Patent Application
20190273718
Embodiments relate generally to computer network security. More specifically, embodiments relate to techniques for intercepting network traffic routed by virtual switches and filtering the intercepted traffic for the selective application of security services.
Businesses and organizations rely on computer systems and networks for an increasingly wide variety of business operations. As the reliance on these systems and networks has grown, so too has the importance of securing those computer systems and networks against internal and external security threats. However, the breadth and complexity of security threats targeting such computer systems and networks is far and wide and ever growing. To monitor and address these security threats, organizations increasingly rely on sophisticated computer network security applications and hardware such as firewalls, anti-virus tools, data loss prevention (DLP) software, etc.
One aspect of a network security application often involves monitoring and performing security operations on network traffic generated by monitored components of a computing environment. For example, a security application might use deep packet inspection (DPI) operations, DLP operations, and other services to analyze network traffic for the presence of potential security threats. In computing environments which include virtualized computing resources, for example, the network traffic to be monitored can include traffic generated by virtual machines (VMs) and applications running thereon.
The various advantages of the embodiments disclosed herein will become apparent to one skilled in the art by reading the following specification and appended claims, and by referencing the drawings, in which:
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid unnecessarily obscuring embodiments of the present invention.
References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment need not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.
Embodiments are described herein according to the following outline:
1.0. General Overview
2.0. Operating Environment
3.0. Functional Overview
5.0. Example Embodiments
6.0. Implementation Mechanism—Hardware Overview
7.0. Extensions and Alternatives
Modern data centers and other computing environments can include anywhere from a few computer systems to thousands of systems configured to process data, service requests from remote clients and other applications, and perform numerous other computational tasks. The large number of interworking systems, applications, etc., make such computing environments susceptible to a wide variety of network security threats and other issues. A number of network security tools are available to protect such systems and the computer networks interconnecting these systems, and many of these tools comprise a monolithic set of network security functions. For example, a typical network security tool might comprise a hardware unit including firewall services, routing services, virtual private network (VPN) services, and so forth.
The type of network security tool described above is useful for providing a variety of network security functions as a single unit. However, efficiently scaling these types of network security tools is often challenging. For example, if a particular computer environment might benefit from increased firewall resources, a system administrator may install one or more additional hardware units each including firewall services in addition to a suite of other network security functions. While the addition of these new hardware units may meet the increased firewall resource needs, some of the hardware units may include unnecessary and/or underutilized resources devoted to virtual private network (VPN) services, data loss prevention (DLP) services, or other security services.
One way in which many modern computing environments scale resources more efficiently is using virtualized computing resources. A virtualized computing resource generally refers to an abstracted physical computing resource presented to an operating system and its applications by means of a hypervisor, such that the virtual computing resources (compute, memory, network connectivity, storage, etc.) are configurable and may be different from those of the physical computing resource. According to one embodiment, these types of virtualized infrastructures are used to efficiently scale network security applications based on the use of “microservices,” where a microservice is a particular type of virtualized computing resource packaged as a software container. For example, a network security platform may comprise separate microservices providing firewall resources, DLP services, VPN services, etc. In general, the use of such microservices can provide greater flexibility because the microservices can be more easily deployed and scaled in response to variable demands for various types of network security services.
The type of efficient network security application scaling described above can be achieved with the use of a security application that is configured to scale network security services using microservices. Although many of the techniques described herein are explained with reference to a microservice-based network security application, the techniques are also applicable to other types of network security systems.
Computing environments including VMs may further include one or more virtual switches (also referred to herein as a “vSwitch”), where a vSwitch manages network traffic for some number of VMs connected to virtualized ports of the vSwitch and forming one or more virtual local area networks (VLANs). The configuration of vSwitch can also include port groups, where a port group is a logical grouping of vSwitch ports (and by extension the VMs connected to those ports). Furthermore, port groups of a vSwitch can be assigned a trunk, where a trunk merges a group of virtual network links into a single logical link and can enable VLANs to span across different vSwitches.
While the ability to assign vSwitch ports to port groups and trunks can provide efficiencies in managing network traffic at the vSwitch, these configurations also present challenges for examining traffic routed by a vSwitch for security purposes. For example, traffic among VMs within the same port group will not be observed by a security service as the security service only observes traffic traversing port group boundaries. This prevents the security service from observing VM to VM traffic that may be indicative of a lateral infiltration (a security compromise spreading from peer to peer). This also prevents the security service from observing VM to VM traffic that could be used to establish baseline behaviors and traffic patterns to establish risk levels.
The data processed by the network security system 100 is transferred from a microservice to another (higher hierarchy) microservice using a data plane. In some embodiments, during such a transfer, a lower microservice decides (based on configuration, current statistics, and other information) as to which next microservice to utilize. Such a decision may constitute a load-balancing decision to assure that the higher-hierarchy microservices are efficiently utilized. In other embodiments, the decision of which microservice to utilize is made by a more central entity.
As illustrated, a network security system 100 utilizes a hardware processor 102 (such as a central processing unit (CPU) or one or more cores thereof, a graphics processing unit (GPU) or one or more cores thereof, or an accelerated processing unit (APU) or one or more cores thereof) to execute microservices stored in memory 104. A network interface 128 (e.g., fabric or interconnect that is wired or wireless) provides a means for communicating with a data center. Network security system 100 may inspect traffic, detect threats, and otherwise protects a data center using the microservices 108-122.
Embodiments of a network security system 100 providing the above capabilities are now discussed in more detail. Network security system 100 adds security to, or enhances the security of, a datacenter or other computing environment. In an embodiment, network security system 100 is delivered (e.g., downloaded) in the form of a seed software application. The seed software application instantiates microservices of the network security system on a host in the datacenter. As used herein, a microservice container refers to where the microservice runs, for example, on a virtual machine. Once deployed, network security system 100 utilizes a hardware processor 102, memory 104, and network interface 128. In many scenarios, security can be added/configured using existing hardware and/or without purchasing additional rack devices for particular functionality. The seed software application may be installed on any one of a wide variety of hosts—be they slow or fast, low-cost or high-cost, commodity or customized, geographically dispersed, part of a redundancy scheme, or part of a system with regular back-ups.
In some embodiments, a network security system 100 utilizes a network interface 128 to explore the datacenter and to discover existing network segments, determine security settings to apply to various network segments, detect available hosts and hardware resources, and determine additional configuration information as needed. In an embodiment, the datacenter itself includes several machines with hypervisors, or physical hardware, and the network security system 100 offers microservices to communicate with and protect one or more of those internal virtual machines or physical hardware. Based on performing datacenter discovery, a network security system 100, in some embodiments, may then offer or suggest available security tools for selection either through a graphical interface or via connections with existing enterprise management software. In one embodiment, once configured, a network security system 100 is deployed “in-line,” receiving packets headed for the datacenter, thereby allowing network security system to intercept and block suspicious traffic before it reaches the datacenter. With an understanding of the datacenter, a network security system 100 deploys microservices to inspect traffic throughout the datacenter, and not only at ingress. In some embodiments, a network security system 100 is deployed in a “copy only” configuration, in which the system monitors traffic, detects threats, and generates alerts, but does not intercept traffic before it arrives at the datacenter.
