Patent Abstract:
Methods and systems are disclosed for secure bi-directional message routing between services running on a different nodes in a computer cluster. According to some embodiments, a multi-tenant computer cluster is accessed online via a controller. The controller, acting as central management system, may establish secure independent connections with each of the many nodes. Messages from the controller to any given node, and vice versa, are wrapped in a routing envelope and transferred over an independent and secure virtual private network tunnel. This allows the plurality of nodes to be centrally managed and utilized as a cluster while not being allowed to communicate with each other.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application is entitled to the benefit of and/or the right of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/062,895, entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BIDIRECTIONAL MESSAGE ROUTING BETWEEN SERVICES RUNNING ON DIFFERENT NETWORK NODES”, filed Oct. 12, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. This application is therefore entitled to a priority date of Oct. 12, 2014. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The disclosed embodiments concern a method and apparatus for bidirectional message routing between services running on different network nodes. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The OpenStack Object Storage system, aka “Swift,” is a multitenant, highly scalable, and durable object storage system designed to store large amounts of unstructured data at low cost. Highly scalable means that it can scale from a few nodes and a handful of drives to thousands of clustered machines with multiple petabytes of storage. 
     Swift is designed to be horizontally scalable so there is no single point-of-failure. Swift is used by businesses of all sizes, service providers, and research organizations worldwide. It is typically used to store unstructured data, such as documents, Web and media content, backups, images, and virtual machine snapshots. Originally developed as the engine behind the RackSpace Cloud Files storage service in 2010, it was open-sourced under the Apache 2 license as part of the OpenStack project. With more than 100 companies and thousands of developers now participating in the OpenStack project, the usage of Swift is increasing rapidly. 
     Swift is not a traditional file system or a raw block device. Instead, it enables users to store, retrieve, and delete objects, with their associated metadata, in containers via a RESTful HTTP API. Developers can either write directly to the Swift API or use one of the many client libraries that exist for all popular programming languages, such as Java, Python, Ruby, and C#. Some key characteristics of Swift, which differentiate it from other storage systems, include that is was designed to store and serve content to many concurrent users, run on industry-standard x86 servers, and manage its storage servers with no additional vendor specific hardware needed. 
     Several services may run on a Swift cluster, including proxy, account, container, and storage services. Proxy services handle the external communication with clients and the storage services handle the storage and maintenance of data stored in Swift. An account in Swift represents a user in the storage system. Unlike other storage systems which create volumes, Swift creates accounts, which enable multiple users and applications to access the storage system at the same time. Accounts and containers store key information about themselves in separate databases that are distributed throughout the system (Swift Account DB). Swift accounts can create and store data in individual containers. Containers are namespaces used to group objects within an account. Although containers cannot be nested, they are conceptually similar to directories or folders in a file system. 
     Once a cluster has been configured, data is put into and taken out of it over a RESTful HTTP API. By default Swift stores and maintains multiple copies of each piece of data, with each copy being kept as far from the others as possible, e.g. different regions, zones, and drives. This ensures data integrity and accessibility. 
     To manage a Swift cluster, a central management system (or “controller”) provides operators (e.g. the example Bob&#39;s Business shown in  FIG. 1 ) with a browser-based interface and system to easily manage Swift nodes, configure networking, and user accounts for their organization&#39;s cluster. Operators use the Controller for monitoring, authentication integration, alert, system statistics, and reporting. These statistics and reports are based on accurately aggregated data and allow operators to determine storage utilization relating to chargeback and billing. This is useful for customers who leverage the multi-tenancy of the Controller to allow their own customers (e.g. the example Alice&#39;s Company as shown in  FIG. 1 ) to use and store data via the Controller. 
     The Controller is accessed online and its management of the cluster is independent of the data storage performed by the nodes. When a multitenant central management system is accessed over an insecure network by customers on other unknown networks, this creates a set of challenges including the need for a communications channel between the central management system and the nodes that is secure and persistent over the Internet. 
