Patent · US Active

Database protocol for exchanging forwarding state with hardware switches

US11522788B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by
66References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 15, 2021
Grant dateDec 6, 2022
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 24, 2041

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L41/5096
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a set of one or more network controllers that communicates with a wide range of devices, ranging from switches to appliances such as firewalls, load balancers, etc. The set of network controllers communicates with such devices to connect them to its managed virtual networks. The set of network controllers can define each virtual network through software switches and/or software appliances. To extend the control beyond software network elements, some embodiments implement a database server on each dedicated hardware. The set of network controllers accesses the database server to send management data. The hardware then translates the management data to connect to a managed virtual network.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.