As shown, memory 104 has stored therein microservices 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120, and 122 (108-122), as well as a virtual chassis 106, which is also a microservice. In an embodiment, the microservices are small in size, consisting of a relatively small number of instructions. In an embodiment, the microservices 108-122 are independent of each other. As illustrated, microservices 108-122 are microservices that are loaded from memory and executed by the hardware processor 102. Those microservices 108-122 include data path security microservices, for example TCP/IP, SSL, DPI, or DLP microservices, as described further below with respect to
Memory 104 also stores security service 124. Security service 124 is configured to utilize a plurality of microservices to perform security operations on intercepted network traffic, including evaluating network traffic for potential security threats and executing security actions on network traffic determined to present a security threat. In one embodiment, security service 124 utilizes one or more microservices to intercept network traffic communicated between VMs assigned to a single port group to evaluate the network traffic for malicious data. In another embodiment, security service 124 utilizes one or more microservices to intercept network traffic communicated between VMs, where each VM is assigned a unique port group and VLAN. In various embodiments, an interface (e.g., a segment interface) utilizes a stored mapping that maps the VLANs assigned to each VM to the VLAN used by a virtual distributed switch for communications with a physical switch 1410. In one embodiment, the embodiments disclosed herein are performed by security service 124. In other embodiments, the embodiments disclosed herein are performed by microservices (e.g., microservices 108-122) based on instructions from security service 124.
It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that a datacenter typically employs many instances of the hardware represented within network security system 100 such as hardware processor 102 and memory 104. Individual servers may have multiple processors or multiple processing boards each with multiple processors. Processors may have a plurality of processing cores and access a plurality of network interfaces. Security service 124 comprises program code executing within a processor and may have interfaces (such as configuration or administration user interfaces) that are made available over a network to users. In a virtualized environment, the user may not be aware of the specific processor on which security service 124 is executing and, in some embodiments, that processor may change based on loading of the virtual environment. Such changes may occur based on administrator requests or automatically based on the virtual environment's control software.
In an embodiment, a network security system 100 receives traffic via network interface 128 to/from a datacenter. In one embodiment, a network security system 100 is placed in-line to inspect traffic, and potentially intercept a threat before it arrives at, or leaves, the datacenter. In other embodiments, a network security system 100 monitors the traffic heading into, or out of, the datacenter, in which case the network security system 100 detects threats and generates alerts, but does not block the data. A hardware processor 102 may execute various data security microservices on the data. For example, as described hereinafter with respect to
In an embodiment, microservices 108-122 are implemented using computer-executable instructions loaded from the Internet via network interface 128. For instance, in an embodiment, the microservices are implemented with computer-executable instructions downloaded from a web site or online store site. In some embodiments, microservices 108-122 are loaded into memory 104. In various embodiments, the microservices are implemented using computer-executable instructions loaded on and received from a non-transitory computer readable medium, such as digital media, including another disc drive, a CD, a CDROM, a DVD, a USB flash drives, a Flash memory, a Secure Digital (SD) memory card, a memory card, without limitation. Microservices received from a digital medium may be stored into memory 104. The embodiments are not limited in this context. In further embodiments, a digital medium is a data source that constitutes a combination of hardware elements such as a processor and memory.
In most embodiments, a network security system 100 runs on a datacenter computer. In other embodiments, however, a network security system 100 is installed and runs on any one of a wide variety of computing platforms, ranging from low-cost to high-cost, and from low-power to high power. In some embodiments, a network security system 100 runs on a server. In some embodiments, a network security system 100 is installed on and runs on a low-cost, commodity server computer, or on a low-cost rack-mounted server. As illustrated, hardware processor 102 is a single core processor. In alternate embodiments, hardware processor 102 is a multi-core processor. In alternate embodiments, hardware processor 102 is a massively parallel processor. In some embodiments, a virtual chassis 106 and microservices 108-122 may be hosted on any of a wide variety of hardware platforms used in the datacenter to be protected.
In some embodiments, a network security system 100 scales out using available resources to accommodate higher traffic or load. In one embodiment, hardware processor 102 (CPU) and memory 104 are scaled out or in dynamically as needed: additional CPUs and memory are added if scaling out, and some CPUs and/or memory are powered down if scaling in. This scaling out is performed to allocate the additional CPUs and memory to those portions of the security hierarchy for which there is demand, while not allocating additional CPUs and memory to those portions of the security hierarchy that can accommodate the higher traffic utilizing their existing allocation.
One property of a microservice is the separation and protection of memory from other microservices. In this manner, an individual microservice may be moved to another physical server or terminate abnormally without impacting other microservices. Microservices may be distinguished from threads in that threads generally operate within a shared memory space and exist within the confines of an operating system on which the microservices were spawned.
The networked computer system depicted in
In one embodiment, one or more security services 410 may be configured to monitor network traffic and other data sent between an application 416 and one or more servers 404, 406 through a routing network 408. In one embodiment, security service 410 is an example of security service 124, depicted in
In an embodiment, a routing network 408 provides connectivity among servers 404, 406, security service 410, and application 416. In some embodiments, routing network 408 is partially configured responsive to hypervisor configuration of servers 404 and 406. In some embodiments, a routing network 408 is partially or entirely configured responsive to hypervisor configuration of servers 404 and/or 406.
In one embodiment, by virtue of routing information included in channel data encapsulation packets, data traveling between an application 416 and server 404 and/or server 406 is routed to the correct server, and is kept separate from data traveling between the application 416 and the other server. Accordingly, what is essentially a private network 412 may be created between the server running security service 410 and server 404. Similarly, what is essentially a private network 414 may be created between the server running security service 410 and server 406.
Context X may be considered an identifier describing the traffic streams, source machines, or applications responsible for generating packets A, B and C. This identifier may be direct (such as an ID used as a table look up), indirect (such as a pointer used to access a data structure), or some other method of instructing microservices as to the policies and processing to use for handling packets A, B, and C. As an example, context X may be generated by performing a hash, longest prefix match, or lookup of header fields such as IP addresses, TCP ports, interface names (or MAC addresses), or other packet properties. The lookup may be an exact match, longest prefix match, or other method to associate packet streams with the same security processing to use. The generated context may then be used by security services, such as a DPI service, to determine which rules to utilize when scanning the data from packets A, B, and C (and other packets that are part of the same traffic stream). This information may be embedded within the context (as a bit field or other information), available by indirection (such as a table or data structure lookup by another service), or generated programmatically based on any combination of such information.
The context may be generated through a look up at an interface microservice and is included in the transmission of packet data to transmission control protocol (TCP) reassembly services. Reassembled content from the TCP microservice is transmitted to a deep packet inspection (DPI) microservice or secure socket layer (SSL) microservice, and with the same context. By maintaining this context in the encapsulation of data transport throughout the microservice hierarchy, processing directives associated with a context become a shared read-only resource (relative to the microservices) and may only rarely use stateful updates.
