CONTROL APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, VIRTUAL NETWORK MANAGEMENT METHOD, AND PROGRAM

摘要

The objective of the invention is to allow for saving the labor of setting operations when a communication system performing a centralized control of packet transfer nodes is used to provide virtual network services. A control apparatus comprises: a virtual network structure information storing unit stores the structure of a virtual network; a terminal point information storing unit that stores the virtual terminal points on the virtual network and the terminal points of the packet transfer nodes in such a manner that the virtual terminal points on the virtual network are associated with the terminal points of the packet transfer nodes; a control unit that controls packet transfers on the virtual network that are performed by the packet transfer nodes; and a virtual network updating unit that, upon reception of a packet from a transmission source that is not connected to any existing virtual terminal point, executes both addition of a virtual terminal point to the virtual network and addition of a new entry to the terminal point information storing unit on the basis of a virtual terminal point addition rule that defines the correspondences between predetermined field values in packet headers and the connectional positions of the virtual terminal points on the virtual network.