Logical Forwarding Element Statistics Aggregation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In virtualized networks, retrieving statistics for logical forwarding elements is cumbersome due to their logical nature, which does not exist in the real world, and can be distributed across multiple physical forwarding elements, making it time-consuming for network administrators to gather statistics for logical ports, machines, or groups of machines.
Innovation Solution
A scalable framework that includes flow stats exporters and aggregators to collect and aggregate statistics for logical forwarding elements, allowing network administrators to retrieve total packet and byte counts for logical ports, even if they are distributed across multiple physical elements, and supports aggregated entities like machines or access control lists.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If logical forwarding elements are distributed across multiple physical forwarding elements to achieve network virtualization and flexibility, then adaptability and network support capability are improved, but retrieving statistics becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component that maps logical forwarding elements to their corresponding physical forwarding elements. This intermediary maintains the relationships between logical and physical ports, enabling automated statistics retrieval without requiring administrators to manually trace distributed logical ports across multiple physical devices. The intermediary acts as a mediator that resolves the complexity introduced by distribution while preserving the adaptability benefits of network virtualization.
2Adaptability or versatility
If logical ports are distributed across multiple physical forwarding elements to enable flexible network virtualization, then network flexibility is improved, but the time required to gather statistics increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-establishing and maintaining a mapping between logical forwarding elements and physical forwarding elements before statistics retrieval is needed. The system proactively tracks and stores the relationships between logical ports and their distributed physical ports in advance. When statistics are requested, the pre-computed mapping enables immediate retrieval without requiring real-time analysis of which physical ports correspond to which logical ports, thus eliminating the time penalty associated with distributed architecture.
3Measurement precision
If manual querying of physical ports is used to retrieve logical port statistics, then measurement precision is maintained, but productivity and efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy or representation of the physical forwarding element statistics at the logical level. Instead of requiring administrators to manually query each physical port and aggregate the results, the system maintains a copied view of the statistics that is automatically updated from the physical ports. This copied statistics structure mirrors the logical forwarding element organization, allowing administrators to retrieve accurate statistics through simple queries against the logical representation, thereby maintaining measurement precision while dramatically improving productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments provide a system that implements a set of tools to define a set of one or more logical forwarding elements from a number of physical forwarding elements and a scalable framework to retrieve statistics relating each logical forwarding element. In some embodiments, the statistics relate to the logical ports of a logical forwarding element. The system of some embodiments allows a network administrator to retrieve a total packet count and byte count for one or more logical ports of the logical forwarding element, even though the logical ports may be distributed across multiple physical forwarding elements.