Method and apparatus for constructing a large-scale virtual network

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of construction method and device of large-scale virtual network.Therein, the method includes: using application container engine Docker technology to be distributed to multiple hosts on Mininet, realize the simulation of underlying physical network;By running cloud computing management platform OpenStack nova component in the mode of Docker container, the simulation of virtual network is realized.The application fuses Mininet with Docker technology, realizes the distributed deployment of Mininet, enhances business scenario test capability.In addition, in the vHost virtual host management system simulated using Docker container, a set of virtualization management program components of Nova of Openstack is run, further improves virtualization capability, and more network segments, larger-scale virtual network can be created.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of SDN (Software Defined Network) technology, and in particular to a method and apparatus for constructing a large-scale virtual network. Background Technology

[0002] Modern networks have become increasingly complex and implementation-dependent, making it impossible to rely solely on simulations to study and validate the correctness of algorithms, protocols, and applications within network systems. While simulations run application abstractions to replace real software, ensuring scalability, they can compromise the realism of experimental results due to unrealistic behavior. Therefore, emulation is increasingly used to evaluate new network ideas. The advantage of emulation is that it allows the use of identical code to production code in tests, directly running real software to ensure experimental correctness. However, emulation is not reality and often encounters scalability issues in large and resource-intensive experiments.

[0003] In the realm of Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Mininet is by far the most popular emulator. Its lightweight virtualization technology and simple yet powerful API allow Mininet to simulate large networks on a single machine. However, precisely because it's designed to run on a single machine, it limits its performance in experiments with high memory or processing power requirements. In resource-constrained scenarios, Mininet's experimental results can also be distorted under overload conditions. One solution to this problem is to distribute the experiments across multiple machines; therefore, Mininet's implementation must be modified.

[0004] In recent years, with the increasing maturity of virtualization technology, emerging technologies such as container engines Docker and Vxlan have emerged one after another. Although Mininet can quickly build virtual networks using the lightweight virtualization technology of namespaces, it is also limited by it and does not support testing of more complex business scenarios. How to solve this problem is also a problem worth studying. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This invention provides a method and apparatus for constructing large-scale virtual networks, enabling the creation of virtual networks with more network segments and larger scale.

[0006] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a method for constructing a large-scale virtual network, comprising:

[0007] S1. Mininet is deployed in a distributed manner across multiple hosts using the Docker container engine to simulate the underlying physical network.

[0008] S2. Virtual network simulation is achieved by running the OpenStack nova component of the cloud computing management platform in a Docker container.

[0009] Optionally, S1 specifically includes:

[0010] Mininet is distributed across multiple hosts, and Docker containers are used to replace the namespaces in Mininet to simulate the virtual host system vHost and virtual network switch vSwitch in Mininet. Communication between vHost and vSwitch across hosts is then achieved through a virtual extended LAN Vxlan tunnel.

[0011] Optionally, S2 specifically includes:

[0012] The OpenStack nova component runs on a Docker container that simulates a physical server. The nova component is interconnected with the OpenStack control node on a standalone host via a Vxlan tunnel. A namespace is created in the Docker container as a simulated VM.

[0013] Optionally, an ONOS controller cluster can be built based on the entire Mininet network.

[0014] Compared with existing solutions, the advantages of this invention are:

[0015] 1. The method of this invention is based on Vxlan (Virtual Extended LAN) tunneling technology, which realizes the distributed deployment of Mininet across hosts, solves the problem of limited resources and easy overload of a single Mininet machine, can create a host that is much larger than that a single Mininet machine can simulate, and can customize the network topology according to actual needs.

[0016] 2. In the method of the present invention, a Mininet-deployed Host is created by using a Docker container. Docker commands can be executed to enter the Host, enhancing the monitoring and management of the Host. Furthermore, due to the higher level of virtualization and greater availability, it makes it possible to perform more complex network scenario tests.

