Methods and systems for efficient virtualization of inline transparent computer networking devices
US12028311B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 21, 2023 |
| Grant date | Jul 2, 2024 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 21, 2043 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L2101/668
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Network devices that are inserted inline into network links and process in-transit packets may significantly improve their packet-throughput performance by not assigning L3 IP addresses and L2 MAC addresses to their network interfaces and thereby process packets through a logical fast path that bypasses the slow path through the operating system kernel. When virtualizing such Bump-In-The-Wire (BITW) devices for deployment into clouds, the network interfaces must have L3 IP and L2 MAC addresses assigned to them. Thus, packets are processed through the slow path of a virtual BITW device, significantly reducing the performance. By adding new logic to the virtual BITW device and/or configuring proxies, addresses, subnets, and/or routing tables, a virtual BITW device can process packets through the fast path and potentially improve performance accordingly. For example, the virtual BITW device may be configured to enforce a virtual path (comprising the fast path) through the virtual BITW device.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.