Load balancing and networking policy performance by a packet processing pipeline

A method to be implemented in association with a cloud service provider system, the cloud service provider system to be configured to comprise multiple control planes to be used in configuring, at least in part, network packet processing operations to be carried out in the cloud service provider system in association with multiple distributed virtualized execution environments, the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments to be executed by host processor circuitry of multiple computer systems of the cloud service provider system, the multiple computer systems comprising network interface controller circuitry that comprises data processing unit circuitry, the method comprising:

• configuring, at least in part, by at least one of the multiple control planes, programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry of the data processing unit circuitry to perform at least certain of the network packet processing operations, the at least certain of the network packet processing operations being configurable to implement, at least in part, in association with packet data associated with the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments, one or more load balancing operations, one or more firewall operations, one or more network security operations, and one or more address translation operations;
• and
• generating, at least in part, by at least one other of the multiple control planes, configuration data to be provided to the at least one of the multiple control planes, the at least one of the multiple control planes to reconfigure, at least in part, based upon the configuration data, the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry of the data processing unit circuitry so as to change, at least in part, performance of the at least certain of the network packet processing operations;
• wherein:
• the at least certain of the network packet processing operations are configurable to be implemented, at least in part, in one or more central processing unit (CPU) offload operations associated with the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry;
• the at least one other of the multiple control planes is configurable to generate, at least in part, the configuration data based, at least in part, upon one or more policy data changes and/or one or more virtualized execution environment changes;
• the at least one of the multiple control planes is to be comprised, at least in part, in the data processing unit circuitry;
• the configuration data is to be transmitted to the at least one of the multiple control planes via one or more network packets;
• the data processing unit circuitry is also configurable to implement, at least in part, one or more virtual switching operations for use in association with virtualized execution environment communications;
• and
• the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments are configurable to comprise one or more of:
• one or more virtual machines, one or more containers, and/or one or more microservices.

At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions to be executed by at least one machine, the at least one machine to be associated with a cloud service provider system, the cloud service provider system to be configured to comprise multiple control planes to be used in configuring, at least in part, network packet processing operations to be carried out in the cloud service provider system in association with multiple distributed virtualized execution environments, the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments to be executed by host processor circuitry of multiple computer systems of the cloud service provider system, the multiple computer systems comprising network interface controller circuitry that comprises data processing unit circuitry, the instructions, when executed, by the at least one machine, resulting in the cloud service provider system being configured for performance of operations comprising:

• configuring, at least in part, by at least one of the multiple control planes, programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry of the data processing unit circuitry to perform at least certain of the network packet processing operations, the at least certain of the network packet processing operations being configurable to implement, at least in part, in association with packet data associated with the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments, one or more load balancing operations, one or more firewall operations, one or more network security operations, and one or more address translation operations;
• and
• generating, at least in part, by at least one other of the multiple control planes, configuration data to be provided to the at least one of the multiple control planes, the at least one of the multiple control planes to reconfigure, at least in part, based upon the configuration data, the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry of the data processing unit circuitry so as to change, at least in part, performance of the at least certain of the network packet processing operations;
• wherein:
• the at least certain of the network packet processing operations are configurable to be implemented, at least in part, in one or more central processing unit (CPU) offload operations associated with the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry;
• the at least one other of the multiple control planes is configurable to generate, at least in part, the configuration data based, at least in part, upon one or more policy data changes and/or one or more virtualized execution environment changes;
• the at least one of the multiple control planes is to be comprised, at least in part, in the data processing unit circuitry;
• the configuration data is to be transmitted to the at least one of the multiple control planes via one or more network packets;
• the data processing unit circuitry is also configurable to implement, at least in part, one or more virtual switching operations for use in association with virtualized execution environment communications;
• and
• the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments are configurable to comprise one or more of:
• one or more virtual machines, one or more containers, and/or one or more microservices.

A cloud service provider system comprising:

• multiple computer systems comprising host processor circuitry and network interface controller circuitry, the network interface controller circuitry comprising data processing unit circuitry;
• and
• multiple control planes to be used in configuring, at least in part, network packet processing operations to be carried out in the cloud service provider system in association with the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments, the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments to be executed by the host processor circuitry of the multiple computer systems;
• wherein:
• the data processing unit circuitry comprises programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry;
• at least one of the multiple control planes is to configure, at least in part, the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry to perform at least certain of the network packet processing operations;
• the at least certain of the network packet processing operations are configurable to implement, at least in part, in association with packet data associated with the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments, one or more load balancing operations, one or more firewall operations, one or more network security operations, and one or more address translation operations;
• at least one other of the multiple control planes is to generate, at least in part, configuration data to be provided to the at least one of the multiple control planes;
• the at least one of the multiple control planes is to reconfigure, at least in part, based upon the configuration data, the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry of the data processing unit circuitry so as to change, at least in part, performance of the at least certain of the network packet processing operations;
• the at least certain of the network packet processing operations are configurable to be implemented, at least in part, in one or more central processing unit (CPU) offload operations associated with the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry;
• the at least one other of the multiple control planes is configurable to generate, at least in part, the configuration data based, at least in part, upon one or more policy data changes and/or one or more virtualized execution environment changes;
• the at least one of the multiple control planes is to be comprised, at least in part, in the data processing unit circuitry;
• the configuration data is to be transmitted to the at least one of the multiple control planes via one or more network packets;
• the data processing unit circuitry is also configurable to implement, at least in part, one or more virtual switching operations for use in association with virtualized execution environment communications;
• and
• the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments are configurable to comprise one or more of:
• one or more virtual machines, one or more containers, and/or one or more microservices.

At least one computer system to be at least one of multiple computer systems to be comprised in a cloud service provider system, the cloud service provider system being configurable to comprise multiple control planes to be used in configuring, at least in part, network packet processing operations to be carried out in the cloud service provider system in association with the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments of the multiple computer systems, the at least one computer system comprising:

• host processor circuitry to execute one or more of the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments;
• and
• network interface controller circuitry comprising data processing unit circuitry, the data processing unit circuitry comprising programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry;
• wherein:
• at least one of the multiple control planes is to configure, at least in part, the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry to perform at least certain of the network packet processing operations;
• the at least certain of the network packet processing operations are configurable to implement, at least in part, in association with packet data associated with the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments, one or more load balancing operations, one or more firewall operations, one or more network security operations, and one or more address translation operations;
• at least one other of the multiple control planes is to generate, at least in part, configuration data to be provided to the at least one of the multiple control planes;
• the at least one of the multiple control planes is to reconfigure, at least in part, based upon the configuration data, the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry of the data processing unit circuitry so as to change, at least in part, performance of the at least certain of the network packet processing operations;
• the at least certain of the network packet processing operations are configurable to be implemented, at least in part, in one or more central processing unit (CPU) offload operations associated with the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry;
• the at least one other of the multiple control planes is configurable to generate, at least in part, the configuration data based, at least in part, upon one or more policy data changes and/or one or more virtualized execution environment changes;
• the at least one of the multiple control planes is to be comprised, at least in part, in the data processing unit circuitry;
• the configuration data is to be transmitted to the at least one of the multiple control planes via one or more network packets;
• the data processing unit circuitry is also configurable to implement, at least in part, one or more virtual switching operations for use in association with virtualized execution environment communications;
• and
• the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments are configurable to comprise one or more of:
• one or more virtual machines, one or more containers, and/or one or more microservices.

Network interface controller circuitry to be comprised in at least one computer system, the at least one computer system to be at least one of multiple computer systems to be comprised in a cloud service provider system, the cloud service provider system being configurable to comprise multiple control planes to be used in configuring, at least in part, network packet processing operations to be carried out in the cloud service provider system in association with the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments of the multiple computer systems, the at least one computer system comprising host processor circuitry to execute one or more of the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments, the network interface controller circuitry comprising:

• data processing unit circuitry, the data processing unit circuitry comprising programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry;
• wherein:
• at least one of the multiple control planes is to configure, at least in part, the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry to perform at least certain of the network packet processing operations;
• the at least certain of the network packet processing operations are configurable to implement, at least in part, in association with packet data associated with the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments, one or more load balancing operations, one or more firewall operations, one or more network security operations, and one or more address translation operations;
• at least one other of the multiple control planes is to generate, at least in part, configuration data to be provided to the at least one of the multiple control planes;
• the at least one of the multiple control planes is to reconfigure, at least in part, based upon the configuration data, the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry of the data processing unit circuitry so as to change, at least in part, performance of the at least certain of the network packet processing operations;
• the at least certain of the network packet processing operations are configurable to be implemented, at least in part, in one or more central processing unit (CPU) offload operations associated with the programmable packet processing pipeline circuitry;
• the at least one other of the multiple control planes is configurable to generate, at least in part, the configuration data based, at least in part, upon one or more policy data changes and/or one or more virtualized execution environment changes;
• the at least one of the multiple control planes is to be comprised, at least in part, in the data processing unit circuitry;
• the configuration data is to be transmitted to the at least one of the multiple control planes via one or more network packets;
• the data processing unit circuitry is also configurable to implement, at least in part, one or more virtual switching operations for use in association with virtualized execution environment communications;
• and
• the multiple distributed virtualized execution environments are configurable to comprise one or more of:
• one or more virtual machines, one or more containers, and/or one or more microservices.