[0017] 3. The method of the present invention combines Mininet and OpenStack to customize a container that can run OpenStack Nova services, enabling OpenStack to start instances using namespaces. It can create another layer of OpenStack network on the Mininet network, further improving the scalability of the virtual network and making it more functional, supporting verification and testing in complex data center network scenarios.

[0018] 4. This invention supports one-click deployment on large-scale network platforms and supports the distribution of test scripts via K6.

[0019] This invention discloses a simulation scheme for building large-scale data center virtual networks based on Mininet, Docker, and OpenStack. It realizes the distributed deployment of Mininet across hosts, supports the use of Docker container virtualization to simulate network nodes, realizes the containerization of OpenStack nova components, and uses OpenStack to build a larger virtual network on top of the Mininet network. It enables the creation of virtual networks at the tens of kilobyte level using only limited physical resources, and supports the simulation and testing of cloud data center networks. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating a method for constructing a large-scale virtual network, as provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 2 This is an overall architecture diagram of a large-scale virtual network construction method provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 3 A link communication logic diagram provided for an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 4 An OpenStack design diagram provided for an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 5 This is a two-layer network scenario diagram provided in an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0025] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and not intended to limit it. Furthermore, it should be noted that, for ease of description, the accompanying drawings show only the parts relevant to the present invention, and not all of the structures.

[0026] Figure 1The flowchart of a method for constructing a large-scale virtual network provided in an embodiment of the present invention specifically includes the following steps:

[0027] S1. Mininet is deployed in a distributed manner across multiple hosts using the Docker container engine to simulate the underlying physical network.

[0028] S2. Virtual network simulation is achieved by running the OpenStack nova component of the cloud computing management platform in a Docker container.

[0029] Specifically, S1 includes: distributing Mininet across multiple hosts, using Docker containers to replace the namespace in Mininet to simulate the virtual host system vHost (ePM) and network switch vSwitch (eVM) in Mininet, and then realizing cross-host communication between vHost and vSwitch through a virtual extended LAN Vxlan tunnel.

[0030] S2 specifically includes:

[0031] The OpenStack nova component runs on a Docker container that simulates a physical server. The nova component is interconnected with the OpenStack control node on a standalone host via a Vxlan tunnel. A namespace is created in the Docker container as a simulated VM.

[0032] Building upon the aforementioned embodiments, this invention further constructs an Overlay network on the vHost implemented using Mininet. It replaces the namespaces in Mininet with Docker containers for simulating physical network nodes, enabling it to support more complex business scenario simulations and data center physical network topology simulations. For Overlay network simulation, this invention deploys namespaces on a large scale as simulated VMs by running OpenStack nova components in containers. These VMs are divided into numerous VPCs, logically forming isolated domains. Furthermore, during the Overlay network testing phase, tasks are distributed using the K6 automated performance testing framework to achieve automated verification of the large-scale virtual network. Therefore, this invention not only implements the underlying data center physical network through distributed Mininet but also constructs virtual networks with different isolation domains using Docker and OpenStack technologies. This significantly increases the scale of the virtual network and provides a framework for unified testing of the control plane and data plane.

[0033] See further Figure 2 In this embodiment, Mininet is deployed in a distributed manner across multiple hosts. An admin network is built on each host, and clients can connect to other worker machines via SSH using the admin network's IP address, achieving control and management of each worker machine. Subsequently, the virtual network to be simulated is constructed. Compared to Mininet's use of Linux cgroups and network namespaces for isolation, this embodiment uses Docker containers to isolate each simulated node, enabling more complex network testing. For simulated nodes distributed across different hosts, Vxlan tunnels can be used to connect them, merging the Mininet networks of each host into a large virtual network. A unified ONOS cluster ensures network connectivity. The network nodes simulated by Docker containers offer more complex operability; the `docker exec` command can be used in the terminal command line to enter the container, allowing for more precise monitoring of the system's current resource status.