Interface microservice 508 transmits 512 the channel data encapsulation packet 510 to TCP/IP microservice 514. As shown, the channel data encapsulation packet 516 includes context X and content Y, which corresponds to packets A, B, and C of channel data encapsulation packet 510. After conducting security processing of the channel data encapsulation packet 516, TCP/IP microservice 514 transmits 518 the packet to DPI microservice 520. As shown, the channel data encapsulation packet 522 includes context X and content Y, which corresponds to packets A, B, and C of channel data encapsulation packet 510. After conducting security processing of the channel data encapsulation packet 522, DPI microservice 520 generates channel data encapsulation packet 24, which, as shown, includes context X, DPI load Z, and DPI timestamp T. Encapsulated channel data may be tagged with properties including a timestamp and a load metric. The timestamp may reference the duration of microservice processing, the time at which microservice processing started or another temporal property associated with processing the encapsulated channel data. The load metric may reference the relative or absolute loading of a microservice processing the encapsulated channel data.
As shown, a DPI microservice 520 transmits, via path 526, channel data encapsulation packet 524 to TCP/IP microservice 514, which uses the DPI load and DPI timestamp information to inform future load-balancing decisions. As shown, a TCP/IP microservice 514 generates channel data encapsulation packet 528, which includes context X, TCP/IP load Z, and TCP/IP timestamp T. As shown, TCP/IP microservice 514 transmits, via path 530, channel data encapsulation packet 528 to interface microservice 508, which uses the TCP/IP load and TCP/IP timestamp information to inform future load-balancing decisions. The flow is completed when interface microservice 508 transmits, via path 532, packets to security service 504, which transmits the packets to a server 534.
As shown, DPI microservice 520 transmits channel data encapsulation packet 524 to TCP/IP microservice 514, which uses the DPI load and DPI timestamp information to inform future load-balancing decisions. As shown, TCP/IP microservice 514 generates channel data encapsulation packet 528, which includes context X, TCP/IP load Z, and TCP/IP timestamp T. As shown, TCP/IP microservice 514 transmits channel data encapsulation packet 528 to interface microservice 508, which uses the TCP/IP load and TCP/IP timestamp information to inform future load-balancing decisions. The flow is completed when interface microservice 508 transmits, via path 532, packets to security service 504, which transmits them to server 534 microservice.
Exemplary benefits of the security service 504 may include the ability of each microservice to utilize the same channel data encapsulation protocol for all communication, thereby allowing scaling across the entirety of the datacenter network routable via the channel data encapsulation header. Communications between microservices maintain a context X generated at interface microservice 508 to all subsequent microservices that no longer have access to the original packets. As an example, a DPI microservice processing content reassembled by a TCP/IP microservice has no visibility into the packets used by the TCP/IP microservice to reassemble the content. However, the context X generated upon reception of one or more of those packets at the interface microservice, forwarded to the TCP/IP microservice and subsequently forwarded by the TCP/IP microservice to the DPI microservice, may be used to determine policy or select a minimal DPI signature set by the DPI microservice without incurring additional state processing. By providing load and timestamp data in the channel data encapsulation packets 524 and 528, which are returned via paths 526 and 530, the microservices receive and can maintain real-time loading and processing latency information utilized to make load balancing decisions.
One benefit of the security system illustrated in
As an example, consider the context X 662 obtained by TCP/IP microservice 610 as part of packets received from interface microservice 602 as transmission 646. Context X 662, when transmitted to DPI microservice 620 as part of transmission 644, along with the reassembled packet data, contains information that may enable the DPI microservice to forego or simplify processing of this reassembled data. Such information can include, for example, a context bit or field specifying a subset of regular expressions or patterns to be used for DPI processing, a number of bytes of reassembled data to be received before beginning DPI processing, specific allowed or disallowed protocols, and other information potentially avoiding a DPI state lookup.
In an embodiment, microservices of a security system 600 are stateless. For example, each of the microservices may retrieve state information from an outside source such that the microservice can process packets or content belonging to any context. Each microservice may retrieve and update service state (that state associated with the microservice processing). Additionally, each microservice may retrieve and update context state (state associated with the context relevant for all security service processing). In some embodiments, the process state and context state share a global state service. Examples of elements of context state include a level of suspicion regarding traffic from a source IP, a policy to ignore certain ports or protocols, and other information used to process the packets, reassembled content, and extracted objects from communication identified with the context.
In an embodiment, multiple microservices in the same or different hierarchy of the security system may be able to process packets associated with the same context at the same time. If one security microservice fails (e.g., if a TCP microservice fails to respond to a request), another microservice can take over and process the request using the failed microservice's context.
Returning to
In an embodiment, TCP/IP microservices 610 and 612 are stateless, but may benefit from the context X generation performed by interface microservice 602. For example, whichever of TCP/IP microservices 610 and 612 receives packet A may disassemble the packet to extract the data associated with the packet and conduct security processing on the data. TCP/IP reassembly generally consists of associating packets with flows (e.g., identified by source and destination IP and port values) and using the TCP sequence numbering to place the packets into a correct order, remove any overlap or duplication, and/or identify missing or out of order packets.
In
In an embodiment, DPI microservice 620 is also stateless and may use the context provided by TCP/IP microservice 610 or 612 in transmission 644 or 656. DPI microservice 620 may load DPI processing state before processing the received data, but can perform some work (e.g., scheduling different DPI pattern state tables) based on the context. Transmitting the context to the DPI microservice therefore may obviate some amount of work by the DPI microservice. If TCP/IP microservice 610 fails and interface microservice 602 instead utilizes TCP/IP microservice 612, DPI microservice 620 may obtain the context from the transmission of reassembled TCP content in transmission 656.
Although
Summarizing the operation of an embodiment as illustrated by
Continuing the example illustrated by
In an embodiment, a computing device 712 includes a hypervisor 702, vSwitch 720, and an interface microservice 730. The hypervisor 702 is a component implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or combinations thereof, and which manages the creation and operation of one or more virtual machines (VMs) (e.g., a VM 704). Examples of a hypervisor 702 include, but are not limited to, a VMware® ESX™/ESXi™ hypervisor, a Citrix® XenServer® hypervisor, or a Microsoft® Hyper-V® hypervisor. In some embodiments, vSwitch 720 and port groups 722 are integrated into or otherwise part of hypervisor 702, configured via hypervisor 702, or some combination thereof.
In an embodiment, a VM 704 running on a hypervisor 702 is generally any type of emulated computer system that can share hardware resources with one or more other VMs running on the hypervisor 702. In the example of
In an embodiment, a VM 704 is one of a plurality of VMs networked as part of a virtual network. The plurality of VMs can be networked in part using one or more vSwitches (e.g., vSwitch 720). Whereas a physical Ethernet switch manages network traffic between machines on a physical network, a vSwitch manages network traffic between VMs logically connected to virtual ports of the vSwitch. A vSwitch can be connected to other vSwitches and to one or more physical switches (not shown in
In an embodiment, a VNIC 708 of a VM 704 is connected to a port of the vSwitch 720, and the port can be assigned to a port group 710. At a high level, a port group is a vSwitch configuration which defines a logical grouping of VNICs connected to the ports comprising the group. For example, a system 700 might include any number of VMs 704 having any number of VNICs 708, and the VNICs can be grouped into any number of port groups by the vSwitch 720. A port group can be further associated with configuration options applied to the member ports including, for example, bandwidth limitations, traffic shaping rules, and other settings. In an embodiment, a vSwitch 720 stores configuration information related to port groups as port groups configuration 722. Based on the port groups configuration 722, for example, when a vSwitch 720 receives a packet from a VNIC of a VM, the vSwitch 720 can determine which port group the VNIC is associated with and tag the packet with a VLAN assigned to the port group in the configuration.
