Distributed Processing of Network Device Tasks

Abstract

The invention relates to distributed processing of network equipment tasks, and proposes a technology for distributing network equipment tasks among virtual machines running in a computing cloud. A network device includes a network interface to send and receive messages, a routing unit including one or more processors configured to run a version of a network operating system, and a virtual machine agent. The virtual machine agent is configured to: identify a virtual machine running at a computing cloud communicatively coupled to the network device, wherein the identified virtual machine runs an instance of the version of the network operating system; utilize at least one network interface to A request to perform a task is sent to the virtual machine; and a task response including a result of performing the task is received from the virtual machine using at least one network interface. The routing unit is configured to update said network device based on the result.

Description

technical field [0001] The present disclosure relates to computer networking, and more particularly, to techniques for distributing network device tasks among virtual machines. Background technique [0002] A computer network is a collection of interconnected computing devices that exchange data and share resources. In a packet network, such as the Internet, computing devices communicate data by dividing the data into smaller chunks called packets, which are individually routed across the network from source devices to destination devices. The destination device extracts the data from the packets and assembles the data into its original form. Dividing data into packets enables the source device to resend only those individual packets that might have been lost during transmission. [0003] Certain devices within a network, such as routers, contain routing units that hold routing information that describes routes through the network. Each route defines a path between locati...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The cooling and power performance in a single rack of network equipment may not be adequate, leading network administrators to use separate racks to provide the additional overhead needed to maintain ideal network throughput while the network equipment performs various management tasks. Calculate ability

Network administrators must manage each additional rack as a separate device, adding to the complexity of managing network devices

Further, an operating system running on a network device can only support at most a maximum number of computing resources and software processes, which limits the total computing power available to any network device

Images