US 9,544,182 B2Granted

Monitoring gateway systems and methods for openflow type networks

OwnerSteven Waldbusserinventor

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Abstract

A network management gateway device, method, and software is disclosed which communicates and translates between more sophisticated digital data network monitoring devices and managers, such as SNMP managers, and managed network devices, such as OpenFlow packet switches, which often are not sophisticated enough to respond to SNMP or REST type monitoring methods. This gateway may communicate with managed devices in one or more of a variety of modes. The manager may communicate with the gateway directly, or be configured to communicate with the managed device while the communications are redirected to the gateway and processed by the gateway. In some embodiments, the gateway may use the OpenFlow protocol to communicate management data with an OpenFlow switch and to install a flow in the switch to redirect management traffic to the gateway. Other routers and switches may also be used to redirect network management traffic to the gateway as well.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of monitoring a status of a network configured to forward network packets, each said network packet comprising a packet header and packet payload, said network comprising a plurality of flow-table controlled switches, switch controllers and at least one manager device;

each said flow-table controlled switches comprising a flow-table controlled packet forwarding switch with a plurality of ports, and a unique network switch address, said switch further configured to perform network packet forwarding by a process of automatically comparing said packet header to flow-table packet header filters, and if a match is found, to automatically process said packet according to corresponding flow-table instructions, and if a match is not found, designating said packet as an exception packet and automatically forwarding, as a forwarding switch, said packet to a switch controller according to flow-table packet non-matching instructions;
each said switch controller comprising a processor and software configured to receive said exception packets, determine an action based on at least the headers of said exception packets, and to transmit, to said forwarding switch, flow-table configuration commands that update said forwarding switch's flow-table filters and corresponding forwarding instructions to subsequently recognize the header of said exception packet and to forward said exception packet and subsequent packets with the same characteristics according to said updated forwarding instructions;
said method comprising:
providing at least one monitoring gateway comprising a processor, memory, and software, each said gateway having a unique network gateway address and configured to repeatedly receive monitoring data of a plurality of said switches, and to store at least some information pertaining to said monitoring data in said memory;
each said monitoring gateway further configured to recognize at least some network monitoring commands, and to use said at least some information to respond to said-network monitoring commands with responses that return information related to the status of said network;
and
each said monitoring gateway further configured to respond to network information requests from at least one manager device and to transmit response information related to the status of said network to said at least one manager device.

4 more elements

A monitoring gateway device for monitoring a status of a network configured to forward network packets, each said network packet comprising a packet header and packet payload, said network comprising a plurality of flow-table controlled switches, switch controllers and at least one manager device;

each said flow-table controlled switches comprising a flow-table controlled packet forwarding switch with a plurality of ports, and a unique network switch address, said switch further configured to perform network packet forwarding by a process of automatically comparing said packet header to flow-table packet header filters, and if a match is found, to automatically process said packet according to corresponding flow-table instructions, and if a match is not found, designating said packet as an exception packet and automatically forwarding, as a forwarding switch, said packet to a switch controller according to flow-table packet non-matching instructions;
each said switch controller comprising a processor and software configured to receive said exception packets, determine an action based on at least the headers of said exception packets, and to transmit, to said forwarding switch, flow-table configuration commands that update said forwarding switch's flow-table filters and corresponding forwarding instructions to subsequently recognize the header of said exception packet and to forward said exception packet and subsequent packets with the same characteristics according to said updated forwarding instructions;
said monitoring gateway device comprising a processor, memory, and software, said monitoring gateway device having a unique network gateway address and configured to repeatedly receive monitoring data of a plurality of said switches, and to store at least some information pertaining to said monitoring data in said memory;
said monitoring gateway device further configured to recognize at least some network monitoring commands, and to use said at least some information to respond to said network monitoring commands with responses that return information related to the status of said network;
and
said monitoring gateway device further configured to respond to network information requests from at least one manager device and to transmit response information related to the status of said network to said at least one manager device.

3 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable medium including program instructions for execution by a monitoring gateway processor for monitoring a status of a network configured to forward network packets, each said network packet comprising a packet header and packet payload, said network comprising a plurality of flow-table controlled switches, switch controllers and at least one manager device;

each said flow-table controlled switches comprising a flow-table controlled packet forwarding switch with a plurality of ports, and a unique network switch address, said switch further configured to perform network packet forwarding by a process of automatically comparing said packet header to flow-table packet header filters, and if a match is found, to automatically process said packet according to corresponding flow-table instructions, and if a match is not found, designating said packet as an exception packet and automatically forwarding, as a forwarding switch, said packet to a switch controller according to flow-table packet non-matching instructions;
each said switch controller comprising a processor and software configured to receive said exception packets, determine an action based on at least the headers of said exception packets, and to transmit, to said forwarding switch, flow-table configuration commands that update said forwarding switch's flow-table filters and corresponding forwarding instructions to subsequently recognize the header of said exception packet and to forward said exception packet and subsequent packets with the same characteristics according to said updated forwarding instructions;
said program instructions comprising program instructions for operating at least one monitoring gateway comprising a processor, memory, and said program instructions, each said gateway having a unique network gateway address and configured by said program instructions to repeatedly receive monitoring data of a plurality of said switches, and to store at least some information pertaining to said monitoring data in said memory;
each said monitoring gateway further configured to use said program instructions to recognize at least some network monitoring commands, and to use said at least some information to respond to said network monitoring commands with responses that return information related to the status of said network;
and
wherein said program instructions configure each said monitoring gateway to respond to network information requests from at least one manager device and to transmit response information related to the status of said network to said at least one manager device.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/626,861Filed 19 Feb 2015 · us provisional application
Priority: 19 Feb 2014
Published: US 2015/0236936 A120 Aug 2015
Granted: 10 Jan 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H04L 41/0213
Standardisation; Integration: standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
H04L 12/66
Data switching networks: arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
H04L 41/342
Signalling channels for network management communication: between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities
H04L 41/40
Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks: using virtualisation of…