As described in more detail herein, an interface microservice 730 enables network traffic sent to and received from a VM 704 (and any other VMs generating network traffic routed by vSwitch 720) to be intercepted and filtered based on an intercept configuration 732. As shown in
In one embodiment, a microservice as depicted in
In an embodiment, a VLAN assigned to a port group 910 as in the example above is referred to as an “original” or “existing” VLAN. In one embodiment, to enable an interface microservice 930 to intercept network traffic routed by the vSwitch 920, the microservice creates a new VLAN, referred to herein as an “intercept” VLAN, for each original VLAN and further generates and stores a VLAN mapping 932 indicating a mapping from each original VLAN to a respective intercept VLAN. The interface microservice 930 further adds the original VLAN and the intercept VLAN to a VLAN trunk 922 enabling the traffic on both VLANs to be routed to an interface microservice 930.
In an embodiment, based on the configuration described above, the interface microservice 930 can change the VLAN assigned to port group 910 of VM 904 from the original VLAN to the intercept VLAN and, consequently, packets sent from VM 904 are directed to interface microservice 930 via the VLAN trunk 922. The interface microservice 930 can then translate the intercept VLAN 934 to the original VLAN 936 using the VLAN mapping 932, and network traffic leaving network path 924 can be associated with the original VLAN.
Similarly, when a network packet is received by the vSwitch 920 coming in from the network path 924, because the interface microservice 930 is now part of the VLAN trunk 922 for both the intercept VLAN and the original VLAN and the incoming network packets are associated with the original VLAN, the network packets are routed to the interface microservice 930. The interface microservice 930 similarly maps the original VLAN to the intercept VLAN using the mapping 932, and the packets are sent to the VM 904 using the VLAN trunk 922. In this manner, the changes to the network structure at the hypervisor 902 and vSwitch 920 are transparent to outside devices which only are aware of the original VLAN.
Approaches, techniques, and mechanisms are disclosed that enable a computer security application to intercept, filter, and perform security operations on network traffic sent from and received by VMs in a networked computing environment. In one embodiment, a computer security application configures a vSwitch to enable traffic routed by the vSwitch to be intercepted and filtered by an interface microservice. The interface microservice receives, from the vSwitch, configuration information including a mapping between at least one port group identifier and at least one VLAN identifier. For each existing, or “original,” VLAN identifier in the configuration information, the interface microservice creates a separate “intercept” VLAN. The interface microservice adds the at least one existing VLAN, the at least one intercept VLAN, and the interface microservice to a VLAN trunk. The configuration information is modified to replace the existing VLAN identifiers associated with the port groups with identifiers of the intercept VLANs.
In an embodiment, based on the configuration described above, an interface microservice can receive and filter traffic routed by a vSwitch and configured with the intercept VLANs. For example, a vSwitch receiving network packets associated with an intercept VLAN routes the packets to the interface microservice via the VLAN trunk created above. The interface microservice can retrieve and apply various packet filters stored in association with the intercept VLAN to the network packets. If the packet filters match any of the intercepted network packets, the interface microservice can perform various security operations on the packets, send the network packets for security processing by an external microservice, or perform any other operations. Otherwise, the microservice can send network packets not matching the retrieved packet filters to the intended destination based on an original VLAN identifier stored in an intercept to original VLAN mapping.
In an embodiment, an interface microservice is an executable component of a computer and network security system, such as the system described in Section 2.0. As illustrated in
In an embodiment, security services provided to VM 704 include intercepting and analyzing network traffic traversing a network path 724. At a high level, an interface microservice 730 works with a vSwitch 720 to provide security services by filtering intercepted network packets, and by locally processing filtered packets or sending the filtered packets to one or more higher level security services via network path 734. The higher level security services might reside on a different virtual machine on the same local physical machine, at another physical machine, or at any location accessible to an interface microservice 730.
At block 1002, a configuration microservice determines, for a computing device for which it is desired to intercept and filter network traffic, if an interface microservice is running at the computing device. At block 1004, if an interface microservice is not currently running on the computing device, the configuration microservice installs an interface microservice (e.g., an interface microservice 730). Otherwise, if an interface microservice is currently running on the computing device, the method proceeds to block 1006.
In an embodiment, the computing device for which it is desired to intercept and filter network traffic includes at least one hypervisor, and at least one VM is running on the at least one hypervisor. As illustrated in
In an embodiment, the vSwitch is associated configuration information which includes, for example, a port groups configuration 722. The port groups configuration 722 includes information defining one or more port groups managed by the vSwitch, where each port group is associated with a set of member VNICs. For example, one port group of port groups configuration 722 might include VNIC 708 and some number of other VNICs of the VM 704 or other VMs. The port groups configuration 722 includes a VLAN associated with each port group.
At block 1006, the interface microservice retrieves port groups information from the configuration for the vSwitch running on the computing device. As indicated above, the port groups configuration 722 indicates, for each port group, which VNICs (and associated VMs) are members of the port group and further identifies a mapping with an associated VLAN. In one embodiment, the set of VLANs associated with the port groups defined in a port groups configuration 722 of a vSwitch 720 is referred to herein as a set of existing, or original, VLANs.
At block 1008, the configuration microservice creates, for at least one original VLAN identified in the port groups information, a corresponding intercept VLAN. For example, for each original VLAN associated with a port group from port groups configuration 722 of vSwitch 720, a configuration microservice can create a corresponding intercept VLAN. In general, each of the intercept VLANs created at block 1008 represents an internal version of a corresponding original VLAN and can be used to route the original VLAN traffic to an interface microservice 730, as further described in the following operations.
At block 1010, the configuration microservice creates a mapping indicating the original VLAN corresponding to each intercept VLAN created at block 1008. In one embodiment, the mapping is stored by the interface microservice 730 (e.g., illustrated in
At block 1012, the configuration microservice optionally sets a default intercept action to “ignore” for each created intercept VLAN. For example, a configuration microservice might configure an interface microservice 730 initially to ignore network packets routed by a vSwitch 720 until further security processing is desired. In effect, setting an interface microservice's intercept action to “ignore” causes the interface microservice to operate in a “pass-through” mode, whereby packets received by the microservice are passed through the interface microservice without processing. In this example, an interface microservice 730 receives network packets associated with an intercept VLAN, translates the intercept VLAN to an original VLAN, and causes the network packets to be sent out a network path 724. In this manner, other networked devices receiving the network packets via network path 724 can be unaware of the intercept VLAN originally associated with the network packets.