     For a central management system with multitenant, multi-network distributed nodes there is a need for secure management and monitoring. The central management system needs to establish a one-to-many connection to all the nodes, while the client nodes need a one-to-one connection with the central management system. Once established, the connection must provide bidirectional communication to allow processes (e.g. daemons executing on the nodes and central management system) to securely communicate with each other as though operating on the same network. Embodiments of the present disclosure describe novel systems and methods that provide for secure channels that can:
         (1) ensure that nodes from other tenants are never aware of or able to access the communication channel of another tenant; and   (2) be easily and securely reestablished after a network interruption.       

     SUMMARY 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure describe methods, systems and apparatus for routing messages between services running on different nodes in a computer cluster. According to some embodiments, a node router process at a controller node receives from a service running at the controller node, a message wrapped in a routing envelope. The routing envelope may include a name of a service at another node, of a plurality of nodes in the computer cluster, to which the message is to be sent. The name of the node service may include a universally unique identifier (UUID) of the node on which the service resides. The node router service determines an ephemeral ID associated with the other node by comparing the received UUID of the other node (part of the name of the service) to an associative table that relates UUIDs to ephemeral IDs for one or more of the plurality of other nodes in the computer cluster. The node router process then transmits the routing envelope containing the message to the other node via a secure virtual private network tunnel using the ephemeral ID of the destination node. The envelope is received at the destination node by a node relay process that then routes the envelope to the correct service based on the name of the node service. 
     In response, the node router process receives a routing envelope containing a response to the previously sent message. The node router process then forwards the routing envelope containing the response to the service at the controller node. 
     According to some embodiments, a node relay process at a node in the computing cluster receives from a service running at that node, a message wrapped in a routing envelope. The routing envelope may include a name of a service at the controller node, to which the message is to be sent. Using the name of the service at the controller node, the node relay process transmits the routing envelope to the node router process at the controller node. Using the name of the service at the controller node, the node router process then forwards the routing envelope to serve at the controller node. In some embodiments, the node router process compares the name of the service at the controller node to an associative table relating the name of the service at the controller node to an ephemeral identifier associated with the service at the controller node. Using the ephemeral identifier, the node router process forwards the routing envelope to the service at the controller node. 
     In response, the node router process receives a routing envelope including a response to the message. The node routing process transmits the routing envelope to the node relay process at the node in the computing cluster. The node relay process then forwards the routing envelope to the service at the node, from which the original message originated. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block schematic diagram showing an example embodiment of a system architecture, in which one or more aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic flow diagram showing an example process of establishing a connection with a node router process on a central management system, according to some embodiments; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic flow diagram showing example processes of re-establishing a connection between a node and a central management system, according to some embodiments; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic flow diagram showing an example process of wrapping a message to a node in a routing envelope, according to some embodiments; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic flow diagram showing an example process of wrapping a message to a central management system in a routing envelope, according to some embodiments; 
         FIGS. 6A-6E  show schematic flow diagrams describing example processes for bi-directional message routing by a controller in a computer cluster, according to some embodiments; 
         FIGS. 7A-7D  show schematic flow diagrams describing example processes for bi-directional message routing by a node in a computer cluster, according to some embodiments; and 
         FIG. 8  shows a diagrammatic representation of an example machine in the form of a computer system within which a set of instructions for causing the machine to perform one or more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. 
     
    
    
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the logic and process steps illustrated in the various flow diagrams discussed below may be altered in a variety of ways. For example, the order of the logic may be rearranged, sub-steps may be performed in parallel, illustrated logic may be omitted, other logic may be included, etc. One will recognize that certain steps may be consolidated into a single step and that actions represented by a single step may be alternatively represented as a collection of sub-steps. The figures are designed to make the disclosed concepts more comprehensible to a human reader. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that actual data structures used to store this information may differ from the figures and/or tables shown, in that they, for example, may be organized in a different manner; may contain more or less information than shown; may be compressed, scrambled and/or encrypted; etc. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Bidirectional Message Routing Between Services Running on Different Network Nodes 
       FIG. 2  shows a schematic flow diagram  200  illustrating an example process of establishing a connection with a node router process on a central management system, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. According to some embodiments connections (e.g. via a transfer protocol such as TCP/IP) are initiated in one direction, in this case from a node  202  to a controller  204 . Note the terms “controller” and “central management system” may be used interchangeably through this specification. It shall be understood that TCP/IP refers to an entire suite of transfer protocols, that may include, but is not limited to TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol). Further, TCP/IP represents just one set of transfer protocols and that the present teachings may be applied to data transferred using any transfer protocol suitable for the bi-directional routing of messages. A virtual private network (VPN)  220  tunnel includes a firewall  224  that rejects all session initiation requests (e.g. SYN request  250  to initiate a TCP/IP session) made to the node  202 . Rejecting requests made to the node  202 , may reduce and/or eliminate the risk of unauthorized access to the node (e.g. as caused by a breach of the controller  204 ). According to some embodiments, a communications session is established by a three-way hand shake initiated from a node. For example, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , a given node  202  initiates a bi-directional communication session with the controller  204  by sending a request (e.g. SYN  252 ). In response, the controller  204  acknowledges the node&#39;s  202  request (SYN/ACK  254 ). The node  202  then acknowledges the controller&#39;s  204  acknowledgement (e.g. ACK  256 ). This three-way handshake establishes a bi-directional communication path  222  (e.g. via TCP/IP) with controller  204 . 
