Method and apparatus for replicating network information base in a distributed network control system with multiple controller instances

摘要

A network control system that includes several controllers for managing several switching elements. Each controller includes a network information base (NIB) storage that stores data regarding the switching elements and a secondary storage for facilitating replication of at least a portion of data across the NIB storages of the different controllers. In some embodiments, the primary purpose for one or more of the secondary storage structures is to back up the data in the NIB. In these or other embodiments, one or more of the secondary storage structures serve a purpose other than backing up the data in the NIB. In some embodiments, the NIB is stored in system memory while the system operates for fast access of the NIB records. In some embodiments, one or more of the secondary storage structures are stored on disks which can be slower to access.

主权项

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit provides a first controller instance of a plurality of controller instances in a network control system, the plurality of controller instances for managing switching elements, each controller instance having (i) a network information base (NIB) storage that comprises a first set of modules for communicating with secondary storages of other controller instances in the plurality of controller instances and that stores a plurality of data records regarding a plurality of switching elements in a NIB storage structure in a volatile memory and (ii) a secondary storage that comprises a second set of modules for communicating with the NIB storages of other controller instances in the plurality of controller instances and that stores a copy of a set of the plurality of data records stored in the NIB storage structures in a transactional database in a non-volatile memory, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
at the secondary storage of the first controller instance, receiving notification from a NIB storage of a second controller instance of the plurality of controller instances that a data record has changed in the NIB storage structure at the second controller instance; and from the secondary storage of the first controller instance, using the second set of modules to direct a NIB storage of a third controller instance of the plurality of controller instances to replicate the change to the data record in order to replicate at least a portion of the data records in the NIB storage structure of the second controller instance across the NIB storages of other controller instances in the plurality of controller instances.