At block 1014, the configuration microservice configures a VLAN trunk to include the original VLANs and the intercept VLANs. At a high level, a VLAN trunk is a network link used to carry traffic for multiple VLANs and to operate as a single logical link for multiple virtual links. In an embodiment, the VLAN trunk configured at block 1014 is able to carry traffic for both the original VLANs and the intercept VLANs created at block 1008. As described above, network traffic can be associated with a particular VLAN based on a VLAN tag included with the network packets (e.g., by a VM 904 originating a network packet, an interface microservice 930 intercepting a network packet, or another device).
At block 1016, the configuration microservice adds the interface microservice to the VLAN trunk. In an embodiment, adding the interface microservice to the VLAN trunk enables the interface microservice to receive network traffic associated with either the original or intercept VLANs (e.g., network traffic associated with an intercept VLAN by a VM 904 or network traffic arriving at network path 924 associated with an original VLAN).
At block 1018, the configuration microservice modifies the port groups configuration at the computing device to use the intercept VLAN. For example, a configuration microservice can modify the port group 910 at a VM 904 to use the intercept VLAN mapped to the original VLAN. Based on the modification to the port group 910 configuration, the VM 904 includes a VLAN tag of the intercept VLAN with network packets sent from the VM 904. As described in more detail in reference to
If the packet filter 1140 does match an examined network packet, the interface microservice 1130 can perform any operations relative to the network packet, including sending the network packet to another microservice on the same machine, sending the network packet to a security service running on another machine via network path 1138. In the example of
For example, assume a network administrator desires to check for “poisoned” SQL queries. In this example, the security administrator may configure an interface microservice 1130 to filter network traffic associated with a connection to known SQL server address, or associated with web traffic containing a SQL query, and to send the filtered network traffic to another security microservice via network path 1138. The external security process, for example, may then reassemble the network traffic, run various security checks, or perform any other processing to determine whether or not the network packets potentially carry a SQL injection attack. If the external security service determines that the network traffic is safe, the interface microservice 1130 allows the network packets to be sent out the network path 1124 to the originally intended destination. Otherwise, network packets which the packet filter 1140 determines are not related to SQL queries can bypass the additional security processing to avoid using additional computational resources at the external security service.
In an embodiment, a filter name is a human-readable label for the filter (e.g., “SQL injection filter” or “DoS filter”). The filter VLAN indicates one or more VLANs to which the filter applies. For example, an interface microservice might perform packet filtering on network packets originating from multiple different VLANs, so filters can apply to particular VLANs. In some embodiments, a filter name is hierarchical such that a single human-readable label causes multiple functional filters to be employed concurrently. In some embodiments, a filter has dependencies on another filter, such that enabling a first filter causes at least one additional filter to be enabled concurrently.
In an embodiment, filter criteria include any rules, patterns, or other information used to determine whether a packet matches a filter. For example, filter criteria might include port numbers, IP addresses or IP address ranges, packet size thresholds or any other characteristic against which packets received by the microservice can be compared. In an embodiment, a forward address is a network address to which network packets are sent if the network packets match the packet filter. For example, the forward address might be an address of an external computing device which includes additional security services to be applied to packets matching the filter. As another example, a filter forward address might be a null value indicating that the filter can simply send network packets matching the filter out a default interface.
At block 1302, an interface microservice receives a packet from an intercept VLAN. For example, referring again to
At block 1304, the interface microservice identifies packet filters from a stored packet filter configuration that match the intercept VLAN. For example, an interface microservice 1130 receiving a packet tagged with an intercept VLAN can use the intercept VLAN identifier to locate packet filters associated with the intercept VLAN.
At block 1306, the interface microservice applies the identified packet filters to the received packet. In an embodiment, a packet filter applied to a packet either matches the packet or does not match the packet based on one or more criteria specified in the filter.
At block 1308, the interface microservice determines whether the packet matches the filter. If the network packet does not match the filter then, at block 1310, the interface microservice forwards the network packet to the original VLAN. If the network packet does match the filter then, at block 1312, the interface microservice forwards the packet to the address identified in the corresponding filter definition. As described above, the packet can be forwarded to another microservice on the same machine, to another machine, or any other location which can perform additional security operations on the packet to determine whether the packet is associated with any security threats.
In one embodiment, port groups perform the VLAN sequestration of VMs that are expected to communicate with each other. For example, when virtual distributed switch 1440 receives network traffic from one of VM-11422, VM-21424, and VM-41432 (e.g., the VMs in PG-10), virtual distributed switch 1440 identifies that the message will be communicated to physical switch 1410 using VLAN 101412, which is the VLAN assigned to PG-10, and assigns VL-10 to the traffic. Similarly, messages between VM-31426 and VM-51434 (e.g., the VMs in PG-11) are communicated between virtual distributed switch 1440 and physical switch 1410 using VLAN 111412. Because they are using different VLANs, the traffic between VMs in PG-10 and VMs in PG-11 are sequestered from each other.
In one embodiment, the presence of PG-101442 and 1452 in host 11420 and host 21430, respectively, facilitates the efficient migration of VMs. For example, assuming VM-11422 is to be migrated from host 11420 to host 21430, because PG-101452 is present in host 21430, VM-11422 connects with PG-101452, and maintains its ability to communicate with VM-21424 and VM-41432 (e.g., the other VMs in its port group).
System 1500 also includes segment interfaces (SI), trunk ports, and VLAN Maps. In one embodiment, SIs are microservices (e.g., microservices 108-122 in
An SI acts as a programmable packet inspection and switching element and comprises the logical ingress and egress of packets for a security service. In one embodiment, the SI is configured as a pass-through monitor that allows all packets received from a trunk to be transmitted back to the trunk with the applied VLAN mapping. In one embodiment, pass-through monitoring does not preclude generating copies of each traversing packet for passive inspection and analysis by other security microservices. In one embodiment, an SI configured as an active monitor redirects some or all packets received from a trunk to other security services and subsequently forwards packets allowed by the security services back to the trunk. In one example, the trunk and its constituent ports is a grouping configuration of a switch and directs packets of certain VLANs or other distinguishing characteristics out of the switch via its constituent ports.
The trunk ports intercept the traffic sent by VMs prior to the traffic being sent to physical switch 1410. For example, when VM-11422 sends traffic to PG-101542 in virtual distributed switch 1440, the traffic is assigned to VL-100. Prior to virtual distributed switch 1440 sending the traffic to physical switch 1410, the traffic is intercepted by Trunk-11580 and sent to SI-11528. SI-11528 uses VLAN Map 1582 to modify the VLAN associated with the traffic. Continuing the example, SI-11528 maps the traffic from VM-11422, initially associated with VL-100, to VL-10, and routes the traffic out to physical switch 1410 across VLAN 101412. Similarly, when traffic is sent from physical switch 1410 to virtual distributed switch 1440 on host 11420 across VLAN 101412, the traffic is routed to Trunk-11580, and then to SI-11528. SI-11528 uses VLAN Map 1582 to modify the VLAN associated with the traffic from VL-10 to VL-100. In addition, Trunk-21584, SI-21536, and VLAN Map 1586 perform similar processes with respect to network traffic involving VMs in host 21430.