     The node  202 , communicating with the controller  204  over this secure VPN connection  220 , may perform one or more of the following functions:
         Use heart-beating to detect and correct communication interruptions   Listen for commands and send responses   Push unidirectional statistics   Send periodic messages regarding node and drive state and health   Send aggregated data regarding account utilization   Query the controller for a configuration fingerprint and disable Swift if the node has a stale configuration.       

     According to some embodiments, a node relay process  206  started at a node  202  establishes a connection  222  (e.g. via TCP/IP) with the node router process  208  on the central management system  204 . Communication takes place over the VPN tunnel  220  with firewall  224  that rejects all requests made to the node  202 . 
     In a cluster environment comprised of one or more nodes, each of the one or more nodes  202  may be connected to the controller  204  via a unique, independent VPN tunnel  220 . The node router process  208  at the controller  204  receives connections from each node  202  over that node&#39;s unique VPN tunnel  220 . Because nodes may be owned and managed by different customers, messages are never routed by the node router process  208  service at the controller  204  directly from one node  202  to another. In other words, messages are only routed from a service daemon on a node to a service daemon on the controller  204  or from a service daemon on the controller to a service daemon on a node. 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic flow diagram showing example processes of re-establishing a connection between a node and a central management system after a network interruption, according to some embodiments. As shown in  FIG. 3 , when a connection (e.g. via TCP/IP) is first established, a node  302  sends both a unique, ephemeral identifier  350   a  as well as its UUID (Universally Unique Identifier)  352  to the controller  304  via a secure VPN tunnel  320  unique between that node  302  and the controller  304 . The controller  304  registers the node  302  by the ephemeral identifier (EPH ID)  350   a , also storing the UUID value  352  and maps the association between the identifiers. This is indicated by the ID table  360   a  shown at node router  308  in  FIG. 3 . Accordingly, a service at a controller  304  may send a message to service at a node  302  with only a name associated with the service at the node  302  (the name including the UUID of the node  302 ). Having received this message from the service at the controller, the node router  308  can compare the UUID (include in the name of the service at the node  302 ) to the ID table  360   a  to retrieve the EPH ID  350   a  associated with the node  302 . The node router  308  may then transmit the message to the node  302  using the EPH ID  350   a  associated with the node  302 . When there is a network disruption (indicated at  380 ) which is then repaired (indicated at  382 ), the new connection from the node  302  has a different ephemeral identifier ( 350   b ). The new ephemeral identifier may be generated by an external library, for example, a ZeroMQ (or ZMQ) library. The node router process  308  at the controller  304  then discards the old connection information and immediately updates the mapping between the new ephemeral identifier  350   b  and node UUID  352  as indicated by the ID table  360   b  shown at node router process  308  in  FIG. 3 . 
