Patent Application
20190075056
In a software defined cloud environment, customers define and network their computing systems by creating and managing different networking logical entities, such as logical ports and logical switches. These logical entities provide facility and agility to customers in terms of networking their cloud. However, to allow any logical entity to communicate with all the other logical entities is not secure. Usually, customers have to define and enforce their own security policies in their own cloud. One important aspect of their security policies is to define which logical entities are able to communicate with each other. The most common way for customers to enforce this aspect of their security policies is through defining firewall rules. From the perspective of a security administrator or security operator, it is crucial and helpful to monitor how much traffic and which kind of traffic has hit a specific firewall rule or set of firewall rules. The traditional way for them to do that is to dig into tons of networking related log files, which is extremely tedious work.
Also, traditional cloud managed by an organization only contains one kind of transport node (or hypervisor). However, as the cloud computing and virtualization technologies advance, there is a trend towards clouds becoming heterogeneous and embracing different kinds of transport nodes, such as ESXi™ and kernel-based virtual machine (KVM). VMware's NSX Transformer (NSX-T™) product line follows this trend and aims to provide customers with the ability to create and network heterogeneous software defined clouds. Monitoring how their security policies have been applied becomes even more tedious in such a heterogeneous cloud environment for security administrators or security operators, since they have to face the extra physical complexities brought by different types of transport nodes.
For a network including multiple host machines that together implement at least one logical network in a distributed fashion, some embodiments provide a method for collecting traffic flow data. In some embodiments, the host machines (e.g., local controllers operating in virtualization software of the host machines) receive traffic monitoring configuration data for a logical network that includes a set of logical entities (e.g., logical forwarding elements and their logical ports, logical services such as a distributed firewall, etc.). The traffic monitoring configuration data in some embodiments indicates a set of logical entities of the logical network for which to collect traffic flow data and a set of traffic flow data collectors associated with the set of logical entities (e.g., a specific data collector for each logical entity). In some embodiments, the logical entities specified by the traffic monitoring configuration data may be logical forwarding elements (logical switches, routers, etc.) or logical ports of logical forwarding elements.
To implement the logical network, a set of managed forwarding elements operating on the host machine (e.g., in the virtualization software) processes data messages sent to and from logical network endpoints (e.g., data compute nodes operating on the host machine). When data messages are logically sent to or from the logical entities specified for traffic monitoring, some embodiments collect data about the processed data message. If one or more firewall rules are used to process the data message, the collected data includes data regarding the firewall rule(s). The host machine exports the collected data to the set of traffic flow data collectors for analysis and display. In some embodiments, different logical entities in the set of monitored logical entities are associated with different subsets of the traffic flow data collectors (e.g., each logical entity with a single traffic flow data collector). In some embodiments, the host machine exports the traffic flow data in internet protocol flow information export (IPFIX) format, with the traffic flow data collectors being IPFIX collectors. Other embodiments use other formatting for exporting the traffic flow data.
In some embodiments, the managed forwarding elements host machines implement multiple logical networks, with at least a subset of the logical networks having its own set of logical entities for which traffic flow data is collected and associated with different traffic flow data collectors. As mentioned, the managed forwarding elements (and local controllers) of some embodiments operate in the virtualization software of the host machines. Some embodiments have multiple types of virtualization software (e.g. ESXi™, Hyper-V™, kernel-based virtual machine (KVM), etc.) operating on different host machines.
The preceding Summary is intended to serve as a brief introduction to some embodiments of the invention. It is not meant to be an introduction or overview of all inventive subject matter disclosed in this document. The Detailed Description that follows and the Drawings that are referred to in the Detailed Description will further describe the embodiments described in the Summary as well as other embodiments. Accordingly, to understand all the embodiments described by this document, a full review of the Summary, Detailed Description, and the Drawings is needed. Moreover, the claimed subject matters are not to be limited by the illustrative details in the Summary, Detailed Description, and the Drawings, but rather are to be defined by the appended claims, because the claimed subject matters can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of the subject matters.
The novel features of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. However, for purposes of explanation, several embodiments of the invention are set forth in the following figures.
In the following description, numerous details are set forth for the purpose of explanation. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the invention may be practiced without the use of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the description of the invention with unnecessary detail.
