Virtual Network Switch for Heterogeneous NIC Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network switches often support only one or two types of network interface card (NIC) connectivity specifications, making it difficult to manage multiple NIC interface connectors with different connectivity specifications, which limits their versatility in various network environments.
Innovation Solution
A virtual network switch system that includes modules for building, mapping, and controlling virtual switches and NICs, allowing it to support multiple NIC connectivity specifications and transmission rates by matching virtual NICs with physical NICs based on network requirements and resource availability, using technologies like KVM and OpenFlow protocols.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a network switch supports multiple NIC connectivity specifications, then its adaptability and versatility are improved, but its device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a virtual network switch as an intermediary layer between physical network interface cards with different connectivity specifications and the network. This virtual switch abstracts the physical NIC differences, providing a unified interface for managing multiple NIC types without increasing the complexity of individual components. The virtual switch handles the complexity of protocol conversion and data plane management centrally.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual network switch is designed to universally support multiple NIC connectivity specifications (10 GbE, 40 GbE, 100 GbE) through a single unified platform. Instead of requiring separate physical switches for different NIC types, the virtual switch provides multi-functional capability to handle various connectivity standards, thereby improving adaptability while distributing complexity management to the virtualization layer.
2Adaptability or versatility
If physical network interface cards with different connectivity specifications are used, then network versatility is improved, but the difficulty of integrating them increases
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual network switch serves as a mediating layer that simplifies the integration of physical NICs with different connectivity specifications. It provides a unified control plane and data plane interface that abstracts the underlying physical NIC differences, making the integration process easier and more manageable without requiring complex manual configuration for each NIC type.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the network interface functionality into virtual components (virtual NICs, virtual switches) that can be independently configured and managed. This segmentation allows different physical NICs with varying specifications to be logically separated and assigned to different virtual network functions, simplifying the integration and management of heterogeneous hardware components.
Data Source
AI summary
A virtual network switching system for communicating with a plurality of physical network interface cards (NICs) of different connectivity specifications includes a building module, a mapping module, a determining module, and a control module. The building module builds a virtual switch, a plurality of virtual servers, and a plurality of virtual NICs in a server according to a received command. The mapping module builds a mapping relation between a first virtual server and a first virtual NIC according to a first virtual server network requirement, and transmits an access request from the first virtual NIC to a first physical NIC. The control module allows the first virtual NIC to access first physical NIC if the available resource of the first physical NIC is greater than the predetermined value. A method for building the virtual networking switch system is also provided.