Transactional Controls for Managed Hardware Forwarding Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current network control systems lack transactional controls for managing hardware forwarding elements (HFEs), leading to incomplete and inconsistent data plane updates due to the absence of transactional mechanisms in the OVSdb protocol and hardware VTEP schema, causing data plane outages during logical network configuration changes.
Innovation Solution
Implementing transactional communication methods that ensure HFEs receive complete control plane updates before modifying their data plane operations, using techniques such as lock-based approaches and state_consistent columns to manage logical forwarding elements and prevent data plane outages, allowing for consistent and complete updates of logical networks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the OVSdb protocol and hardware VTEP schema are used to communicate control plane data to TORs without transactional controls, then the communication process is simple and fast, but the data plane updates become incomplete and inconsistent, causing network outages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having the controller send a transaction start message before transmitting control plane data tuples to the TOR. This preliminary step establishes a transaction context that ensures all subsequent data updates are processed atomically, preventing incomplete or inconsistent data plane updates while maintaining protocol simplicity through structured communication phases.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces transaction control messages as intermediaries between the controller and TOR. These intermediary messages (transaction start, commit, rollback) mediate the data exchange process, ensuring that control plane data is received completely before data plane modifications occur, thereby guaranteeing update consistency without significantly complicating the underlying OVSdb protocol.
2Reliability
If the controller sends control plane data tuples to the TOR without transactional boundaries, then the communication process is fast and simple, but the TOR may modify data plane operations based on incomplete configuration data
Solution Approach 1:
The controller performs preliminary actions by sending all control plane data tuples within a defined transaction boundary before the TOR begins data plane modifications. This ensures configuration completeness by guaranteeing that the entire logical network view is received and validated before any forwarding changes occur, preventing partial configuration applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent maintains continuity of useful action by processing control plane data tuples sequentially within a transaction without interrupting the configuration flow. The transactional mechanism allows continuous data transmission and processing, ensuring that once a transaction starts, all necessary configuration data is delivered and applied atomically, minimizing idle time while ensuring completeness.
3Speed
If the TOR starts modifying data plane operation immediately upon receiving configuration data, then the system responds quickly to configuration changes, but the logical network view may be inconsistent leading to data plane outages
Solution Approach 1:
The TOR performs preliminary validation by receiving and validating all control plane data tuples within a transaction boundary before modifying data plane operations. This preliminary check ensures that the complete and consistent logical network view is established, preventing forwarding inconsistencies while maintaining fast response through efficient transaction processing and batched updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the configuration process into distinct phases: transaction initiation, data tuple transmission, validation, and data plane modification. This segmentation allows the TOR to process configuration data in controlled stages, ensuring consistency checks are performed on complete configurations rather than partial updates, thereby maintaining both speed and reliability through structured processing.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments provide novel methods for controllers to communicate with managed hardware forwarding elements (MHFEs) in a transactional manner. The transactional communication methods of some embodiments ensure that an MHFE receives the entirety of a control plane update that a controller supplies to it, before the MHFE starts to modify its data plane forwarding data and operations. The transactional communication methods of some embodiments provide one or more transactional boundary controls to the controllers to define complete control plane data set updates. In some embodiments, the transactional controls ensure that an MHFE receives all of a control plane update before it starts to modify its data plane forwarding data. Controllers use one transactional control in some embodiments when they define logical forwarding elements (e.g., logical switches or routers) on the MHFEs.