Patent Description:
A data center is a facility that houses computer systems and various networking, storage, and other related components. Data centers may, for example, be used by service providers to provide computing services to businesses and individuals as a remote computing service or provide "software as a service" (e.g., cloud computing). In some cases, such users may wish to retain use of some of their computing or storage assets, while taking advantage of the cloud computing capabilities of the data center. However, the incorporation of such assets into the data center's networks may raise a number of issues. Document"Azure Accelerated Networking: SmartNICs in the Public Cloud" ( DANIEL FIRESTONE ANDREW PUTNAM SAMBHRAMA MUNDKUR DEREK CHIOU ALIREZA DABAGH MIKE ANDREWARTHA HARI ANGEPAT VIVEK BHANU ADRIAN CAULF) discusses techniques to accelerate network traffic by offloading packet processing to programmable hardware switches and smartNICs.

It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.

In some embodiments, users of a remote computing service may be provided the option of incorporating custom or third-party hardware such as high capacity processing machines or storage devices into their virtual networks in the cloud. In such cases, it is desirable to apply existing user policies to the third-party hardware without impacting the performance of the user's virtual machines in their virtual network. One way this can be accomplished is by programming network devices such as the top-of-rack (ToR) switches for routing traffic into the customer's virtual network. However, the options for programming network devices may be limited. For example, loading the software defined network policy stack on a network device may not be possible due to hardware restrictions and limitations imposed by the manufacturer of the network device.

One way to allow distributed computing (e.g., cloud) environments to provide virtualized networking services that integrate third-party hardware may be to implement a software defined networking (SDN) appliance virtual machine (VM) outside of a user's virtual network. The SDN appliance virtual machine may include one or more network containers (NCs). Each of the network containers may include SDN policies that are applicable to a user's virtual network. Therefore, a user's network container may process inbound and outbound packet traffic according to the SDN policies defined in the user's network container. However, if the SDN policies are enforced by virtual machines running in the network containers, an extra hop into the virtual machine is required that adds to the switching rate and therefore may impact performance.

In some embodiments disclosed herein, a multi-tenant appliance may be implemented which includes a network container for each tenant that incorporates third-party hardware. Each network container may include a hairpin layer to reflect packets before arriving at the tenant's virtual machine(s). In some embodiments, the multi-tenant appliance may apply tenant policies to packet traffic going to and from the third-party hardware. The multi-tenant appliance may, for example, be implemented as an off-load chassis that provides standard interfaces to which the third-party hardware can communicate. The multi-tenant appliance provides a host that the third-party hardware can interface to, alleviating the need for the third-party hardware to host their own interfaces to the virtual network. The multi-tenant appliance may also alleviate the need for VM hosts to run the policy functionality which can slow performance, providing a hardware-based policy service that can enable improved performance.

In one embodiment, the rules may be implemented as virtual filtering platform (VFP) rules that may be offloaded to a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) device which is configured to be a hardware acceleration device so that data traffic will be processed in hardware and minimize impact to software, allowing end-to-end traffic to maintain its line rate without additional latency. Furthermore, the hairpin layer may allow for software processing of packets to be avoided. Thus the data traffic does not reach the virtual machine but gets reflected and is directed to the outbound rules. Since these are VFP rules that can get offloaded to the FPGA, traffic will be processed in hardware and not impact the software so that the end-to-end traffic will be seen at the line rate without additional latency.

In one example, a packet from the user's hardware may be received at a top of rack (ToR) switch. The ToR may forward the packet to the user's network container and the packet may be received by the filtering platform configured with the SDN policies. The filtering platform applies the SDN policies to the packet and sends the packet to a destination identified in the packet.

In an embodiment, the filtering platform may offload the SDN policies for inbound and outbound traffic associated with the customer's hardware to a programmed device such as the FPGA. After the offload to the FPGA, inbound and outbound traffic associated with the user's hardware may bypass the filtering platform and the user's container. In an embodiment, the FPGA may directly process inbound and outbound traffic associated with the user's hardware.

