DISTRIBUTED NETWORK SERVICES
Providing a distributed network service includes: receiving network traffic at a first physical device; and executing a service engine to participate in the distributed network service. The distributed network service is provided to at least the first target application instance executing in a first VM on the first physical device, and a second target application instance executing in a second VM on a second physical device; and a shared state of the distributed network service is maintained with respect to the first physical device and the second physical device.
1 - 25 . (canceled)
26 . A method of implementing a distributed network service platform in a data center with a plurality of host computers on which a plurality of application virtual machines and a plurality of virtual switches are deployed, the method comprising:
configuring a first set of service virtual machines (SVMs) on a set of two or more host computers to implement a first distributed network service;
configuring each particular virtual switch in a first set of virtual switches to re-direct packets sent by a particular application VM in a first set of application VMs to a particular SVM in a first set of SVMs to perform the first distributed network service; and
configuring the first set of virtual switches to forward packets returned by the first set of SVMs to destinations of the packets.
27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein each particular virtual switch re-directs packets sent by a particular application VM executing on a particular host computer along with the particular virtual switch.
28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein each particular virtual switch re-directs packets sent by the particular application VM to a particular SVM executing on the particular host computer along with the particular application VM and the particular virtual switch.
29 . The method of claim 27 , wherein each particular virtual switch re-directs packets sent by the particular application VM to a particular SVM executing on the particular host computer or another host computer.
30 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the SVMs in the first set of SVMs share state regarding the first distributed network service that the first set of SVMs implement.
31 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the packets sent by the first set of applications are sent to a second set of applications, the method further comprising
configuring each particular virtual switch in a second set of virtual switches to re-direct packets sent by a particular application VM in a second set of application VMs to a particular SVM in a second set of SVMs to perform a second distributed network service; and
configuring the second set of virtual switches to forward packets returned by the second set of SVMs to destinations of the packets.
32 . The method of claim 31 , wherein each particular virtual switch in the second set of virtual switches re-directs packets sent by a particular application VM executing on a particular host computer along with the particular virtual switch.
33 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the distributed network service is a load balancing service.
34 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the distributed network service is a firewall service.
35 . The method of claim 26 , wherein each virtual switch is in-line in a datapath of the application VM for which the virtual switch re-directs the packets to the first set of SVMs.
36 . A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for implementing a distributed network service platform in a data center with a plurality of host computers on which a plurality of application virtual machines and a plurality of virtual switches are deployed, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
configuring a first set of service virtual machines (SVMs) on a set of two or more host computers to implement a first distributed network service;
configuring each particular virtual switch in a first set of virtual switches to re-direct packets sent by a particular application VM in a first set of application VMs to a particular SVM in a first set of SVMs to perform the first distributed network service; and
configuring the first set of virtual switches to forward packets returned by the first set of SVMs to destinations of the packets.
37 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 36 , wherein each particular virtual switch re-directs packets sent by a particular application VM executing on a particular host computer along with the particular virtual switch.
38 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 37 , wherein each particular virtual switch re-directs packets sent by the particular application VM to a particular SVM executing on the particular host computer along with the particular application VM and the particular virtual switch.
39 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 37 , wherein each particular virtual switch re-directs packets sent by the particular application VM to a particular SVM executing on the particular host computer or another host computer.
40 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 36 , wherein the SVMs in the first set of SVMs share state regarding the first distributed network service that the first set of SVMs implement.
41 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 36 , wherein the packets sent by the first set of applications are sent to a second set of applications, the program further comprising sets of instructions for:
configuring each particular virtual switch in a second set of virtual switches to re-direct packets sent by a particular application VM in a second set of application VMs to a particular SVM in a second set of SVMs to perform a second distributed network service; and
configuring the second set of virtual switches to forward packets returned by the second set of SVMs to destinations of the packets.
42 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 41 , wherein each particular virtual switch in the second set of virtual switches re-directs packets sent by a particular application VM executing on a particular host computer along with the particular virtual switch.
43 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 36 , wherein the distributed network service is a load balancing service.
44 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 36 , wherein the distributed network service is a firewall service.
45 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 36 , wherein each virtual switch is in-line in a datapath of the application VM for which the virtual switch re-directs the packets to the first set of SVMs.