     When a service on a controller needs to communicate with a service on a node, it wraps the message in a routing envelope. The envelope is sent to the controller&#39;s node router process. The controller&#39;s node router process then transmits the envelope to the node&#39;s rode relay process which forwards the envelope on to the node service. When the node service receives the envelope, it has access to the sending service name, which is also the sending service&#39;s “address,” and the actual message itself. The node service replies by replacing the message in the envelope with a reply and sending the envelope back to the node relay process. 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic flow diagram showing an example process of wrapping a message to a node in a routing envelope, according to some embodiments, as described above. As shown in  FIG. 4 , a service running at the controller  404 , for example controller daemon  412 , may communicate with a service, for example node daemon  410 , at a particular node  402 , by wrapping a message in an envelope  480 . A “daemon” is generally understood to be a component of (or combination of multiple components of) software and/or hardware that runs as a background process (i.e. with no direct input from a user). Accordingly a daemon may provide a service as implemented by the background process. Herein, the terms “daemon” and “service” may be used interchangeably. It shall be appreciated that the daemons described with reference to  FIGS. 4 and 5  illustrate example implementations and that the services described in the claims need not be implemented by a single daemon. Retuning to  FIG. 4 , the controller daemon  412  may just have a name associated with the particular node daemon  410  at node  402 , for example UUID/node_daemon name  454  as shown in  FIG. 4 . When the envelope  480  is handed off to the controller&#39;s node router process  408 , it may include an ephemeral ID (EPH ID)  456  associated with the controller daemon  412 , the name of the service running at the node  454 , and the message itself  450 . According to some embodiments, the routing envelope may include a name (not shown) associated with the service  412  at the controller  404  instead of or in addition to an EPH ID  456  associated with the service  412  at the controller  404 . This name associated with the controller service  412 , may include a UUID (not shown) associated with the controller  404 . The node router process  408  can then compare the UUID of the destination node  402  (which is part of the name  454  of the service  410  at the node  402 ) to an ID table containing the current EPH ID  458  associated with that node. Recall, with reference to  FIG. 3 , that new ephemeral IDs for a node are assigned upon initiation of a new network connection (e.g. after a network interruption). Together, the EPH ID  458  of destination node  402 , and the name (e.g. node daemon name  454 ) of the service running on the destination node  402  (including the UUID of the destination node  402 ) ensure the delivery of the payload  450  to the correct service at the correct destination node. The envelope  480  now contains the destination node&#39;s ephemeral ID  458 , the name of the service at the destination node  454 , the EPH ID  456  associated with the controller service  412  (and/or a name of the controller service  412 ), and the message itself  450 . With the EPH ID  458  of the destination node  402  established, the node router process  408  may transmit the envelope  480  containing the message  450  via a secure VPN tunnel  420  to the node relay process  406  at the destination node  402 . The node relay process  406  then forwards the envelope  480  containing the message  450  to the service at the node  402 , for example node daemon  410 . In response, the service (node daemon  410 ) replaces the message  450  in envelope  480  with a response message  452  and hands back off to the node relay process  406 . As is shown, the envelope  480  still contains the controller daemon EPH ID  456  that may be necessary for routing back to the controller daemon  412 . Alternatively, a name (not shown) associated with the controller daemon  412  may be used for routing back to the controller daemon  412 . The node relay  406  transmits the envelope  480  via the secure VPN tunnel  420  to the node router process  408 . Using the controller daemon ephemeral ID  456 , the node router process  408  then forwards the envelope  480  containing the response  452  to the controller service (e.g. controller daemon  412 ) at the controller  404 . 
     When a process on the node needs to communicate to a service on the controller, a similar but reversed process occurs. The node service wraps the message in a routing envelope and hands off the envelope to the node&#39;s node relay process. The node relay process transmits the envelope on to the node router process on the controller. The node router process hands off the envelope to the controller service on the central management system. When the controller service receives the envelope, it has access to the UUID and sending service name, which together specify the sending service&#39;s “address,” and the actual message itself. The service replies by replacing the message in the envelope with a reply and sending the envelope back to the node router process. 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic flow diagram showing an example process of wrapping a message to a controller in a routing envelope, according to some embodiments. As shown in  FIG. 5 , a service running at the node  502 , for example node daemon  510 , may communicate with a service, for example controller daemon  512 , at a controller  504 , by wrapping a message in an envelope  580 . When the envelope  580  is handed off to the node relay process  506 , it may include a service name  557  associated with the controller daemon  512 , the name  554  of the service  510  running at node  502 , and the message itself  550 . The node relay process  506  then adds the node&#39;s ephemeral ID  558  and transmits the envelope  580  via a secure VPN tunnel  520  to the node router process  508  at the controller  504 . The node router process  508  hands off the envelope  580  to the controller daemon  512  based on the service name  557  associated with the controller daemon  512 . 
