VNF Control And Data Plane Scaling via Route Server
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems face challenges in scaling virtual network functions (VNFs) without overburdening the data center gateway with numerous sessions, as each VNF typically establishes a separate session to update connectivity information, consuming processor resources.
Innovation Solution
Establish a session between VNFs and a route server, allowing the route server to aggregate connectivity information from multiple VNFs and communicate it to the gateway through a single session, reducing the number of sessions required at the gateway.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If each VNF establishes a separate session with the gateway to exchange connectivity information, then the routing control plane function can be properly implemented, but the gateway becomes overburdened with numerous sessions consuming processor resources
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple VNFs are merged into a single session with the gateway through the introduction of a route server. The route server aggregates connectivity information from multiple VNFs and communicates it to the gateway through one session, reducing the number of sessions from many individual VNF-gateway connections to a single route server-gateway connection.
Solution Approach 2:
A route server is introduced as an intermediary component between VNFs and the gateway. The route server receives connectivity information from multiple VNFs, processes and aggregates this information, and then communicates with the gateway through a single session, thereby mediating the communication and reducing gateway burden.
2Productivity
If the number of VNFs is increased to accommodate higher throughput, then packet processing capacity is improved, but the gateway requires more sessions to maintain connectivity information for each VNF
Solution Approach 1:
The connectivity information management for multiple VNFs is merged into a single session through the route server. As VNFs are scaled up to handle higher throughput, their connectivity information is aggregated by the route server and communicated to the gateway through one session rather than requiring separate sessions for each VNF.
Solution Approach 2:
The route server acts as an intermediary that scales with the VNFs. As the number of VNFs increases to accommodate higher packet processing throughput, the route server aggregates their connectivity information and maintains a single session with the gateway, preventing the gateway complexity from increasing linearly with VNF count.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides an approach for scaling the number of VNFs in a data center without scaling the number of control sessions between VNFs and a data center gateway. The approach includes opening a session between a VNF and a route server, rather than between the VNF and the gateway, when the VNF needs to send its connectivity information to the gateway. The VNF sends its connectivity information to the route server, and the route server forwards the connectivity information to the gateway. The gateway receives connectivity information of a plurality of VNFs in the data center from the route server rather than from each of the VNFs individually. The connectivity information is then used to send packets, by the gateway to a VNF, for processing. The packets are sent using three layers of networking: an underlay physical network, an overlay logical network, and a second overlay logical network.