In one embodiment, in addition to performing the VLAN mapping, SI-11528 performs security actions on the traffic, or passes the data to one or more other microservices (e.g., microservices 108-122 in
In one embodiment, each host includes the port groups for VMs that are in other hosts. For example, host 11420 maintains port groups PG-1041648 and PG-1051650, and host 21430 maintains port groups PG-1011656, PG-1021658, and PG-1031660, even though no VMs within the corresponding host are assigned to the port groups. In one embodiment, when a new VM is added to a first host, a configuration microservice establishes a new port group on the first host, where the new port group is associated with a new VLAN, and assigns the new VM to the new port group. Further, in response to the new VM and new port group being added to the first host, the configuration microservice establishes an identical port group on any other host sharing the same vSwitch. Using the example of
Maintaining port groups associated with VMs on different hosts facilitates migration processes of the VMs. In one embodiment, prior to migrating a VM from a first host to a second host, a migration manager determines whether a port group assigned to the VM on the first host exists on the second host. When the port group does not exist, the migration manager establishes the port group on the second host prior to performing the migration of the VM.
Host 11420 further includes SI-11528 connected to Trunk-11580, and host 21430 includes SI-21536 connected to Trunk-21584. The SIs implement VLAN Map 1582/1586, which maintains a mapping between the VLAN assigned to a port group and the VLAN used by virtual distributed switch 1440 for communications with physical switch 1410. In one embodiment, as described in more detail in
In one embodiment, system 1600 allows for segment interfaces to intercept all traffic sent by a VM for the performance of security actions on the traffic. For example, VM-11422 in Host 11420 sends packets to virtual distributed switch 1440 for transmission to a VM in another host (e.g., VM-41432 in Host 21430). PG-1011642 receives the packets and assigns them to VL-101. Prior to virtual distributed switch 1440 transmitting the packets, Trunk-11580 intercepts the packets and send the packets to SI-11528. SI-11528 uses VLAN MAP11582 to map VL-101 to a VLAN for transmitting to physical switch 1410 (e.g., VLAN 101412). SI-1 returns the packets back to virtual distributed switch 1440 via Trunk-11580, and virtual distributed switch 1440 transmits the packets to physical switch 1410 over a VLAN (e.g., VLAN 10, 111412) for sending to host 21430.
Similarly, VM-11422 in Host 11420 sends packets to virtual distributed switch 1440 for transmission to a VM in the same host (e.g., VM-21424). PG-1011642 receives the packets and assigns them to VL-101. Prior to virtual distributed switch 1440 transmitting the packets to VM-21424, Trunk-11580 intercepts the packets and send the packets to SI-11528. SI-11528 uses VLAN MAP11582 to map VL-101 to VL-102. SI-1 returns the packets back to virtual distributed switch 1440 via Trunk-11580, and virtual distributed switch 1440 transmits the packets to VM-21424.
By assigning each VM to a unique port group, embodiments provide a benefit by allowing a security service (e.g., security service 124) to intercept and analyze any of the network traffic being communicated between VMs (e.g., between VM-11422, VM-21424, VM-31426, VM-41432, and VM-51434). Thus, this allows security service 124 to observe VM to VM traffic that may be indicative of a lateral infiltration (a security compromise spreading from peer to peer). This also allows security service 124 to observe VM to VM traffic that could be used to establish baseline behaviors and traffic patterns to establish risk levels.
At block 1702, a configuration microservice determines, for a computing device (e.g., host device 11420 in
At block 1704, if segment interface 1528 is not currently running on host device 11420, the configuration microservice deploys (e.g., installs) segment interface 1528 on host device 11420.
In an embodiment, host device 11420, for which it is desired to intercept and filter network traffic includes at least one hypervisor, and at least one VM is running on the at least one hypervisor. As illustrated in the embodiment in
In an embodiment, virtual distributed switch 1440 is associated with configuration information which includes, for example, a port groups configuration 802. The port groups configuration 802 includes information defining one or more port groups managed by virtual distributed switch 1440, where each port group is associated with a set of member VNICs. For example, one port group of port groups configuration 802 might include VNIC 708 and some number of other VNICs of the VM 704 or other VMs. In one embodiment, where each VM has a unique port group, the port groups configuration 802 includes an entry in port group 820 for each unique port group, where port group VLAN 824 includes the unique VLAN associated with each port group/VM.
At block 1706, segment interface 1528 retrieves port groups information from the configuration for virtual distributed switch 1440 running on host device 11420. As indicated above, the port groups configuration 802 indicates, for each port group, which VNICs (and associated VM) are members of the port group and further identifies a mapping with an associated VLAN. In one embodiment, the set of VLANs associated with the port groups defined in a port groups configuration 802 of virtual distributed switch 1440 is referred to herein as a set of existing, or original, VLANs.
In one embodiment, the configuration microservice determines whether a port group is associated with more than one VM. For example, the configuration microservice determines that multiple VMs are associated with the same port group identifier. In response to this determination, the configuration microservice segments the port group into a plurality of port groups. For example, the configuration microservice creates or establishes a plurality of new port groups (and corresponding port group identifiers), and assigns a different port group identifier to each one of the multiple VMs.
At block 1708, the configuration microservice creates, for each VM in port groups on one or more hosts (e.g., host 11420 and host 21430), a corresponding intercept VLAN. For example, for each VM associated with an original VLAN associated with a port group from port groups configuration 802 of virtual distributed switch 1440, a configuration microservice can create a corresponding intercept VLAN. Thus, each VM is assigned a unique intercept VLAN. In general, each of the intercept VLANs created at block 1708 represents an internal version of a corresponding original VLAN and can be used to route the original VLAN traffic to a segment interface 1528, as further described in the following operations.
At block 1710, the configuration microservice creates a mapping indicating the original VLAN corresponding to each intercept VLAN created at block 1708. In one embodiment, the mapping is stored by segment interface 1528 (e.g., illustrated in
At block 1712, the configuration microservice optionally sets a default intercept action to “ignore” for each created intercept VLAN. For example, a configuration microservice might configure segment interface 1528 initially to ignore network packets routed by virtual distributed switch 1440 until further security processing is desired. In effect, setting segment interface's 1528 intercept action to “ignore” causes segment interface 1528 to operate in a “pass-through”mode, whereby packets received by the microservice are passed through segment interface 1528 without processing. In this example, segment interface 1528 receives network packets associated with an intercept VLAN, translates the intercept VLAN to an original VLAN, and causes the network packets to be sent out a network path 724. In this manner, other networked devices receiving the network packets via network path 724 can be unaware of the intercept VLAN originally associated with the network packets.
At block 1714, the configuration microservice configures a VLAN trunk (e.g., Trunk-11580) to include the original VLANs and the intercept VLANs. At a high level, a VLAN trunk is a network link used to carry traffic for multiple VLANs and to operate as a single logical link for multiple virtual links. In an embodiment, the VLAN trunk configured at block 1714 is able to carry traffic for both the original VLANs and the intercept VLANs created at block 1708. As described above, network traffic can be associated with a particular VLAN based on a VLAN tag included with the network packets (e.g., by a VM originating a network packet, an interface microservice intercepting a network packet, or another device).
At block 1716, the configuration microservice adds segment interface 1528 to the VLAN trunk. In an embodiment, adding segment interface 1528 to the VLAN trunk enables segment interface 1528 to receive network traffic associated with either the original or intercept VLANs (e.g., network traffic associated with an intercept VLAN by a VM or network traffic arriving at network path (e.g., VLAN 10/121412) associated with an original VLAN).
