Reliable virtualized network function system for a cloud computing system
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorsBozidar Radunovic, Matthew John Balkwill, Noel Andrew Bainbridge, Yongguang Zhang, Antonios Katsarakis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A reliable network function virtualization (rVNF) system includes a virtualized network function (VNF) application instance that includes a plurality of physical VNF instances. A load balancer provides an interface between a client and the VNF application instance. A load balancer interface facilitates delivery of packets related to a particular user context to the same physical VNF instance. A communication interface facilitates communication between the client and the VNF application instance. Application storage stores session data associated with the VNF application instance.
Claims20
A reliable network function virtualization (rVNF) system for a cloud computing system, comprising:
- a virtualized network function (VNF) application instance that comprises a plurality of physical VNF instances;
- a load balancer that provides an interface between a client and the VNF application instance;
- a communication interface that facilitates communication between the client and the VNF application instance;
- application storage that stores session data associated with the VNF application instance;
- and
- a load balancer interface that is configured to:
- extract metadata from a plurality of incoming packets;
- search for the metadata in load balancer storage;
- determine whether an association is found in the load balancer storage between the metadata in an incoming packet and an associated physical VNF instance of the plurality of physical VNF instances;
- when the association is found, forward the incoming packet to the associated physical VNF instance;
- and
- when the association is not found, select a forwarding physical VNF instance of the plurality of physical VNF instances to forward the incoming packet to, wherein the forwarding physical VNF instance writes, in the load balancer storage, a new association between the metadata and the forwarding physical VNF instance.
A reliable network function virtualization (rVNF) system for a cloud computing system, comprising:
- a virtualized network function (VNF) application instance that comprises a plurality of physical VNF instances;
- a load balancer that provides an interface between a client and the VNF application instance;
- a load balancer interface that facilitates delivery of packets related to a particular user context to the same physical VNF instance;
- a communication interface that facilitates communication between the client and the VNF application instance;
- and
- application storage comprising a key-value store that includes a plurality of key-value pairs for storing session data associated with the VNF application instance, wherein each key has only one physical VNF instance as an owner at any given time, and wherein only the owner of a key is permitted to access the key and adjust a value corresponding to the key.
A method implemented on load balancer interface implemented on a reliable network function virtualization (rVNF) system for a cloud computing system, the method comprising:
- extracting metadata from a plurality of incoming packets;
- searching for metadata in a load balancer storage of a load balancer that provides an interface between a client and a virtualized network function (VNF) application instance, the VNF application instance comprising a plurality of physical VNF instances;
- determining whether an association is found in the load balancer storage between the metadata in an incoming packet of the plurality of incoming packets and an associated physical VNF instance of the plurality of physical VNF instances;
- when the association is found, forwarding the incoming packet to the associated physical VNF instance;
- and
- when the association is not found, selecting a forwarding physical VNF instance of the plurality of physical VNF instances to forward the incoming packet to, wherein the forwarding physical VNF instance writes, in the load balancer storage, a new association between the metadata and the forwarding physical VNF instance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.