For a network including multiple host machines that together implement at least one logical network including a firewall, some embodiments provide a method for collecting traffic flow data. The host machines receive traffic monitoring configuration data for a logical network, which in some embodiments indicate a set of logical entities of the logical network for which to collect traffic flow data, and a set of traffic flow data collectors associated with the set of logical entities. The indicated logical entities may be logical forwarding elements (e.g. logical switches, routers, etc.) or logical ports of logical forwarding elements.
Configuration view 100 represents a logical network as designed by a user. As shown, a logical router 101 is part of the logical network 100 that includes the logical router 101 and two logical switches 102A and 102B. Each logical forwarding element (i.e., logical router 101 and logical switches 102) includes firewall rules applied at the forwarding element. The two logical switches 102A and 102B each have DCNs that connect to logical ports. In some embodiments, the logical switches are virtual local area networks identified by virtual network identifiers (VNIs). It should be understood that the DCNs in some embodiments are, for example, virtual machines, containers, etc. The logical router 101 also includes two ports that connect to an external physical network 120. While shown with only one logical router, two logical switches, and five DCNs in the logical network, the logical network may include any number of logical routers, switches, and DCNs. In some embodiments, logical router 101 may also be configured by a user to provide network services (e.g., load balancing, network address translation, etc.).
Each logical forwarding element is depicted as logically connecting to a set of collectors 103. The set of collectors 103 collect traffic flow data from logical forwarding elements. In some embodiments, individual collectors in the set of collectors 103 are associated with particular logical forwarding elements or logical ports of the logical forwarding elements. Associating particular collectors with particular logical forwarding elements can be done to balance a load among the set of collectors. Associating particular collectors with (1) sets of flows, for example by assigning ranges of values of a hash of flow identifiers, or (2) sets of firewall rules, for example firewall rules reciting a particular logical entity, are used in some embodiments to balance the load among the collectors.
Logical routers (LRs) can be implemented in either a distributed manner (e.g., with the logical router processing performed in first-hop MFEs that physically couple directly to the data compute nodes) or a centralized manner (with the logical router processing performed in gateways for both north-south and east-west traffic). For centralized implementations, logical routers may be scaled out by using multiple physical boxes in order to provide additional throughput (e.g., using equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) techniques) as well as for failure protection.
In some embodiments, the logical routers may only use stateful services if implemented at least partially in a centralized (e.g., clustered) manner (to avoid the need for state-sharing between the logical router implementations). In different embodiments, gateways that provide centralized aspects of logical routers, as well as provide connection to the external network for distributed LRs may be implemented as virtual machines (sometimes referred to as Edge VMs), as other types of data compute nodes (e.g., containers), or by using the Linux-based datapath development kit (DPDK) packet processing software (e.g., as a VRF in the DPDK-based datapath).
DCNs (e.g., VMs, containers, etc.) that couple to one of the logical switches 102A and 102B in the logical network 100 in
In some embodiments, a method is provided for configuring a set of hosts implementing the logical forwarding elements to process data messages to collect traffic flow data and export it to collectors.
As used in this document, the term data packet, packet, or message refers to a collection of bits in a particular format sent across a network. It should be understood that the term data packet, packet, or message may be used herein to refer to various formatted collections of bits that may be sent across a network, such as Ethernet frames, IP packets, TCP segments, UDP datagrams, etc. While the examples below refer to data packets, packets, or messages, it should be understood that the invention should not be limited to any specific format or type of data message. Also, as used in this document, references to L2, L3, L4, and L7 layers (or layer 2, layer 3, layer 4, layer 7) are references to the second data link layer, the third network layer, the fourth transport layer, and the seventh application layer of the OSI (Open System Interconnection) layer model, respectively.