In an embodiment, when a ToR does not have an effective policy for a network packet, the ToR may offload policy evaluation to the multi-tenant appliance and obtain applicable policies from the multi-tenant appliance, after which the ToR may determine the next hop for the network packet. This policy evaluation need only be done for the first packet. The independent device may update the ToR when a policy becomes invalid.

The described techniques can allow for incorporation of a user's custom hardware while maintaining efficient use of computing resources such as processor cycles, memory, network bandwidth, and power. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended that this Summary be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In the description detailed herein, references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and that show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments or examples. The drawings herein are not drawn to scale. Like numerals represent like elements throughout the several figures.

In some computing environments that provide virtualized computing and storage services, host networking may be configured to offload tasks to hardware devices. Such devices may be referred to as a hardware acceleration device. For example, a device may be configured to perform computing and communications tasks that are offloaded from the CPU. The device may include hardware logic for implementing functions, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) device, a massively parallel processor array (MPPA) device, a graphics processing unit (GPU), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC), etc., and capable of performing many of the same tasks that are typically accomplished by other devices such as the CPU. The term hardware acceleration device may also encompass other ways of leveraging a hardware acceleration and offloading techniques to perform a function, such as, for example, a) a case in which at least some tasks are implemented in hard ASIC logic or the like; b) a case in which at least some tasks are implemented in soft (configurable) FPGA logic or the like; c) a case in which at least some tasks run as software on FPGA software processor overlays or the like; d) a case in which at least some tasks run as software on hard ASIC processors or the like, etc., or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the peripheral device may be a network communications device, such as a network interface card (NIC). Such a NIC may be referred to herein as a smartNIC or sNIC.

Various techniques are described herein for implementing an infrastructure virtual network comprising one or more devices that apply SDN policies for a user of virtualized computing services. The described embodiments include a specialized hardware appliance, which leverages the described FPGA (or similar device) and a specialized policy evaluation engine. This specialized hardware appliance may work with devices such as the ToR to provide line rate evaluation of policies and routing of a next hop where a network packet should be forwarded. The specialized hardware appliance may variously be referred to herein as a multi-tenant appliance, SDN appliance, or appliance.

In one example scenario, one or more ToRs may be configured to communicate directly with a network container for packet traffic to and from the user's third-party hardware. The multi-tenant appliance may be implemented that is linked to the user's network container and configured with the SDN policies contained in the network container. In one example, the appliance may include a virtual filtering platform (VFP). A first inbound or outbound data packet is received from/to the user's third-party hardware at the appliance and the SDN policies are applied to those packets using the appliance. The SDN policies of the appliance may be offloaded to the FPGA. Subsequent packet data associated with the user's third-party hardware may be processed using the FPGA, where the FPGA updates the packet data using the SDN policies provided from the appliance.

In one embodiment, the multi-tenant appliance may be deployed by the infrastructure service in the infrastructure virtual network. A virtual network user who desires to incorporate third-party hardware may delegate one subnet in their virtual network to this infrastructure service. The multi-tenant appliance may implement a network container in the user's delegated subnet. The ToR connected to the third-party hardware may be configured to forward all the traffic coming in or going out of the third-party hardware to the appliance except when the traffic is being sent from the appliance.

The multi-tenant appliance may be configured to apply the SDN policies that are configured for the third-party hardware. After applying the SDN policies, the appliance network container may implement a hairpin layer which is configured to redirect the traffic back out on the network. Since the hairpin layer is associated with the appliance, all transformations for the packet on the appliance can be offloaded to the FPGA hardware. Once the traffic is offloaded, the third-party hardware will see traffic at the switching rate without degradation in performance.

<FIG> illustrates an example data flow in one embodiment, including an acceleration device <NUM>, appliance <NUM> including hairpin layer <NUM>, third-party appliance <NUM>, and appliance virtual machine <NUM>. The ToR for the third-party hardware may be configured to forward all traffic to the SDN-appliance (e.g., appliance <NUM>) except when the traffic is coming from the appliance.

Packet flow for inbound traffic to the third-party hardware.

Packet flow for outbound traffic from the third-party hardware.

