Stateless load balancer in a multi-node system for transparent processing with packet preservation

摘要

Stateless load balancing of network packets within a system avoids detection by a network client or end user for deep packet inspection or other bump-in-the-wire applications. At least one header field of a received packet is used in generating a hash value. The hash value is used to identify a processing resource within the system for processing the received packet. Before being sent to the identified resource, the received packet is encapsulated with a new header that includes an indication of ingress port. The encapsulation does not modify the original packet. On a return path from the identified processing resource, the ingress port is determined from the encapsulated packet, the encapsulated packet is decapsulated to obtain a recovered packet that is identical to the received packet, and the recovered packet is forwarded to the network through an egress port as determined from the recovered ingress port.

主权项

1. A method for stateless load balancing of network packets within a system in communication with a network, the system including a switch in communication with a plurality of processing resources, and configured to avoid detection by a network client or end user, the method comprising:
receiving, at the switch, a packet through a port from the network, the received packet including one or more original headers comprising a plurality of fields for directing the received packet through the network; encapsulating the received packet to produce an encapsulated packet with an outer header that includes at least an indication of the port through which the received packet was received, wherein the encapsulated packet maintains, without any modification, the one or more original headers as received from the network in the received packet; and forwarding, from the switch, the encapsulated packet to a selected processing resource from among the plurality of processing resources within the system.