[0034] To simulate a larger virtual network, the vHost nodes simulated by containers can be viewed as servers in a data center, connected by a customized network topology. For the numerous VMs on these servers, since Docker containers represent a higher level of virtualization than namespaces, another layer of virtual network built using namespaces can be constructed within the containers. To ensure the connectivity of this network layer, OpenStack technology is introduced. OpenStack provides reliable cloud platform deployment and management services, but it typically runs on physical machines and virtual machines. Therefore, combining Docker and OpenStack technologies, a customized Docker container encapsulating OpenStack Nova components was created. This container can run OpenStack computing services, with the OpenStack control node scheduling and deploying VMs according to specific needs. Since containers lack the hardware and software requirements for deploying VMs using standard OpenStack Nova services, namespaces are used as the VM startup method, with network namespaces used for mutual isolation between VMs. Building another layer of OpenStack virtual network on top of the Mininet network ensures full utilization of the physical host's hardware and software resources.

[0035] Example

[0036] This embodiment builds a 10k-level large-scale virtual network based on Mininet, Docker, and OpenStack, deployed on four physical servers with 24 cores, 48 ​​threads, and 125G bandwidth. The construction of the large-scale virtual network simulation platform mainly includes the following steps:

[0037] (1) Clients deploy the improved Mininet on physical machines in a distributed manner through Admin Net, and complete the construction of the Mininet network custom topology and access to the SDN controller.

[0038] (2) Run the OpenStack Nova service in the ePM container that simulates a physical server, and detect these compute nodes on the client machine as an OpenStack control node.

[0039] (3) Send a virtual network creation request to the ePM node through the OpenStack control node to build a large-scale virtual network.

[0040] Specifically, in step (1), the source files of this invention are downloaded on a client machine, Docker and some dependencies are installed on four working servers, and a simulation start signal is sent from the client machine to the four physical machines. Each physical machine creates its own Mininet management network (i.e., Figure 2 In the Admin Net (within the network), cross-host Admin Nets communicate via Vxlan tunneling technology, allowing clients to easily control worker machines and successfully complete the initialization of ePM and eSwitch containers, the generation of bridge devices and veth pairs, forming a virtual cloud data center network with a specified topology. Since the eSwitch nodes are containers loaded with OVS services, they still require the assistance of the SDN controller to distribute flow table entries, enabling communication between each ePM node. The communication logic between network nodes is as follows: Figure 3 As shown, each worker machine creates an admin-br bridge. The ePM and eSwitch nodes created on this worker machine are connected to it via a vethpair. This link acts as the management plane, controlling the worker machines and virtual network nodes, simulating a cloud data center network with a specified topology. The topology determines the ePM that each eSwitch needs to connect to. Communication between eSwitch and ePM occurs through the bridge device and the vethpair. Therefore, it can be seen that the link logic within a single machine is primarily simulated using Linux devices. Communication between ePMs across hosts requires establishing VxLAN tunnels between the corresponding eSwitches; therefore, the external link logic employs VxLAN tunnel forwarding technology.

[0041] Specifically, in step (2), each ePM node automatically runs the OpenStack Nova service after the container starts normally, simulating the function of a compute node, and communicates with the control node on the client machine through a Vxlan tunnel. The control node periodically polls to discover these compute nodes. This prepares for creating a larger virtual network on the ePM, with the specific architecture as follows: Figure 4 As shown.

[0042] Specifically, in step (3), since OpenStack virtualization capabilities are mainly provided by KVM, Qemu, and Xen, but these technologies have limited support in containers, namespaces are needed to start an instance on the ePM node, thus enabling OpenStack to support namespaces. Next, a namespace can be created on the ePM as an eVM. Because of OpenStack network support, eVMs in different VPCs can be simulated. These eVMs are isolated under different subnets by the OpenStack router. A specific scenario diagram is provided. Figure 5 As shown, eVM1 and eVM2 are created by different ePM containers and are in different OpenStack subnets, but different isolation levels can be achieved through different network configurations.

