first service insertion module executing on the first host computer to identify a particular chain of multiple services that a set of multiple service nodes have to perform on a particular data message flow associated with the machine. To the second host computer, the method sends a set of machine configuration data and the set of service insertion data. The second host computer (1) uses the machine configuration data to deploy the machine on the second host computer and (2) uses the gathered set of service insertion data to configure a second service insertion module executing on the second host computer to identify the particular chain of two or more services.

Some embodiments provide a method for migrating a service machine between two hosts. The method configures a first host (1) to gather service machine data associated with the service machine executing on the first host and (2) to send the gathered service machine data to the second host. Each host executes a software forwarding element to implement a distributed forwarding element (DFE) that implements a dedicated service forwarding plane that forwards data messages associated with guest machines to the services machines. The method configures the second host to use the received service machine data to deploy the service machine on the second host and to connect the deployed service machine to the DFE. The method configures the DFE to forward data messages associated with a guest machine executing on a third host, and addressed to the service machine to the second host instead of the first host.

Providing services with service VM mobility

Some embodiments provide a method for selecting a transmit queue of a network interface card (NIC) of a host computer for an outbound data message. The NIC includes multiple transmit queues and multiple receive queues. Each of the transmit queues is individually associated with a different receive queue, and the MC performs a load balancing operation to distribute inbound data messages among multiple receive queues. The method extracts a set of header values from a header of the outbound data message. The method uses the extracted set of header values to identify a receive queue which the NIC would select for a corresponding inbound data message upon which the NIC performed the load balancing operation. The method selects a transmit queue associated with the identified receive queue to process the outbound data message.

Growing community of inventors

Newark, CA, United States of America

Rajeev Nair