Abstract:
The present invention relates to a method and computer system device for applying a plurality of rules to data packets within a network computer system. A filter rule decision tree is updated by adding or deleting a rule. If deleting a filter rule then the decision tree is provided to a network data plane processor with an incremental delete of the filter rule. If adding a filter rule then either providing an incremental insertion of the filter rule to the decision tree or rebuilding the first decision tree into a second decision tree responsive to comparing a parameter to a threshold. In one embodiment the parameter and thresholds relate to depth values of the tree filter rule chained branches. In another the parameter and thresholds relate to a total count of rule additions since a building of the relevant tree.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/894,628, filed Jul. 20, 2004. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]      FIG. 1  depicts conventional networks  10  and  20  which may be connected to the Internet  30 . Each network  10  and  20  includes host  12 ,  14  and  16  and  22  and  24 , respectively. Each network  10  and  20  also includes a switch  18  and  26 , respectively, and may include one or more servers such as the servers  17 ,  19  and  28 , respectively. In addition, each network  10  and  20  may include one or more gateways  13  and  25 , respectively, to the Internet  30 . Not explicitly shown are routers and other portions of the networks  10  and  20  which may also control traffic through the networks  10  and  20  and which will be considered to be inherently depicted by the switches  18  and  26 , respectively, and the networks  10  and  20  in general. 
         [0003]    In order to manage communications in a network, such as the network  10  or  20 , filter rules are used to enforce a plurality of networking rules for multi-field classification searches of the network. Filter rules are typically employed by switches of the network. Exemplary rules include filtering, quality of service, traffic engineering and traffic redirection rules. A filter rule may test packets entering the network from an outside source to ensure that attempts to break into the network can be thwarted. For example, traffic from the Internet  30  entering the network  10  may be tested in order to ensure that packets from unauthorized sources are denied entrance. Similarly, packets from one portion of a network may be prevented from accessing another portion of the network. For example, a packet from some of the hosts  12 ,  14  or  16  may be prevented access to either the server  17  or the server  19 . The fact that the host attempted to contact the server may also be recorded so that appropriate action can be taken by the owner of the network. Filter rules may also be used to transmit traffic based on the priorities of packets. For example, packets from a particular host, such as the host  12 , may be transmitted because the packets have higher priority even when packets from the hosts  14  or  16  may be dropped. Filter rules may also be used to ensure that new sessions are not permitted to be started when congestion is high even though traffic from established sessions is transmitted. 
         [0004]    Filter rules generally test a packet “key” in order to determine whether the filter rule will operate on a particular packet. The key that is typically used is the Internet Protocol (IP) “five-tuple” of the packet. The IP five-tuple typically contains five fields of interest: the source address, the destination address, the source port, the destination port and the protocol. These fields are typically thirty-two bits, thirty-two bits, sixteen bits, sixteen bits and eight bits, respectively. Thus, the part of IP five-tuple of interest is typically one hundred and four bits in length. Filter rules typically utilize these one hundred and four bits, and possible more bits, in order to perform their functions. For example, based on the source and destination addresses, the filter rule may determine whether a packet from a particular host is allowed to reach a particular destination address. 
         [0005]    Filter rules can also interact, based on the priority for the filter rule. For example, a first filter rule may be a default filter rule, which treats most cases. A second filter rule can be an exception the first filter rule. The second filter rule would typically have a higher priority than the first filter rule to ensure that where a packet matches both the first and the second filter rule, the second filter rule will control. 
         [0006]    One well known structure for organizing and applying a plurality of filter rules is a “Patricia tree”, wherein Patricia refers to the acronym PATRICIA: Practical Algorithm to Retrieve Information Coded in Alphanumeric. A Patricia tree is a decision tree structure, wherein a “yes” or “no” decision from the application of a first “node” filter rule leads to the responsive selection of one of two sub-tree “branch” filter rules, each of which may serve as a node of two more sub-tree branch filter rule applications, each of which may also serve as another sub-node. One reference for Patricia trees is D. R. Morrison, “PATRICIA—Practical Algorithm to Retrieve Information Coded in Alphanumeric”, Jrnl. of the ACM, 15(4) pp 514-534, October 1968. 
