US 10,454,824 B2Granted

Generic communication channel for information exchange between a hypervisor and a virtual machine

AssigneeNicira, Inc.

InventorsCaixia Jiang, Jianjun Shen, Aditi Ghag, Danting Liu, Hongshun Chang, Donghai Han, Vladimir Cherepanov

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Abstract

Certain embodiments described herein are generally directed to configuring a generic channel for exchanging information between a hypervisor and a virtual machine run by the hypervisor that resides on a host machine. In some embodiments, the generic channel represents a network or communication path enabled by a logical switch that connects a HyperBus running on the hypervisor and a node agent running on the virtual machine. In some embodiments, network traffic handled by the generic channel is isolated from incoming and outgoing network traffic between the virtual machine and one or more other virtual machines or hosts.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A method for exchanging information between a hypervisor and a virtual machine run by the hypervisor that resides on a host machine, comprising:

receiving, at a first daemon running on the hypervisor, information from a network control plane, wherein the information is destined for a second daemon running inside the virtual machine;
generating, at the first daemon, a packet having a payload including at least a portion of the information and a header including a source internet protocol (IP) address of the first daemon, a source media access control (MAC) address of the first daemon, a first destination IP address associated with the second daemon, and a destination MAC address of the second daemon;
storing a first identifier in metadata associated with the packet;
receiving, at a first port of a first virtual switch implemented by the hypervisor, the packet from the first daemon, the first daemon being coupled to the first port;
determining, at the first virtual switch, to forward the packet to a second port of the first virtual switch based on the first identifier, the destination MAC address, and the first destination IP address, wherein the second port is configured to pass packets associated with the first identifier;
tagging, at the first virtual switch, the packet with a second identifier based on a mapping of the first identifier to the second identifier;
transmitting the packet, at the second port of the first virtual switch, to a virtual network interface card (VNIC) of the virtual machine, wherein the VNIC is coupled to the second port;
passing, at the VNIC, the packet to a second virtual switch implemented by the virtual machine;
determining, at the second virtual switch, to forward the packet to a port on the second virtual switch based on the second identifier, the destination MAC address, and a second destination IP address, wherein the port is configured to pass packets associated with the second identifier, wherein the second daemon is coupled to the port;
and
receiving the packet at the second daemon over the port.

8 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to be executed in a computer system, wherein the instructions when executed in the computer system perform a method for exchanging information between a hypervisor and a virtual machine run by the hypervisor that resides on the computer system, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first daemon running on the hypervisor, information from a network control plane, wherein the information is destined for a second daemon running inside the virtual machine;
generating, at the first daemon, a packet having a payload including at least a portion of the information and a header including a source internet protocol (IP) address of the first daemon, a source media access control (MAC) address of the first daemon, a first destination IP address associated with the second daemon, and a destination MAC address of the second daemon;
storing a first identifier in metadata associated with the packet;
receiving, at a first port of a first virtual switch implemented by the hypervisor, the packet from the first daemon, the first daemon being coupled to the first port;
determining, at the first virtual switch, to forward the packet to a second port of the first virtual switch based on the first identifier, the destination MAC address, and the first destination IP address, wherein the second port is configured to pass packets associated with the first identifier;
tagging, at the first virtual switch, the packet with a second identifier based on a mapping of the first identifier to the second identifier;
transmitting the packet, at the second port of the first virtual switch, to a virtual network interface card (VNIC) of the virtual machine, wherein the VNIC is coupled to the second port;
passing, at the VNIC, the packet to a second virtual switch implemented by the virtual machine;
determining, at the second virtual switch, to forward the packet to a port on the second virtual switch based on the second identifier, the destination MAC address, and a second destination IP address, wherein the port is configured to pass packets associated with the second identifier, wherein the second daemon is coupled to the port;
and
receiving the packet at the second daemon over the port.

8 more elements

A computer system, wherein system software for the computer system is programmed to execute a method for exchanging information between a hypervisor and a virtual machine run by the hypervisor that resides on the computer system, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first daemon running on the hypervisor, information from a network control plane, wherein the information is destined for a second daemon running inside the virtual machine;
generating, at the first daemon, a packet having a payload including at least a portion of the information and a header including a source internet protocol (IP) address of the first daemon, a source media access control (MAC) address of the first daemon, a first destination IP address associated with the second daemon, and a destination MAC address of the second daemon;
storing a first identifier in metadata associated with the packet;
receiving, at a first port of a first virtual switch implemented by the hypervisor, the packet from the first daemon, the first daemon being coupled to the first port;
determining, at the first virtual switch, to forward the packet to a second port of the first virtual switch based on the first identifier, the destination MAC address, and the first destination IP address, wherein the second port is configured to pass packets associated with the first identifier;
tagging, at the first virtual switch, the packet with a second identifier based on a mapping of the first identifier to the second identifier;
transmitting the packet, at the second port of the first virtual switch, to a virtual network interface card (VNIC) of the virtual machine, wherein the VNIC is coupled to the second port;
passing, at the VNIC, the packet to a second virtual switch implemented by the virtual machine;
determining, at the second virtual switch, to forward the packet to a port on the second virtual switch based on the second identifier, the destination MAC address, and a second destination IP address, wherein the port is configured to pass packets associated with the second identifier, wherein the second daemon is coupled to the port;
and
receiving the packet at the second daemon over the port.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/909,889Filed 1 Mar 2018
Published: US 2019/0273683 A15 Sep 2019
Granted: 22 Oct 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification15 codes

G06F 9/45558
Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors: hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
H04L 12/4641
Interconnection of networks: virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN]
H04L 12/4645
Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN]: details on frame tagging
H04L 45/66
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's

Family

US 2019/0273683 A1Pre-grant publication · published 5 Sep 2019
US 10,454,824 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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