At block 1718, the configuration microservice modifies the port groups configuration at host device 11420 to use the intercept VLAN. For example, a configuration microservice modifies the port group assigned to a VM to use the intercept VLAN mapped to the original VLAN. Using the example of
Examples of some embodiments are represented, without limitation, by the following:
In some embodiments, a computer-implemented method comprises: retrieving, from a virtual switch running on a plurality of hosts in a computing environment, configuration information including a mapping between at least one port group identifier and at least a first virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier, each port group identifier associated with a separate virtual machine. The method further comprises, for each virtual machine, creating a separate intercept VLAN corresponding to the first VLAN identifier. The method further comprises adding the first VLAN identifier, an intercept VLAN identifier corresponding to an intercept VLAN, and an interface microservice to a VLAN trunk. The method further comprises modifying the configuration information to replace the first VLAN identifier with the intercept VLAN identifier. The method further comprises receiving, from the virtual switch and as part of the VLAN trunk, a network packet from a virtual machine associated with the intercept VLAN. The method further comprises determining whether the network packet matches a packet filter, and executing a security action in response to determining the network packet matches a packet filter.
In some embodiments, one or more of the following applies: 1) the method further comprises determining the at least one port group identifier is associated with a plurality of virtual machines; generating a plurality of port group identifiers; and assigning a separate port group identifier from the generated plurality of port group identifiers to each of the plurality of virtual machines; 2) the method further comprises receiving a request to add a new virtual machine to a first host in the plurality of hosts; in response to adding the new virtual machine to the first host, establishing a new port group on the first host; and assigning the new virtual machine to the new port group; 3) the method further comprises, in response to establishing the new port group on the first host, establishing the new port group on one or more other hosts in the plurality of hosts in the computing environment; 4) the method further comprises, in response to determining that the network packet matches the packet filter, sending the network packet to a security microservice which performs one or more security operations on the network packet; 5) the method further comprises, in response to determining that the network packet does not match the packet filter, modifying the network packet based on the first VLAN identifier and forwarding the network packet to the first VLAN; and 6) the method further comprises modifying the virtual machine to use the intercept VLAN for network traffic associated with the virtual machine.
In some embodiments, one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media store instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause performance of a method comprising: retrieving, from a virtual switch running on a plurality of hosts in a computing environment, configuration information including a mapping between at least one port group identifier and at least a first virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier, each port group identifier associated with a separate virtual machine. The method further comprises, for each virtual machine, creating a separate intercept VLAN corresponding to the first VLAN identifier. The method further comprises adding the first VLAN identifier, an intercept VLAN identifier corresponding to an intercept VLAN, and an interface microservice to a VLAN trunk. The method further comprises modifying the configuration information to replace the first VLAN identifier with the intercept VLAN identifier. The method further comprises receiving, from the virtual switch and as part of the VLAN trunk, a network packet from a virtual machine associated with the intercept VLAN. The method further comprises determining whether the network packet matches a packet filter, and executing a security action in response to determining the network packet matches a packet filter.
In some embodiments, one or more of the following applies: 1) the method further comprises determining the at least one port group identifier is associated with a plurality of virtual machines; generating a plurality of port group identifiers; and assigning a separate port group identifier from the generated plurality of port group identifiers to each of the plurality of virtual machines; 2) the method further comprises receiving a request to add a new virtual machine to a first host in the plurality of hosts; in response to adding the new virtual machine to the first host, establishing a new port group on the first host; and assigning the new virtual machine to the new port group; 3) the method further comprises, in response to establishing the new port group on the first host, establishing the new port group on one or more other hosts in the plurality of hosts in the computing environment; 4) the method further comprises, in response to determining that the network packet matches the packet filter, sending the network packet to a security microservice which performs one or more security operations on the network packet; 5) the method further comprises, in response to determining that the network packet does not match the packet filter, modifying the network packet based on the first VLAN identifier and forwarding the network packet to the first VLAN; and 6) the method further comprises modifying the virtual machine to use the intercept VLAN for network traffic associated with the virtual machine.
In some embodiments, an apparatus comprises: one or more hardware processors; and memory coupled to the one or more hardware processors, the memory storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the apparatus to: retrieve, from a virtual switch running on a plurality of hosts in a computing environment, configuration information including a mapping between at least one port group identifier and at least a first virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier, each port group identifier associated with a separate virtual machine; for each virtual machine, create a separate intercept VLAN corresponding to the first VLAN identifier; add the first VLAN identifier, an intercept VLAN identifier corresponding to an intercept VLAN, and an interface microservice to a VLAN trunk; modify the configuration information to replace the first VLAN identifier with the intercept VLAN identifier; receive, from the virtual switch and as part of the VLAN trunk, a network packet from a virtual machine associated with the intercept VLAN; determine whether the network packet matches a packet filter; and execute a security action in response to determining the network packet matches a packet filter.
In some embodiments, one or more of the following applies: 1) the instructions further cause the apparatus to: determine the at least one port group identifier is associated with a plurality of virtual machines; generate a plurality of port group identifiers; and assign a separate port group identifier from the generated plurality of port group identifiers to each of the plurality of virtual machines; 2) the instructions further cause the apparatus to: receive a request to add a new virtual machine to a first host in the plurality of hosts; in response to adding the new virtual machine to the first host, establish a new port group on the first host; and assign the new virtual machine to the new port group; 3) the instructions further cause the apparatus to: in response to establishing the new port group on the first host, establish the new port group on one or more other hosts in the plurality of hosts in the computing environment; 4) the instructions further cause the apparatus to: in response to determining that the network packet matches the packet filter, send the network packet to a security microservice which performs one or more security operations on the network packet; 5) the instructions further cause the apparatus to: in response to determining that the network packet does not match the packet filter, modify the network packet based on the first VLAN identifier and forward the network packet to the first VLAN; and 6) the instructions further cause the apparatus to: modify the virtual machine to use the intercept VLAN for network traffic associated with the virtual machine.
Other examples of these and other embodiments are found throughout this disclosure.
According to one embodiment, the techniques described herein are implemented by one or more special-purpose computing devices. The special-purpose computing devices may be desktop computer systems, portable computer systems, handheld devices, networking devices or any other device that incorporates hard-wired and/or program logic to implement the techniques. The special-purpose computing devices may be hard-wired to perform the techniques, or may include digital electronic devices such as one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that are persistently programmed to perform the techniques, or may include one or more general purpose hardware processors programmed to perform the techniques pursuant to program instructions in firmware, memory, other storage, or a combination thereof. Such special-purpose computing devices may also combine custom hard-wired logic, ASICs, or FPGAs with custom programming to accomplish the techniques.
Computer system 1800 includes one or more buses 1802 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and one or more hardware processors 1804 coupled with buses 1802 for processing information. Hardware processors 1804 may be, for example, general purpose microprocessors. Buses 1802 may include various internal and/or external components, including, without limitation, internal processor or memory busses, a Serial ATA bus, a PCI Express bus, a Universal Serial Bus, a HyperTransport bus, an Infiniband bus, and/or any other suitable wired or wireless communication channel.