         [0007]    With respect to Patricia tree applications in network filter rule management it is known that a balanced tree structure is desired in order to minimize the depth of the tree, and thus minimize search times. U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,763 to Corl, Jr. et al for “System, Method and Computer Program for Filtering Multi-Action Rule Set” issued Oct. 29, 2002 (the “&#39;763 patent”) describes a method of resolving a Multi-field search key to an associated network management rule (such as, for example filtering, QOS, and redirection rules). The &#39;763 patent teaches a “choice bit” algorithm for optimally select distinguishing bits while building a tree structure with an optimum balance, thus minimizing the number of chained pointers (i.e. “depth” of the tree) that must be traversed to resolve a search. The entire tree is rebuilt in a network control plane each time an update is required, the new tree is downloaded to a network data plane, and the data plane is then switched to the new tree while obsolescing the old tree. 
         [0008]    This approach works reasonably well for applications requiring infrequent rule changes, for example where a network administrator specifically alters rules to account for an office move. However, processor cycle and bandwidth limits between the control plane and the data plane limit the usefulness of this method when rule changes are more frequent. 
         [0009]    What is needed is an improved method and system for handling network filter rule changes that efficiently supports frequent incremental updates to the network filter rules without requiring responsively large network resource commitments, processor cycles and bandwidth. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    The present invention relates to a method and computer system device for applying a plurality of rules to data packets within a network computer system. A filter rule decision tree is updated by adding or deleting a rule. If deleting a filter rule then the decision tree is provided to a network data plane processor with an incremental delete of the filter rule. If adding a filter rule then either providing an incremental insertion of the filter rule to the decision tree or rebuilding the first decision tree into a second decision tree responsive to comparing a parameter to a threshold. In one embodiment the parameter and thresholds relate to depth values of the tree filter rule chained branches. In another the parameter and thresholds relate to a total count of rule additions since a building of the relevant tree. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a conventional computer network system. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a computer network system appropriate to the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart diagram of a decision tree rebuild decision process according to the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart diagram of an algorithm for rule change according to the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart diagram of another algorithm for rule change according to the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is an article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program according to the present invention embodied in said medium. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0017]    The present invention provides an improved method and system for handling rule changes that efficiently supports frequent incremental updates. The method and system are based on the fact that a slightly sub-optimal tree structure can be tolerated with very little impact to search latency. The present invention thus responds to each individual rule insertion or deletion according to the same procedures used in a Fixed Match (FM) Tree. FM trees are more fully described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,163, issued Jan. 6, 2004 to Bass et al. for “Full match (FM) search algorithm implementation for a network processor”, which is hereby incorporated by reference into this description as fully as if here represented in full. What is new in the present invention is a system and method for supplementing prior art procedures to determine whether or not the insertion of a new rule can be made without rebuilding the table. 
         [0018]    In a preferred implementation, the deletion of a rule will never require rebuilding the table, since it can only make a tree branch shorter. Alternatively, the insertion of a new rule will make a tree branch longer by adding one new node at the end of the closest matching branch. This insertion point is determined by identifying the last node visited while doing a search for the entry. Note that the search will be unsuccessful, since the entry hasn&#39;t been added yet. It will follow a linked list of pointers in the Patricia tree structure ending at a table entry that causes a “miscompare.” It is conventional for network hardware to remember the last node in the Patricia tree (the one pointing to the table entry that caused miscompare). However, if the insertion doesn&#39;t impact the previously longest branch of the tree, it will not increase the worst-case latency. Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention a test is applied whenever a rule is inserted to determine the number of chained pointers required to solve a search to the new rule. If the resulting tree depth is greater than the tolerable worst-case tree depth, the tree is rebuilt by the control point. An important advantage of the present invention is that the test insertion and rule check may be done in the control point, and the decision made about rebuilding the table can be made without disrupting the data plane. 
         [0019]    According to the present invention a “tolerable worst case” tree depth is determined each time the tree is rebuilt, and is preferably set responsive to the longest chain of pointers in the current tree. In some embodiments the worst case tree depth is set equivalent to the length of the current longest chain of pointers: thus if the new rule is added to a smaller chain in the current chain no rebuild is indicated. Alternatively, worst case tree depth may also be set to a growth factor “N” links longer than the current longest chain to increase the number of updates that can be handled without rebuilding the table. The growth factor N may be fixed (exemplary values include 1 or 6) or it may be responsive to table size, preferably made smaller as a table gets larger, since a smaller table is more likely to insert on the longest branch and also requires more room to grow than a larger table. The worst case tree depth may also be set to a minimum value MV independent of the current longest chain value, in order to ensure room for growth. 