<FIG> illustrates an example computing environment in which the embodiments described herein may be implemented. <FIG> illustrates a data center <NUM> that is configured to provide computing resources to users 200a, 200b, or 200c (which may be referred herein singularly as "a user <NUM>" or in the plural as "the users <NUM>") via user computers 202a,202b, and 202c (which may be referred herein singularly as "a computer <NUM>" or in the plural as "the computers <NUM>") via a communications network <NUM>. The computing resources provided by the data center <NUM> may include various types of resources, such as computing resources, data storage resources, data communication resources, and the like. Each type of computing resource may be general-purpose or may be available in a number of specific configurations. For example, computing resources may be available as virtual machines. The virtual machines may be configured to execute applications, including Web servers, application servers, media servers, database servers, and the like. Data storage resources may include file storage devices, block storage devices, and the like. Each type or configuration of computing resource may be available in different configurations, such as the number of processors, and size of memory and/or storage capacity. The resources may in some embodiments be offered to clients in units referred to as instances, such as virtual machine instances or storage instances. A virtual computing instance may be referred to as a virtual machine and may, for example, comprise one or more servers with a specified computational capacity (which may be specified by indicating the type and number of CPUs, the main memory size and so on) and a specified software stack (e.g., a particular version of an operating system, which may in turn run on top of a hypervisor).

Data center <NUM> may include servers 226a, 226b, and 226c (which may be referred to herein singularly as "a server <NUM>" or in the plural as "the servers <NUM>") that provide computing resources available as virtual machines 228a and 228b (which may be referred to herein singularly as "a virtual machine <NUM>" or in the plural as "the virtual machines <NUM>"). The virtual machines <NUM> may be configured to execute applications such as Web servers, application servers, media servers, database servers, and the like. Other resources that may be provided include data storage resources (not shown on <FIG>) and may include file storage devices, block storage devices, and the like. Servers <NUM> may also execute functions that manage and control allocation of resources in the data center, such as a controller <NUM>. Controller <NUM> may be a fabric controller or another type of program configured to manage the allocation of virtual machines on servers <NUM>.

Referring to <FIG>, communications network <NUM> may, for example, be a publicly accessible network of linked networks and may be operated by various entities, such as the Internet. In other embodiments, communications network <NUM> may be a private network, such as a corporate network that is wholly or partially inaccessible to the public.

Communications network <NUM> may provide access to computers <NUM>. Computers <NUM> may be computers utilized by users <NUM>. Computer 202a, 202b or 202c may be a server, a desktop or laptop personal computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a set-top box, or any other computing device capable of accessing data center <NUM>. User computer 202a or 202b may connect directly to the Internet (e.g., via a cable modem). User computer 202c may be internal to the data center <NUM> and may connect directly to the resources in the data center <NUM> via internal networks. Although only three user computers 202a,202b, and 202c are depicted, it should be appreciated that there may be multiple user computers.

Computers <NUM> may also be utilized to configure aspects of the computing resources provided by data center <NUM>. For example, data center <NUM> may provide a Web interface through which aspects of its operation may be configured through the use of a Web browser application program executing on user computer <NUM>. Alternatively, a stand-alone application program executing on user computer <NUM> may be used to access an application programming interface (API) exposed by data center <NUM> for performing the configuration operations.

Servers <NUM> may be configured to provide the computing resources described above. One or more of the servers <NUM> may be configured to execute a manager 220a or 220b (which may be referred herein singularly as "a manager <NUM>" or in the plural as "the managers <NUM>") configured to execute the virtual machines. The managers <NUM> may be a virtual machine monitor (VMM), fabric controller, or another type of program configured to enable the execution of virtual machines <NUM> on servers <NUM>, for example.

It should be appreciated that although the embodiments disclosed above are discussed in the context of virtual machines, other types of implementations can be utilized with the concepts and technologies disclosed herein.