Computer system 1800 also includes a main memory 1806, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic or volatile storage device, coupled to bus 1802 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 1804. Main memory 1806 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 1804. Such instructions, when stored in non-transitory storage media accessible to processor 1804, render computer system 1800 a special-purpose machine that is customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions.
Computer system 1800 further includes one or more read only memories (ROM) 1808 or other static storage devices coupled to bus 1802 for storing static information and instructions for processor 1804. One or more storage devices 1810, such as a solid-state drive (SSD), magnetic disk, optical disk, or other suitable non-volatile storage device, is provided and coupled to bus 1802 for storing information and instructions.
Computer system 1800 may be coupled via bus 1802 to one or more displays 1812 for presenting information to a computer user. For instance, computer system 1800 may be connected via an High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable or other suitable cabling to a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitor, and/or via a wireless connection such as peer-to-peer Wi-Fi Direct connection to a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) television. Other examples of suitable types of displays 1812 may include, without limitation, plasma display devices, projectors, cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, electronic paper, virtual reality headsets, braille terminal, and/or any other suitable device for outputting information to a computer user. In an embodiment, any suitable type of output device, such as, for instance, an audio speaker or printer, may be utilized instead of a display 1812.
One or more input devices 1814 are coupled to bus 1802 for communicating information and command selections to processor 1804. One example of an input device 1814 is a keyboard, including alphanumeric and other keys. Another type of user input device 1814 is cursor control 1816, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor 1804 and for controlling cursor movement on display 1812. This input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in a plane. Yet other examples of suitable input devices 1814 include a touch-screen panel affixed to a display 1812, cameras, microphones, accelerometers, motion detectors, and/or other sensors. In an embodiment, a network-based input device 1814 may be utilized. In such an embodiment, user input and/or other information or commands may be relayed via routers and/or switches on a Local Area Network (LAN) or other suitable shared network, or via a peer-to-peer network, from the input device 1814 to a network link 1820 on the computer system 1800.
A computer system 1800 may implement techniques described herein using customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and/or program logic which in combination with the computer system causes or programs computer system 1800 to be a special-purpose machine. According to one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed by computer system 1800 in response to processor 1804 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 1806. Such instructions may be read into main memory 1806 from another storage medium, such as storage device 1810. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 1806 causes processor 1804 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions.
The term “storage media” as used herein refers to any non-transitory media that store data and/or instructions that cause a machine to operate in a specific fashion. Such storage media may comprise non-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 1810. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 1806. Common forms of storage media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, solid state drive, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic data storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium, any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge.
Storage media is distinct from but may be used in conjunction with transmission media. Transmission media participates in transferring information between storage media. For example, transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 1802. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.
Various forms of media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 1804 for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk or a solid state drive of a remote computer. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and use a modem to send the instructions over a network, such as a cable network or cellular network, as modulate signals. A modem local to computer system 1800 can receive the data on the network and demodulate the signal to decode the transmitted instructions. Appropriate circuitry can then place the data on bus 1802. Bus 1802 carries the data to main memory 1806, from which processor 1804 retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by main memory 1806 may optionally be stored on storage device 1810 either before or after execution by processor 1804.
A computer system 1800 may also include, in an embodiment, one or more communication interfaces 1818 coupled to bus 1802. A communication interface 1818 provides a data communication coupling, typically two-way, to a network link 1820 that is connected to a local network 1822. For example, a communication interface 1818 may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, the one or more communication interfaces 1818 may include a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. As yet another example, the one or more communication interfaces 1818 may include a wireless network interface controller, such as a 802.11-based controller, Bluetooth controller, Long Term Evolution (LTE) modem, and/or other types of wireless interfaces. In any such implementation, communication interface 1818 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.
Network link 1820 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, network link 1820 may provide a connection through local network 1822 to a host computer 1824 or to data equipment operated by a Service Provider 1826. Service Provider 1826, which may for example be an Internet Service Provider (ISP), in turn provides data communication services through a wide area network, such as the world wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the “Internet” 1828. Local network 1822 and Internet 1828 both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link 1820 and through communication interface 1818, which carry the digital data to and from computer system 1800, are example forms of transmission media.
In an embodiment, computer system 1800 can send messages and receive data, including program code and/or other types of instructions, through the network(s), network link 1820, and communication interface 1818. In the Internet example, a server X30 might transmit a requested code for an application program through Internet 1828, ISP 1826, local network 1822 and communication interface 1818. The received code may be executed by processor 1804 as it is received, and/or stored in storage device 1810, or other non-volatile storage for later execution. As another example, information received via a network link 1820 may be interpreted and/or processed by a software component of the computer system 1800, such as a web browser, application, or server, which in turn issues instructions based thereon to a processor 1804, possibly via an operating system and/or other intermediate layers of software components.
In an embodiment, some or all of the systems described herein may be or comprise server computer systems, including one or more computer systems 1800 that collectively implement various components of the system as a set of server-side processes. The server computer systems may include web server, application server, database server, and/or other conventional server components that certain above-described components utilize to provide the described functionality. The server computer systems may receive network-based communications comprising input data from any of a variety of sources, including without limitation user-operated client computing devices such as desktop computers, tablets, or smartphones, remote sensing devices, and/or other server computer systems.
In an embodiment, certain server components may be implemented in full or in part using “cloud”-based components that are coupled to the systems by one or more networks, such as the Internet. The cloud-based components may expose interfaces by which they provide processing, storage, software, and/or other resources to other components of the systems. In an embodiment, the cloud-based components may be implemented by third-party entities, on behalf of another entity for whom the components are deployed. In other embodiments, however, the described systems may be implemented entirely by computer systems owned and operated by a single entity.
In an embodiment, an apparatus comprises a processor and is configured to perform any of the foregoing methods. In an embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing software instructions, which when executed by one or more processors cause performance of any of the foregoing methods.
As used herein, the terms “first,” “second,” “certain,” and “particular” are used as naming conventions to distinguish queries, plans, representations, steps, objects, devices, or other items from each other, so that these items may be referenced after they have been introduced. Unless otherwise specified herein, the use of these terms does not imply an ordering, timing, or any other characteristic of the referenced items.
In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to numerous specific details that may vary from implementation to implementation. Thus, the sole and exclusive indicator of what is the invention, and is intended by the applicants to be the invention, is the set of claims that issue from this application, in the specific form in which such claims issue, including any subsequent correction. In this regard, although specific claim dependencies are set out in the claims of this application, it is to be noted that the features of the dependent claims of this application may be combined as appropriate with the features of other dependent claims and with the features of the independent claims of this application, and not merely according to the specific dependencies recited in the set of claims. Moreover, although separate embodiments are discussed herein, any combination of embodiments and/or partial embodiments discussed herein may be combined to form further embodiments.
Any definitions expressly set forth herein for terms contained in such claims shall govern the meaning of such terms as used in the claims. Hence, no limitation, element, property, feature, advantage or attribute that is not expressly recited in a claim should limit the scope of such claim in any way. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