         [0020]    In an alternative embodiment of the present invention rebuilding the table may be indicated once for every M insertions, where M may be a constant or may be a function of the table size. What is important is that in the present invention the number of times a table must be rebuilt is significantly reduced, over potentially several orders of magnitude, compared to prior art systems, and thus it is practical to support highly dynamic rule changes while still maintaining control over worst-case search latencies with the system and method of the present invention. 
         [0021]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , according to the present invention a network administrator  212  inputs rule changes to the Control Plane Processor (“Control Point”)  214  of the network processing system  10 , and the Control Point  214  responsively coordinates any required updates to one or more tables  230 , the tables  230  accessible by one or more data plane processors  242  defining a data plane  240 , wherein the data plane is interfaced with one or more network ports  250  in the gateway  13 . The Control Point  214  responsively sets up appropriate tables or other appropriate search structures, enabling the data plane processors  242  to independently apply the responsively updated or changed rules to each packet forwarded by the data plane  240 . 
         [0022]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart diagram representation of the determination of a decision tree rebuild responsive to a rule change according to the present invention. When a rule change request  102  is received by the control point, a type determination  104  is made as to whether an old rule is being removed or a new rule is being added. If an old rule is being removed, then an incremental delete command is passed directly to the data plane at step  106 , and an appropriate data plane resource removes the corresponding rule from the active table; the algorithm  100  then ends at step  108 . 
         [0023]    However, if a new rule is being added into the search structure as determined at step  104 , the control point responsively increments a parameter at step  110 . The control point then compares the incremented parameter to a previously established threshold at step  112 . If the parameter is lower than or equal to the threshold, then an incremental insert command is passed directly to the data plane at step  114 , and an appropriate data plane resource inserts the corresponding rule in the active table. Alternatively, if the determination is made that the new pointer chain length is greater than the threshold, then the entire rule table is rebuilt at step  120 . The new table/tree is then transferred to the data plane table memory at step  122 . 
         [0024]    It is preferred, although not required, that the threshold is set responsive to the current table. Accordingly, it is preferred that when the new tree structure is constructed in step  120  that the threshold is also recalculated responsive to at least one characteristic of the rebuilt tree, and the recalculated threshold utilized in the next iteration of step  112 . 
         [0025]      FIG. 4  illustrates one rule update procedure algorithm  300  according to the present invention carried out by a control point  214  in response to requests from a network administrator or other controlling entity. It is important to note that the desire to support fast incremental updates may be partially driven by applications requiring automated control of rule changes rather than being driven by human interaction. According to the present embodiment, when a rule change request  302  is received by the control point, a type determination  304  is made as to whether an old rule is being removed or a new rule is being added. If an old rule is being removed, then an incremental delete command is passed directly to the data plane at step  306 , and an appropriate data plane resource removes the corresponding rule from the active table; the algorithm  300  then ends at step  308 . Note that this action will always result in a shorter chain of pointers to all remaining rules downstream from the deletion point, and will not affect the length of the pointer chain (depth of tree) for all other rules. Thus, if the search latency was acceptable for achieving a specific performance level before the delete action; the search latency will also be acceptable after the delete action, since it will be less than or equal to the previous search latency. 
         [0026]    Alternatively, if a new rule is being added into the search structure, according to the present embodiment  300  search latency to resolve the new rule may be longer than a previous worst case latency, but search latency for previously existing rules, except for the one rule at the insertion point, is not affected since the rule is always inserted at the end of a tree branch. 
         [0027]    To prevent search latency from growing without bounds, it is preferred that a threshold is established at the time the table is built to limit the allowable tree depth. Thus if a new rule is being added into the search structure as determined at step  304 , the control point computes the length of the pointer chain responsive to the new rule at step  310 . The control point then compares the pointer length to the previously established threshold at step  312 . If the new pointer chain length (tree depth) is lower than or equal to the threshold, then an incremental insert command is passed directly to the data plane at step  314 , and an appropriate data plane resource inserts the corresponding rule in the active table. Alternatively, if the determination is made that the new pointer chain length is greater than the threshold, then the entire rule table is rebuilt at step  320  to attempt to better balance the tree depth. 