Traffic flow data in some embodiments is formatted according to the IPFIX protocol. IPFIX is a protocol that was created based on the need for a common, universal standard of export for Internet Protocol flow information from routers, probes and other devices that are used by mediation systems, accounting/billing systems and network management systems to facilitate services such as measurement, accounting and billing. The IPFIX standard defines how IP flow information is to be formatted and transferred from an exporter to a collector. Details of the IPFIX protocol can be found in IETF request for comments (RFC) 7011 through RFC 7015 which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The IPFIX protocol has many implementations in large-scale networked systems. Implementing IPFIX against firewall rules in a heterogeneous software defined cloud in order to ease the life of a security administrator or security operator is discussed below. In some embodiments, the method provides an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand IPFIX tool against firewall rules within VMware's network virtualization product—NSX Transformer (NSX-T™), that supports heterogeneous transport nodes. Using the method eases the process of defining IPFIX firewall configurations and applying them to logical entities, including logical ports and logical switches. In runtime, statistics of traffic hitting the firewall rules that are applied at logical entities specified in an IPFIX firewall configuration are collected. Firewall rules may be organized according to sections that include lists of firewall rules to be applied to different sets of logical entities of a single tenant (e.g., different sections for sales and engineering departments). The statistics are available for further analysis by a security administrator or security operator. For virtualized logical networks with distributed logical forwarding elements, defining the data collection in terms of the logical entities allows a user to ignore the mapping of the logical network to the physical network and focus instead on the user-defined logical network structure when defining the traffic data collection.
Once the modules or controllers implementing the central control plane receive the traffic monitoring configuration data, the process then computes (at 320) a span of the logical entities specified in the configuration data. The span of the logical entity in some embodiments is defined by the host machines and MFEs implementing the logical network to which the logical entities belong. The process also prepares (at 320) the configuration data received from the user for conversion into configuration data for configuring the host machines (or MFEs on the host machines) to implement the traffic flow data collection configuration. In some embodiments, the central control plane communicates with a local control plane in the host machines.
The process then pushes (at 330) the traffic monitoring configuration data to the host machines (e.g., local control planes in the host machines). In some embodiments, the configuration data is a modified set of configuration data used to communicate the configuration specified by the user to the host machines. In some embodiments, the configuration data is pushed only to those host machines identified in the span calculation. In other embodiments, the configuration data is pushed to all host machines along with the span calculation, for the individual host machines to implement or not, based on a local determination of whether the host machine is in the span. In some embodiments, each host machine executes a hypervisor (e.g., ESXi™, KVM, Hyper-V™ etc.) with its own local control plane and data plane.
The process then collects (at 420) traffic flow data according to the traffic monitoring configuration data. For a specific data message, the collected data includes information that is of interest to a system administrator for monitoring traffic flows, including an identifier of the logical entity (e.g., a universally unique identifier (UUID) of a logical port) and a rule ID identifying a firewall rule used to process the data message. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the same information may not be included for all data messages (or data message flows) and that, for example, a logical entity UUID is omitted when the information of interest relates to the application of a firewall rule that is independent of the logical entity at which it is applied. In some embodiments, the local control plane collects traffic flow information from the data plane to construct the records (e.g., IPFIX records) that are exported to the traffic flow data collectors.
The process then exports (at 430) the collected traffic flow data including the logical entity identifier and the firewall rule identifier to the set of collectors identified in the traffic monitoring configuration data. In some embodiments, the traffic monitoring configuration data includes conditions upon which data is exported. The export condition may be a time interval; an amount of data collected; a threshold number of data messages processed for a particular flow, processed at particular logical entity, using (hitting) a particular firewall rule, etc.; or, a combination of multiple such conditions. In some embodiments, the formatted data is exported by the local control plane using a user datagram protocol (UDP).
Table 1 below provides a description of the fields identified in
The bus 605 collectively represents all system, peripheral, and chipset buses that communicatively connect the numerous internal devices of the electronic system 600. For instance, the bus 605 communicatively connects the processing unit(s) 610 with the read-only memory 630, the system memory 625, and the permanent storage device 635.
From these various memory units, the processing unit(s) 610 retrieve instructions to execute and data to process in order to execute the processes of the invention. The processing unit(s) may be a single processor or a multi-core processor in different embodiments.
The read-only-memory 630 stores static data and instructions that are needed by the processing unit(s) 610 and other modules of the electronic system. The permanent storage device 635, on the other hand, is a read-and-write memory device. This device is a non-volatile memory unit that stores instructions and data even when the electronic system 600 is off. Some embodiments of the invention use a mass-storage device (such as a magnetic or optical disk and its corresponding disk drive) as the permanent storage device 635.