In the example data center <NUM> shown in <FIG>, a network device <NUM> may be utilized to interconnect the servers 226a and 226b. Network device <NUM> may comprise one or more switches, routers, or other network devices. Network device <NUM> may also be connected to gateway <NUM>, which is connected to communications network <NUM>. Network device <NUM> may facilitate communications within networks in data center <NUM>, for example, by forwarding packets or other data communications as appropriate based on characteristics of such communications (e.g., header information including source and/or destination addresses, protocol identifiers, etc.) and/or the characteristics of the private network (e.g., routes based on network topology, etc.). It will be appreciated that, for the sake of simplicity, various aspects of the computing systems and other devices of this example are illustrated without showing certain conventional details. Additional computing systems and other devices may be interconnected in other embodiments and may be interconnected in different ways.

It should be appreciated that the network topology illustrated in <FIG> has been greatly simplified and that many more networks and networking devices may be utilized to interconnect the various computing systems disclosed herein. These network topologies and devices should be apparent to those skilled in the art.

It should also be appreciated that data center <NUM> described in <FIG> is merely illustrative and that other implementations might be utilized. Additionally, it should be appreciated that the functionality disclosed herein might be implemented in software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware. Other implementations should be apparent to those skilled in the art. It should also be appreciated that a server, gateway, or other computing device may comprise any combination of hardware or software that can interact and perform the described types of functionality, including without limitation desktop or other computers, database servers, network storage devices and other network devices, PDAs, tablets, smartphone, Internet appliances, television-based systems (e.g., using set top boxes and/or personal/digital video recorders), and various other consumer products that include appropriate communication capabilities. In addition, the functionality provided by the illustrated modules may in some embodiments be combined in fewer modules or distributed in additional modules. Similarly, in some embodiments the functionality of some of the illustrated modules may not be provided and/or other additional functionality may be available.

<FIG> illustrates an example computing environment illustrating integration of third-party devices <NUM> in accordance with the present disclosure. In one embodiment, a multi-tenant appliance <NUM> may be implemented. In an embodiment, the multi-tenant appliance <NUM> may provide one network container for each tenant that implements third-party hardware. Each network container may have a hairpin layer to reflect the packets from the third-party devices <NUM> before the packets reach virtual machines 228a and 228b. The policy rules (e.g., VFP rules) can be offloaded to off-board accelerator devices (e.g., FPGA) so that data traffic may be processed in hardware, avoiding software-based processing and thus reducing latency.

Turning now to <FIG>, illustrated is an example operational procedure for implementing a virtual network including one or more custom devices that are associated with a user in accordance with the present disclosure. Referring to <FIG>, operation <NUM> illustrates instantiating a hairpin layer configured to redirect data packets arriving from or directed to a custom device.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates accessing policies that are applicable to a virtual network implemented by the one or more virtual machines.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates applying the policies to the data packets before redirecting the data packets. Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates offloading application of the policies for additional packets to an acceleration device. Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates processing subsequent inbound and outbound data packets associated with the custom device at the acceleration device.

In an embodiment, the acceleration device is an FPGA. In an embodiment, the appliance is part of a network container configured to implement a data interface to the custom device.

In an embodiment, the appliance comprises a plurality of network containers configured to implement data interfaces to a plurality of custom devices. In an embodiment, the custom device is part of a virtual network. In some embodiments, a subnet of the virtual network is designated for the custom device.

Referring to <FIG>, illustrated is another example operational procedure for implementing a virtual network including one or more custom devices that are associated with a user. Referring to <FIG>, operation <NUM> illustrates receiving, in a virtual network including a custom device, a packet having an address of the custom device as a destination address.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates forwarding the packet to an appliance configured to apply, to the packet, policies that are applicable to the virtual network.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates sending, by the custom device, the data packet to the destination address identified in the packet.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates reflecting, by a hairpin layer, the packet back to the destination.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates bypassing, by the platform, the policies for the returned packet.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates offloading application of the policies to an acceleration device.

Referring to <FIG>, illustrated is another example operational procedure for implementing a virtual network including one or more custom devices that are associated with a user. Referring to <FIG>, operation <NUM> illustrates receiving a packet having an address of a custom device as a source address.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates accessing policies that are applicable to a virtual network associated with the custom device.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates applying the policies to the packet.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates redirecting, by a hairpin layer, the packet to a destination address contained in the packet.