         [0028]    Once the new tree structure has been constructed, the longest tree branch is identified. The tree depth threshold is then updated in step  322 , preferably set responsive to the longest chain of pointers in the new tree. In one embodiment the tree depth threshold is set to be N links greater than the number of links in the longest branch path of the new tree. N may be set to zero, 1, or to a greater predetermined maximum value such as 6, although other desirable values may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art. Setting N to a larger value this will ensure room for growth and thus reduce the likelihood that the table will be rebuilt responsive to subsequent determination steps  312 . The worst case tree depth may also be set to a minimum value MV independent of the current longest chain value: this may be desirable to give more room to grow for a small table, yet apply a tighter control to a larger table as it approaches a critical search latency. If insertions are well distributed, the larger table will be able to support more incremental insertions, even with a smaller allowable change in tree depth. Thus tighter control probably doesn&#39;t mean that the table must be rebuilt more often. 
         [0029]    Alternatively, the growth factor N may be responsive to table size. It is preferable that N be made smaller as a table gets larger, since a smaller table is more likely to insert on the longest branch and also requires more room to grow than a larger table. For example N may be set to 6 links greater than the number of links in the longest branch path of the new tree when a small table is built (e.g. longest branch path has just 3 or 4 links). Then, each time the number of links in the longest branch increases, N is increased by a fraction of the increase in the longest branch. For example, if the longest branch increased by 2, N might be increased by 1, and further adjusted to insure N continues to be greater than the number of branches in the longest branch. Note that in any case, N should be at least equal to one greater than the number of links in the longest branch. 
         [0030]    Once the new table has been built by the control point at step  320 , the entire new table is transferred to the data plane table memory at step  322 . Initially, the new table is in standby mode, and the old table continues to be used by the data plane for packet forwarding in order to avoid disruption of data plane packet forwarding. Once the new table is in place (as determined by down-load bandwidth of the system), it is placed in active state and the old table is switched to standby. Storage used by the old table can then be made available to support the next complete table swap. 
         [0031]      FIG. 5  illustrates another algorithm embodiment  400  of the present invention. When a rule change request  402  is received by the control point, a type determination  404  is made as to whether an old rule is being removed or a new rule is being added. If an old rule is being removed, then an incremental delete command is passed directly to the data plane at step  406 , and an appropriate data plane resource removes the corresponding rule from the active table; the algorithm  400  then ends at step  408 . 
         [0032]    Alternatively, if a new rule is being added into the search structure as determined at step  404 , then a rule update count is incremented in step  410  to determine a total number of rule insertions since a last table rebuild in step  420 . If the new rule change in step  402  results in a total rule change count that exceeds a maximum value M, then a step  420  table rebuild is indicated. The table is rebuilt and the update count is accordingly reset to zero in step  420 , the new table is sent to the control plane in step  422 , and the process ends for this iteration in step  408 . 
         [0033]    M may be a predetermined fixed value. In some embodiments M may be dependent upon the table size: for example M may be set to equal 25% of the number of entries in the table since the last time the table was rebuilt. Where M is dependent upon table size, then M is also updated in step  420  responsive to the size of the new table built: thus each time the table is rebuilt, M is set to a value responsive to the number of total entries in the newly built table. It will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that other percentage values may be chosen for M, or other table attributes may be selected to drive a function selecting the value of M, and the present invention is not to be construed as restricted to the embodiments described thus far. 
         [0034]    The embodiment of the invention described above maybe tangibly embodied in a in a computer program residing on a computer-readable medium or carrier  490  shown in  FIG. 5 . The medium  490  may comprise one or more of a fixed and/or removable data storage device such as a floppy disk or a CD-ROM, or it may consist of some other type of data storage or data communications device. The computer program may be loaded into memory to configure a computer processor for execution. The computer program comprises instructions which, when read and executed by a processor causes the processor to perform the steps necessary to execute the steps or elements of the present invention. 
         [0035]    While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described herein, variations in the design may be made, and such variations may be apparent to those skilled in the art of computer network design and management, as well as to those skilled in other arts. The embodiments of the present invention identified above are by no means the only embodiments suitable for carrying out the present invention, and alternative embodiments will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art. The scope of the invention, therefore, is only to be limited by the following claims.