Other embodiments use a removable storage device (such as a floppy disk, flash drive, etc.) as the permanent storage device. Like the permanent storage device 635, the system memory 625 is a read-and-write memory device. However, unlike storage device 635, the system memory is a volatile read-and-write memory, such as random access memory. The system memory stores some of the instructions and data that the processor needs at runtime. In some embodiments, the invention's processes are stored in the system memory 625, the permanent storage device 635, and/or the read-only memory 630. From these various memory units, the processing unit(s) 610 retrieve instructions to execute and data to process in order to execute the processes of some embodiments.
The bus 605 also connects to the input and output devices 640 and 645. The input devices enable the user to communicate information and select commands to the electronic system. The input devices 640 include alphanumeric keyboards and pointing devices (also called “cursor control devices”). The output devices 645 display images generated by the electronic system. The output devices include printers and display devices, such as cathode ray tubes (CRT) or liquid crystal displays (LCD). Some embodiments include devices such as a touchscreen that function as both input and output devices.
Finally, as shown in
Some embodiments include electronic components, such as microprocessors, storage and memory that store computer program instructions in a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (alternatively referred to as computer-readable storage media, machine-readable media, or machine-readable storage media). Some examples of such computer-readable media include RAM, ROM, read-only compact discs (CD-ROM), recordable compact discs (CD-R), rewritable compact discs (CD-RW), read-only digital versatile discs (e.g., DVD-ROM, dual-layer DVD-ROM), a variety of recordable/rewritable DVDs (e.g., DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, etc.), flash memory (e.g., SD cards, mini-SD cards, micro-SD cards, etc.), magnetic and/or solid state hard drives, read-only and recordable Blu-Ray® discs, ultra density optical discs, any other optical or magnetic media, and floppy disks. The computer-readable media may store a computer program that is executable by at least one processing unit and includes sets of instructions for performing various operations. Examples of computer programs or computer code include machine code, such as is produced by a compiler, and files including higher-level code that are executed by a computer, an electronic component, or a microprocessor using an interpreter.
While the above discussion primarily refers to microprocessor or multi-core processors that execute software, some embodiments are performed by one or more integrated circuits, such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In some embodiments, such integrated circuits execute instructions that are stored on the circuit itself.
As used in this specification, the terms “computer”, “server”, “processor”, and “memory” all refer to electronic or other technological devices. These terms exclude people or groups of people. For the purposes of the specification, the terms display or displaying means displaying on an electronic device. As used in this specification, the terms “computer readable medium,” “computer readable media,” and “machine readable medium” are entirely restricted to tangible, physical objects that store information in a form that is readable by a computer. These terms exclude any wireless signals, wired download signals, and any other ephemeral signals.
This specification refers throughout to computational and network environments that include virtual machines (VMs). However, virtual machines are merely one example of data compute nodes (DCNs) or data compute end nodes, also referred to as addressable nodes. DCNs may include non-virtualized physical hosts, virtual machines, containers that run on top of a host operating system without the need for a hypervisor or separate operating system, and hypervisor kernel network interface modules.
VMs, in some embodiments, operate with their own guest operating systems on a host machine using resources of the host machine virtualized by virtualization software (e.g., a hypervisor, virtual machine monitor, etc.). The tenant (i.e., the owner of the VM) can choose which applications to operate on top of the guest operating system. Some containers, on the other hand, are constructs that run on top of a host operating system without the need for a hypervisor or separate guest operating system. In some embodiments, the host operating system uses name spaces to isolate the containers from each other and therefore provides operating-system level segregation of the different groups of applications that operate within different containers. This segregation is akin to the VM segregation that is offered in hypervisor-virtualized environments that virtualize system hardware, and thus can be viewed as a form of virtualization that isolates different groups of applications that operate in different containers. Such containers are more lightweight than VMs.
Hypervisor kernel network interface modules, in some embodiments, is a non-VM DCN that includes a network stack with a hypervisor kernel network interface and receive/transmit threads. One example of a hypervisor kernel network interface module is the vmknic module that is part of the ESXi™ hypervisor of VMware, Inc.
It should be understood that while the specification refers to VMs, the examples given could be any type of DCNs, including physical hosts, VMs, non-VM containers, and hypervisor kernel network interface modules. In fact, the example networks could include combinations of different types of DCNs in some embodiments.
While the invention has been described with reference to numerous specific details, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of the invention. In addition, a number of the figures (including
