Specification
Description
Title of Invention: COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, FORWARDING
NODE, CONTROL DEVICE, COMMUNICATION CONTROL
METHOD, AND PROGRAM
Technical Field
t000ll (CROSS-REFERENCETO RELATED APPLTCATTONS)
The present invention claims priority from Japanese Patent Application 2OLL-016323
(filed on January 28,201I ) the content of which is hereby incorporated in its entirety
by reference into this specification.
The present invention relates to a communication system, a forwarding node, a
control device, a communication contrcl method, and a program, and more particularly
to a communication system having a control device for integrally controlling
forwarding node(s) arranged in a networt, a forwarding node, a control device, a communication
control method, and a program.
Background Art
t00021 In a communication system where a control device integrally controls forwarding
node(s) for carrying out communication, the forwarding node(s) and the control device
must be synchronized with each other. This is because, if the control device and the
forwarding node(s) are not synchronized, a packet-forwarding method instruction
transmitted from the control device to a forwarding node becomes inconsistent with the
packet forwarding processing performed by the forwarding node, with the result that
the packet forwarding not intended by the control device is performed.
t00031 As a communication system where the control device integrally controls the
forwarding node(s) as described above, the technology called OpenFlow is known (see
Patent Literature 1 and Non Patent Literaturcs I and 2). OpenFlow identifies communications
as end-to-end flows and performs path control, failure recovery, load
balancing, and optimization on a per-flow basis. An OpenFlow switch, which is
specified in Non Patent Literature 2, has a secure channel for communication with an
OpenFlow controller that serves as a control device, and operates according to the flow
table to which information is added, and whose contents are rewritten, according to an
instruction from the OpenFlow controller as necessary. In the flow table, a set of the
following three is defined for each flow: a matching rule (Header Fields) against which
a packet header is matched, flow statistical information (Counters), and an action(s)
(Actions) that defines processing contents (see FIG. 15).
t00041 For example, when a packet is rcceived, the OpenFlow switch searches the flow table
for an entry that has a matching rule (see Header tields in FIG. 15) that matches the
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header information of the rcceived packet. If an entry matching the received packet is
found as a result of the search, the OpenFlow switch updates the flow statistical infbrmation
(Counters) and, at the same time, pertbrms the processing contents (packet
transmission firom a specified port, flooding, drop, etc.), described in the Actions field
of the entry, for the received packet. On the other hand, if an entry matching the
received packet is not found as a result of the sealch, the OpenFlow switch forwards
the received packet to the OpenFlow confioller via the secure channel, requests the
OpenFlow controller to determine a packet path based on the transmission source/
destination of the received packet, receives a flow entry for the packet path, and
updates the flow table. In this way, the OpenFlow switch forwards a packet using an
eno!, stored in the flow table, as the processing rule.
100051 However, Patent Literature 1 and Non Patent Literatures I and2 described above do
not include a practical study on how to confirm the synchronization between the
OpenFlow controller and the OpenFlow switch.
t00061 In addition, Patent Literature 2 discloses the technology for confirming if data held in
a mobile device and data stored in the database to which the mobile device is
connected are synchroniznd. According to this literature, a mobile device generates a
hash for the data held in the mobile device and forwards the generated hash to the synchronization
server to request it to confirm if the data is synchroniz.ed. The synchronization
server generates a hash for the data for which synchronization confirmation is
requested. The synchronization server compares the hash, transmitted from the mobile
device, with the hash generated by ttre synchronization server. The synchronization
server confirms data synchronization based on the comparison result. This literarure
describes that the transmission time and the bandwidth required for synchronization
confirmation may be reduced by generating a hash from the data for which synchronization
confirmation is required and performing synchronization confirmation based
on the hash.
Citation List
Patent Literature
t00071 PTL 1: International Publication No. WO2008/095010
PTL2: Japanese Patent Tokuhyo Publication No. JP2009-510566,{
Non Patent Literature
100081 NPL 1: Nick McKeown and seven other authors, "OpenFlow: Enabling lnnovation in
Campus Networks, [online], [Searched on December 22,2010], Intemet
NPL 2: "Openflow Switch Specification" Version 1.0.0. (Wire Protocol0x0l)
I S earched on Decemb er 22, 20 l0), Internet
Summary of Invention
Technical Problem
t0009] The following analysis is given by the present invention. As described above, Patent
Literature I and non-Patent Literatures I and 2 describe a technology that only
provides control messages, called Stats RequesUReply, fbr retrieving the contents of
flow tables, or used to transmit the contents of flow entries as a response (see "5.3.5
Read State Messages" in Non Patent Literature 2) but not a method for efficiently
confirming synchronization between a forwarding node and the control device.
t00101 The technology disclosed in Patent Literature 2 compares the hash data (database
hashes) each of which represents respective database and, if a mismatch is detected as
a result of the comparison, performs confirmation of synchronization (comparison of
record hashes) per each piece of data held in a mobile device.
[0011] In a communication system where a control device integrally controls forwarding
nodes for can'ying out communication, synchronization confirmation, if performed by
the method such as Stats Request/Reply disclosed in Non Patent Literature 2 or by the
method disclosed in Patent Literature 2, will generate a problem that network traffic is
generated for confrming synchronization between the control device and the
forwarding node(s) and, therefore, the load of the control device or the forwarding
nodes will further increase. In addition, it should be taken into consideration that an
increase in the number of forwarding nodes to be controlled will result in an exponential
increase in the load of the control device.
t00121 In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an
efficient method for confirming synchronization between a forwarding node and the
control device in a communication system where the control device integrally controls
the forwarding nodes for communication.
Solution to Problem
t00l3l According to a tirst aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication
system comprising: a control device that sets a forwarding path of a packet
and determines processing rules corresponding to the forwarding path; a forwalding
node that includes a processing unit that processes a received packet by a processing
rule transmitted from the control device, and a matching information processing unit
that adds matching information. The matching information represents information on
processing for the received packet, to the received packet and forwards the received
packet. The communication system further comprises a confirmation unit that confirms
if the forwarding node and the control device are synchronized according to whether
the matching information added to the received packet matches pre-calculated
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matching information.
l00l4l According to a second?spect of the present invention, there is provided a f
Documents
Application Documents
| # |
Name |
Date |
| 1 |
7022-DELNP-2013.pdf |
2013-08-12 |
| 2 |
Form 5.pdf |
2013-08-13 |
| 3 |
Form 3.pdf |
2013-08-13 |
| 4 |
304.pdf |
2013-08-13 |
| 5 |
11039-8 Complete Specs.pdf |
2013-08-13 |
| 6 |
7022-delnp-2013-Form-13-(26-08-2013).pdf |
2013-08-26 |
| 7 |
7022-delnp-2013-Correspondence Others-(26-08-2013).pdf |
2013-08-26 |
| 8 |
7022-delnp-2013-GPA-(14-10-2013).pdf |
2013-10-14 |
| 9 |
7022-delnp-2013-Form-1-(14-10-2013).pdf |
2013-10-14 |
| 10 |
7022-delnp-2013-Correspondence Others-(14-10-2013).pdf |
2013-10-14 |
| 11 |
7022-delnp-2013-Form-3-(31-01-2014).pdf |
2014-01-31 |
| 12 |
7022-delnp-2013-Correspondence-Others-(31-01-2014).pdf |
2014-01-31 |
| 13 |
7022-DELNP-2013-FER.pdf |
2018-05-09 |
| 14 |
7022-DELNP-2013-AbandonedLetter.pdf |
2019-11-05 |
Search Strategy
| 1 |
7022_DELNP_2013_22-01-2018.pdf |