IP Library Granted Patent US 10,929,169
Granted Patent B2
US 10,929,169 · App. 16/256,047 · Granted Feb 23, 2021

Reprogramming network infrastructure in response to VM mobility

Inventors: Gabriel Tarasuk-Levin (San Jose, CA); Chi-Hsiang Su (Santa Clara, CA); Christoph Klee (Snoqualmie, WA); Robert Bosch (Sunnyvale, CA)
Assignee: VMware, Inc.
G06F9/45558H04L61/2007G06F9/5077G06F2009/4557H04L61/6018
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,929,169
App. No.
16/256,047
Granted
Feb 23, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

The disclosure provides an approach for dynamically reprogramming network and network infrastructure in response to VM mobility. The approach provides a hypervisor layer that can observe changes in VM-host relationships and reprogram the associated network and network infrastructure to maintain network communication. The hypervisor layer notifies a controller of a data center to migrate an ENI of the migrated VM to the same destination host as the migrated VM, in response to VM migration.

Claims (56)

1. A method of dynamically reprogramming network infrastructure of a data center, the method comprising:

providing a virtual machine (VM) on a first host;

associating the VM with an elastic network interface (ENI) of the first host, wherein the ENI comprises a list;

receiving, by the ENI, a network packet;

comparing, by the ENI, an address of the packet to the list, wherein the address is an IP address; and

responsive to the comparing:

blocking the packet, if the address is not on the list;

transmitting the packet toward a destination address of the packet, if the destination address is on the list;

migrating the VM from the first host to a second host;

connecting the VM to a second hypervisor on the second host; and

migrating the ENI from the first host to the second host.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ENI has a first IP address and the VM has the first IP address.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the ENI comprises a plurality of IP addresses, wherein a primary IP address of the plurality of IP addresses is an IP address used for addressing packets to the ENI, and wherein the primary IP address of the ENI is the first IP address.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein associating the VM with the ENI of the first host comprises connecting the VM to a first hypervisor of the first host through a virtual port of the first hypervisor, and associating the ENI with the virtual port of the first hypervisor.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the associating the VM with the ENI of the first host is performed by a daemon within the first host, the daemon being configured to monitor port-connect events between virtual machines and the first hypervisor.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

responsive to the connecting, extracting an identifier of the VM; and

locating the ENI within the data center based on the identifier of the VM.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data center is a software defined data center.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to be executed in a processor of a computer system, the instructions when executed in the processor cause the computer system to carry out a method of dynamically reprogramming network infrastructure of a data center, the method comprising:

providing a virtual machine (VM) on a first host;

associating the VM with an elastic network interface (ENI) of the first host, wherein the ENI comprises a list;

receiving, by the ENI, a network packet;

comparing, by the ENI, an address of the packet to the list, wherein the address is an IP address; and

responsive to the comparing:

blocking the packet, if the address is not on the list;

transmitting the packet toward a destination address of the packet, if the destination address is on the list;

migrating the VM from the first host to a second host;

connecting the VM to a second hypervisor on the second host; and

migrating the ENI from the first host to the second host.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the ENI has a first IP address and the VM has the first IP address.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the ENI comprises a plurality of IP addresses, wherein a primary IP address of the plurality of IP addresses is an IP address used for addressing packets to the ENI, and wherein the primary IP address of the ENI is the first IP address.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein associating the VM with the ENI of the first host comprises connecting the VM to a first hypervisor of the first host through a virtual port of the first hypervisor, and associating the ENI with the virtual port of the first hypervisor.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the associating the VM with the ENI of the first host is performed by a daemon within the first host, the daemon being configured to monitor port-connect events between virtual machines and the first hypervisor.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , the method further comprising:

responsive to the connecting, extracting an identifier of the VM; and

locating the ENI within the data center based on the identifier of the VM.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the data center is a software defined data center.

15. A computer system comprising:

a data center;

a first host comprising a virtual machine (VM) and an elastic network interface (ENI);

a second host comprising a second hypervisor; and

a processor, wherein the processor is programmed to carry out a method of dynamically reprogramming network infrastructure of a data center, the method comprising:

providing a virtual machine (VM) on a first host;

associating the VM with an elastic network interface (ENI) of the first host, wherein the ENI comprises a list;

receiving, by the ENI, a network packet;

comparing, by the ENI, an address of the packet to the list, wherein the address is an IP address; and

responsive to the comparing:

blocking the packet, if the address is not on the list;

transmitting the packet toward a destination address of the packet, if the destination address is on the list;

migrating the VM from the first host to a second host;

connecting the VM to a second hypervisor on the second host; and

migrating the ENI from the first host to the second host.

16. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the ENI has a first IP address and the VM has the first IP address.

17. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein the ENI comprises a plurality of IP addresses, wherein a primary IP address of the plurality of IP addresses is an IP address used for addressing packets to the ENI, and wherein the primary IP address of the ENI is the first IP address.

18. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein associating the VM with the ENI of the first host comprises connecting the VM to a first hypervisor of the first host through a virtual port of the first hypervisor, and associating the ENI with the virtual port of the first hypervisor.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Apr 15, 2024
From: VMWARE, INC.
To: VMWARE LLC
Reel/Frame 067103/0030 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 18, 2019
From: TARASUK-LEVIN, GABRIEL; SU, CHI-HSIANG; KLEE, CHRISTOPH; BOSCH, ROBERT
To: VMWARE, INC.
Reel/Frame 048924/0380 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20200241901A1 · Jul 30, 2020
Cited By (1)
US 12,701,156