     In an alternative embodiment, the node router process  508  may compare the controller daemon name  557  (included in the received envelope  508  from the node daemon process  510 ) to an associate table that relates the service name  557  associated with the controller daemon  512  to an EPH ID (not shown) associated with the controller daemon  512 . Accordingly, using the EPH ID (not shown) associated with the controller daemon  512 , the node router process  508  is able to hand off the envelope  580  to the controller daemon  512 . 
     In response, the controller daemon  512  replaces the message  550  with a response  552  and hands the envelope  580  back to the node router process  508 . The node router process  508  can then compare the UUID of the destination node  502  (which is part of the name  554  of the service  510  at the node  502 ) to an ID table containing the current ephemeral ID  558  associated with that node. With the current ephemeral ID  558  of node  502 , the node router process  508  is able to transmit the envelope  580  to the node relay process  506  of the node  502  via the secure VPN tunnel  520 . The node relay process  506  then hands off the envelope  580  containing the response  552  to the node service or daemon  510 . 
       FIGS. 6A-6D  show schematic flow diagrams describing example processes for bi-directional message routing by a controller in a computer cluster, according to some embodiments. Elements of these processes are also described with reference to  FIGS. 2-5 . Processes  600   a - 600   e  may be performed, by a node router process at a controller node, for example node router processes  208 ,  308 ,  408 , and  508  in  FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5 , respectively. 
       FIGS. 7A-7D  show schematic flow diagrams describing example processes for bi-directional message routing by a node in a computer cluster, according to some embodiments. Elements of these processes are also described with reference to  FIGS. 2-5 . Processes  700   a - 700   d  may be performed, by a node relay process at any of the plurality of nodes in the computer cluster, for example node relay processes  206 ,  306 ,  406 , and  506  in  FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5 , respectively. 
     Background on Computer Systems 
       FIG. 8  is a block diagram of a computer system  800  as may be used to implement certain features of some of the embodiments. The computer system may be a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), a user device, a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, an iPhone, an iPad, a Blackberry, a processor, a telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, a console, a hand-held console, a (hand-held) gaming device, a music player, any portable, mobile, hand-held device, wearable device, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. 
     The computing system  800  may include one or more central processing units (“processors”)  805 , memory  810 , input/output devices  825 , e.g. keyboard and pointing devices, touch devices, display devices), storage devices  820 , e.g. disk drives, and network adapters  830 , e.g. network interfaces, that are connected to an interconnect  815 . The interconnect  815  is illustrated as an abstraction that represents any one or more separate physical buses, point to point connections, or both connected by appropriate bridges, adapters, or controllers. The interconnect  815 , therefore, may include, for example, a system bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or PCI-Express bus, a HyperTransport or industry standard architecture (ISA) bus, a small computer system interface (SCSI) bus, a universal serial bus (USB), IIC (12C) bus, or an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard 1394 bus, also called “Firewire.” 
     The memory  810  and storage devices  820  arc computer-readable storage media that may store instructions that implement at least portions of the various embodiments. In addition, the data structures and message structures may be stored or transmitted via a data transmission medium, e.g. a signal on a communications link. Various communications links may be used, e.g. the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, or a point-to-point dial-up connection. Thus, computer readable media can include computer-readable storage media, e.g. non-transitory media, and computer-readable transmission media. 
     The instructions stored in memory  810  can be implemented as software and/or firmware to program the processor(s)  805  to carry out actions described above. In some embodiments, such software or firmware may be initially provided to the processing system  800  by downloading it from a remote system through the computing system  800 , e.g. via network adapter  830 . 
     The various embodiments introduced herein can be implemented by, for example, programmable circuitry, e.g. one or more microprocessors, programmed with software and/or firmware, or entirely in special-purpose hardwired (non-programmable) circuitry, or in a combination of such forms. Special-purpose hardwired circuitry may be in the form of, for example, one or more ASICs, PLDs, FPGAs, etc. 
     Remarks 
     Although the invention is described herein with reference to the preferred embodiment, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other applications may be substituted for those set forth herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention should only be limited by the Claims included below.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7