Operation <NUM> may be followed by operation <NUM>. Operation <NUM> illustrates for subsequent packets, bypassing application of the policies to the subsequent packets.

In an embodiment, the acceleration device is an FPGA. In an embodiment, the device comprises a network container configured to implement a data interface to the custom device.

In an embodiment, the device comprises a plurality of network containers configured to implement data interfaces to a plurality of custom devices. In an embodiment, the custom device is part of a virtual network. In an embodiment, a subnet of the virtual network is designated for the custom device.

The various aspects of the disclosure are described herein with regard to certain examples and embodiments, which are intended to illustrate but not to limit the disclosure. It should be appreciated that the subject matter presented herein may be implemented as a computer process, a computer-controlled apparatus, a computing system, an article of manufacture, such as a computer-readable storage medium, or a component including hardware logic for implementing functions, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) device, a massively parallel processor array (MPPA) device, a graphics processing unit (GPU), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC), etc. A component may also encompass other ways of leveraging a device to perform a function, such as, for example, a) a case in which at least some tasks are implemented in hard ASIC logic or the like; b) a case in which at least some tasks are implemented in soft (configurable) FPGA logic or the like; c) a case in which at least some tasks run as software on FPGA software processor overlays or the like; d) a case in which at least some tasks run as software on hard ASIC processors or the like, etc., or any combination thereof. A component may represent a homogeneous collection of hardware acceleration devices, such as, for example, FPGA devices. On the other hand, a component may represent a heterogeneous collection of different types of hardware acceleration devices including different types of FPGA devices having different respective processing capabilities and architectures, a mixture of FPGA devices and other types hardware acceleration devices, etc..

<FIG> illustrates a general-purpose computing device <NUM>. In the illustrated embodiment, computing device <NUM> includes one or more processors 610a, 610b, and/or 610n (which may be referred herein singularly as "a processor <NUM>" or in the plural as "the processors <NUM>") coupled to a system memory <NUM> via an input/output (I/O) interface <NUM>. Computing device <NUM> further includes a network interface <NUM> coupled to I/O interface <NUM>.

In various embodiments, computing device <NUM> may be a uniprocessor system including one processor <NUM> or a multiprocessor system including several processors <NUM> (e.g., two, four, eight, or another suitable number). Processors <NUM> may be any suitable processors capable of executing instructions. For example, in various embodiments, processors <NUM> may be general-purpose or embedded processors implementing any of a variety of instruction set architectures (ISAs), such as the x86, PowerPC, SPARC, or MIPS ISAs, or any other suitable ISA. In multiprocessor systems, each of processors <NUM> may commonly, but not necessarily, implement the same ISA.

System memory <NUM> may be configured to store instructions and data accessible by processor(s) <NUM>. In various embodiments, system memory <NUM> may be implemented using any suitable memory technology, such as static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. In the illustrated embodiment, program instructions and data implementing one or more desired functions, such as those methods, techniques and data described above, are shown stored within system memory <NUM> as code <NUM> and data <NUM>.

In one embodiment, I/O interface <NUM> may be configured to coordinate I/O traffic between the processor <NUM>, system memory <NUM>, and any peripheral devices in the device, including network interface <NUM> or other peripheral interfaces. In some embodiments, I/O interface <NUM> may perform any necessary protocol, timing, or other data transformations to convert data signals from one component (e.g., system memory <NUM>) into a format suitable for use by another component (e.g., processor <NUM>). In some embodiments, I/O interface <NUM> may include support for devices attached through various types of peripheral buses, such as a variant of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard, for example. In some embodiments, the function of I/O interface <NUM> may be split into two or more separate components. Also, in some embodiments some or all of the functionality of I/O interface <NUM>, such as an interface to system memory <NUM>, may be incorporated directly into processor <NUM>.

