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US 9,288,555 B2Granted
Data center network architecture
AssigneePlexxi Inc.
InventorsAnand Srinivas, Denis H. deRuijter, David J. Husak
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Data center network architectures that can reduce the cost and complexity of data center networks. The data center network architectures can employ optical network topologies and optical nodes to efficiently allocate bandwidth within the data center networks, while reducing the physical interconnectivity requirements of the data center networks. The data center network architectures also allow computing resources within data center networks to be controlled and provisioned based at least in part on a combined network topology and application component topology, thereby enhancing overall application program performance.
Claims37
A data center network, comprising:
- a plurality of nodes interconnected with one another by one or more network segments, wherein at least two of the nodes each includes a respective local controller;
- a modeling component including at least one processor configured to execute at least one program out of at least one memory to model an affinity-network topology, the affinity-network topology representing a logical combination of a network topology associated with the network and an affinity topology specifying policies and attributes that describe communications between a plurality of application components,
- a first central controller, communicably coupled to each local controller, configured to provide a plurality of end-to-end forwarding topologies with accompanying constraints to each local controller, each end-to-end forwarding topology being based at least in part on the affinity-network topology and identifying one or more network segments for forwarding traffic through the network and the accompanying constraints defining one or more datagrams to which the corresponding forwarding topology applies;
- and
- wherein each local controller is configured to, independently of all other local controllers, deterministically apply or remove one or more of the forwarding topologies, to or from, hardware or software components of the associated node as a function of a current network state to deterministically arrive at a consistent end-to-end forwarding configuration for the network, and
- wherein each local controller is further configured to, independently:
- deterministically select and utilize at least one of the end-to-end forwarding topologies as an initial forwarding topology, wherein the non-selected end-to-end forwarding topologies are maintained as alternative forwarding topologies, and
- in response to a change in the current network state, deselect the initial forwarding topology independently and deterministically select and utilize at least one of the alternative forwarding topologies in place of the initial forwarding topology, and
- wherein each local controller selects the same alternative forwarding topology.
6 more elements
A method of operating a data center network comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected with one another by one or more network segments, the method comprising:
- providing, by an affinity-network topology calculator, an affinity network topology that represents a logical combination of a network topology associated with the network and an affinity topology, the affinity topology specifying policies and attributes that describe communications between a plurality of application components;
- providing, by a first central controller, a plurality of end-to-end forwarding topologies with accompanying constraints to a plurality of local controllers, each local controller being associated with a respective node in the network, each end-to-end forwarding topology being based at least in part on the affinity-network topology and identifying one or more network segments for forwarding traffic through the network and the accompanying constraints defining one or more datagrams to which the corresponding forwarding topology applies;
- deterministically applying or removing, by each of the respective local controllers, independently of all other local controllers, one or more of the forwarding topologies, to or from, hardware or software components of the associated node as a function of a current network state to deterministically arrive at a consistent end-to-end forwarding configuration for the network;
- and
- each local controller independently and deterministically:
- selecting and utilizing at least one of the end-to-end forwarding topologies as an initial forwarding topology;
- maintaining the non-selected end-to-end forwarding topologies as alternative forwarding topologies;
- and
- in response to a change in the current network state, deselecting the initial forwarding topology and selecting and utilizing at least one of the alternative forwarding topologies in place of the initial forwarding topology,
- wherein each local controller selects the same alternative forwarding topology.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.