NETWORK ADDRESS TRANSLATION FOR VIRTUAL MACHINES

Smart overview of the Invention

The patent application discusses a method for network address translation (NAT) specifically designed for virtual machines. This involves receiving a packet from a client, which includes header information such as destination IP address, destination port, source IP address, and source port. The system then selects a destination virtual machine based on the destination port, modifies the packet by replacing the destination IP address with that of the selected virtual machine, and sends the modified packet to the virtual machine.

Technical Field

This innovation is situated in the realm of network address translation, focusing on virtual machines within cloud computing environments. Cloud computing typically involves large server farms offering computational resources and data storage to remote users, who access these services via web browsers or client-side software. The invention aims to streamline how virtual machines handle network communication, enhancing efficiency in cloud-based applications.

Key Features

The system can manage multiple port numbers for a single virtual machine and select machines using load balancing schemes. It can transform destination ports during selection and modify packets by changing port numbers. These modifications are performed by the host operating system using a virtual network pair, supporting both layer 2 and layer 3 packets. The system maintains TCP connections between clients and virtual machines, ensuring robust communication.

Advantages

By distributing port mapping tasks across individual host machines instead of central gateways, the system enhances fault tolerance and overall performance. This distribution reduces gateway complexity and facilitates easier replication and synchronization of NAT tables across numerous gateways. Implementing port mapping in user process space prevents kernel impact from mapping malfunctions. The system also ensures that if one virtual machine fails, others remain unaffected.

System Architecture

The described system includes host machines running operating systems that manage virtual machines. Each virtual machine is allocated resources like memory pages, disk blocks, and network addresses for communication over internal or external networks. Virtual machines run guest operating systems that manage applications within them. These resources are controlled by the host operating system, ensuring isolation and efficient resource management.