Network interface <NUM> may be configured to allow data to be exchanged between computing device <NUM> and other device or devices <NUM> attached to a network or network(s) <NUM>, such as other computer systems or devices as illustrated in <FIG>, for example. In various embodiments, network interface <NUM> may support communication via any suitable wired or wireless general data networks, such as types of Ethernet networks, for example. Additionally, network interface <NUM> may support communication via telecommunications/telephony networks such as analog voice networks or digital fiber communications networks, via storage area networks such as Fibre Channel SANs or via any other suitable type of network and/or protocol.

In some embodiments, system memory <NUM> may be one embodiment of a computer-accessible medium configured to store program instructions and data as described above for <FIG> for implementing embodiments of the corresponding methods and apparatus. However, in other embodiments, program instructions and/or data may be received, sent or stored upon different types of computer-accessible media. A computer-accessible medium may include non-transitory storage media or memory media, such as magnetic or optical media, e.g., disk or DVD/CD coupled to computing device <NUM> via I/O interface <NUM>. A non-transitory computer-accessible storage medium may also include any volatile or non-volatile media, such as RAM (e.g. SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM, SRAM, etc.), ROM, etc., that may be included in some embodiments of computing device <NUM> as system memory <NUM> or another type of memory. Further, a computer-accessible medium may include transmission media or signals such as electrical, electromagnetic or digital signals, conveyed via a communication medium such as a network and/or a wireless link, such as may be implemented via network interface <NUM>. Portions or all of multiple computing devices, such as those illustrated in <FIG>, may be used to implement the described functionality in various embodiments; for example, software components running on a variety of different devices and servers may collaborate to provide the functionality. In some embodiments, portions of the described functionality may be implemented using storage devices, network devices, or special-purpose computer systems, in addition to or instead of being implemented using general-purpose computer systems. The term "computing device," as used herein, refers to at least all these types of devices and is not limited to these types of devices.

Various storage devices and their associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage for the computing devices described herein. Computer-readable media as discussed herein may refer to a mass storage device, such as a solid-state drive, a hard disk or CD-ROM drive. However, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that computer-readable media can be any available computer storage media that can be accessed by a computing device.

By way of example, and not limitation, computer storage media may include volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. For example, computer media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks ("DVD"), HD-DVD, BLU-RAY, or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computing devices discussed herein. For purposes of the claims, the phrase "computer storage medium," "computer-readable storage medium" and variations thereof, does not include waves, signals, and/or other transitory and/or intangible communication media, per se.

As another example, the computer-readable media disclosed herein may be implemented using magnetic or optical technology. In such implementations, the software presented herein may transform the physical state of magnetic or optical media, when the software is encoded therein. These transformations may include altering the magnetic characteristics of particular locations within given magnetic media. These transformations also may include altering the physical features or characteristics of particular locations within given optical media, to change the optical characteristics of those locations. Other transformations of physical media are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the present description, with the foregoing examples provided only to facilitate this discussion.

In light of the above, it should be appreciated that many types of physical transformations take place in the disclosed computing devices in order to store and execute the software components and/or functionality presented herein. It is also contemplated that the disclosed computing devices may not include all of the illustrated components shown in FIG. <NUM>, may include other components that are not explicitly shown in <FIG>, or may utilize an architecture completely different than that shown in <FIG>.

Although the various configurations have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended representations is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claimed subject matter.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, "can," "could," "might," "may," "e.g.," and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

While certain example embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions disclosed herein.

Claim 1:
A system comprising:
one or more servers (<NUM>) configured to instantiate one or more virtual machines (<NUM>); and
an appliance (<NUM>) configured to:
instantiate a hairpin layer (<NUM>) configured to redirect data packets arriving from or directed to a custom device;
access policies that are applicable to a virtual network implemented by the one or more virtual machines (<NUM>), the custom device being part of the virtual network;
apply the policies to the data packets before redirecting the data packets;
offloading application of the policies for subsequent packets arriving from or directed to the custom device to an acceleration device (<NUM>); and
process subsequent inbound and outbound data packets arriving from or directed to the custom device at the acceleration device (<NUM>).