[0043] The technical solution of this invention is a simulation scheme for building a large-scale data center virtual network based on Mininet, Docker, and OpenStack. It realizes the distributed deployment of Mininet across hosts, supports the use of Docker container virtualization to simulate network nodes, realizes the containerization of OpenStack nova components, and uses OpenStack to build a larger virtual network on top of the Mininet network. It enables the creation of virtual networks at the tens of kilobyte level with only limited physical resources. It also provides a framework for unified testing of the control plane and data plane.

[0044] Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention also provide an apparatus for constructing a large-scale virtual network, comprising:

[0045] The underlying physical network simulation module is used to distribute Mininet across multiple hosts using the Docker container engine to simulate the underlying physical network.

[0046] The virtual network simulation module is used to simulate virtual networks by running components of the OpenStacknova cloud computing management platform in Docker containers.

[0047] Optionally, the simulation module of the underlying physical network is specifically used for:

[0048] Mininet is distributed across multiple hosts, and Docker containers are used to replace the namespaces in Mininet to simulate the virtual host system vHost and virtual network switch vSwitch in Mininet. Communication between vHost and vSwitch across hosts is then achieved through a virtual extended LAN Vxlan tunnel.

[0049] Optionally, the simulation module of the virtual network is specifically used for:

[0050] The OpenStack nova component runs on a Docker container that simulates a physical server. The nova component is interconnected with the OpenStack control node on a standalone host via a Vxlan tunnel. A namespace is created in the Docker container as a simulated VM.

[0051] Optionally, this embodiment builds an ONOS controller cluster based on the entire Mininet network.

[0052] Furthermore, the device also includes an automatic verification module for automatically verifying virtual networks using the K6 automatic performance testing framework.

[0053] The apparatus for constructing a large-scale virtual network provided in this embodiment of the invention can execute the method for constructing a large-scale virtual network provided in any embodiment of the invention, and has the corresponding functional modules and beneficial effects of the method.

[0054] Note that the above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the technical principles employed. Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described herein, and various obvious changes, readjustments, and substitutions can be made without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, although the present invention has been described in detail through the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may include many other equivalent embodiments without departing from the concept of the present invention, the scope of which is determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for constructing a large-scale virtual network, characterized in that, include: S1. Mininet is deployed in a distributed manner across multiple hosts using the Docker container engine to simulate the underlying physical network. S2. Virtual network simulation is achieved by running the OpenStack nova component of the cloud computing management platform in a Docker container; S1 specifically includes: Mininet is distributed across multiple hosts, and Docker containers are used to replace the namespaces in Mininet to simulate the virtual host system vHost and virtual network switch vSwitch in Mininet. Communication between vHost and vSwitch across hosts is then achieved through a virtual extended LAN Vxlan tunnel. S2 specifically includes: The OpenStack nova component runs on a Docker container that simulates a physical server. The nova component is interconnected with the OpenStack control node on a standalone host via a Vxlan tunnel. A namespace is created in the Docker container as a simulated VM.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Build an ONOS controller cluster based on the entire Mininet network.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Following S2, the system also includes: automating the verification of virtual networks using the K6 automated performance testing framework.

4. A device for constructing a large-scale virtual network, characterized in that, include: The underlying physical network simulation module is used to distribute Mininet across multiple hosts using the Docker container engine to simulate the underlying physical network. The virtual network simulation module is used to simulate virtual networks by running OpenStack nova components of the cloud computing management platform in Docker containers; The simulation module of the underlying physical network is specifically used for: Mininet is distributed across multiple hosts, and Docker containers are used to replace the namespaces in Mininet to simulate the virtual host system vHost and virtual network switch vSwitch in Mininet. Communication between vHost and vSwitch across hosts is then achieved through a virtual extended LAN Vxlan tunnel. The simulation module of the virtual network is specifically used for: The OpenStack nova component runs on a Docker container that simulates a physical server. The nova component is interconnected with the OpenStack control node on a standalone host via a Vxlan tunnel. A namespace is created in the Docker container as a simulated VM.

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