System and method for implementing virtual platform media access control (MAC) address-based layer 3 network switching

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10129185-B2
Application number	US-201615222698-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2016
Priority date	Mar 11, 2016
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing virtual platform media access control (“MAC”) address—based layer 2 and layer 3 network switching. In some embodiments, a method might comprise receiving, at a network node in a network, a data packet having a header comprising a MAC destination address, and routing, with the network node, the data packet over open systems interconnection (“OSI”) model layer 3 or network layer of the network, based at least in part on the MAC destination address in the header of the data packet. The MAC destination address comprises a first portion comprising an organizationally unique identifier (“OUI”) and a second portion comprising an identifier for a destination network interface controller (“NIC”) and/or virtual NIC (“VNIC”), which might be associated either with the same service provider associated with the network node or the network or with a different service provider, content provider, and/or application provider.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a network node in a network, a data packet having a header comprising a media access control (“MAC”) destination address, wherein the MAC destination address comprises a first portion comprising an organizationally unique identifier (“OUI”) and a second portion comprising an identifier for one of a destination network interface controller (“NIC”) or a destination virtual NIC (“VNIC”); and
routing, with the network node, the data packet over open systems interconnection (“OSI”) model layer 3 or network layer of the network, across two or more networks, using the MAC destination address comprising the OUI in the header of the data packet, wherein the MAC destination address comprising the OUI is the same MAC destination address that is inserted at an originating network among the two or more networks, the originating network being different from a destination network among the two or more networks.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OUI is associated with a service provider associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC, and wherein the network node and the network are each associated with the service provider that is associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OUI is associated with a service provider associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC, and wherein the network node and the network are each associated with a second service provider that is different from the service provider that is associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OUI is associated with at least one of an application service provider or a content service provider, each of which is different from a service provider associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein routing the data packet over OSI model layer 3 or network layer of the network, based at least in part on the MAC destination address in the header of the data packet, comprises one of steering or forwarding, with a software defined network (“SDN”) controller in the network node, the data packet over OSI model layer 3 or network layer of the network, based at least in part on the MAC destination address in the header of the data packet.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the network node, a data frame having a header comprising a second MAC destination address that is the same as the MAC destination address in the header of the data packet; and
routing, with the network node, the data frame over OSI model layer 2 or data link layer of the network, based at least in part on the same MAC destination address in the header of the data frame.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network comprises one or more of a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), a wireless wide area network (“WWAN”), a virtual private network (“VPN”), the Internet, or an extranet.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network node comprises one of a software defined network (“SDN”) controller, a network switch, a router, a server computer, a gateway device, an optical network terminal (“ONT”), a network interface device (“NID”), an enhanced NTD (“eNID”), a residential gateway (“RG”) device, a business gateway (“BG”) device, or a virtual gateway (“vG”) device.

9. A network node in a network, the network node comprising:
at least one processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the network node to:
receive a data packet having a header comprising a media access control (“MAC”) destination address, wherein the MAC destination address comprises a first portion comprising an organizationally unique identifier (“OUI”) and a second portion comprising an identifier for one of a destination network interface controller (“NIC”) or a destination virtual NIC (“VNIC”); and
route the data packet over open systems interconnection (“OSI”) model layer 3 or network layer of the network, across two or more networks, using the MAC destination address comprising the OUI in the header of the data packet, wherein the MAC destination address comprising the OUI is the same MAC destination address that is inserted at an originating network among the two or more networks, the originating network being different from a destination network among the two or more networks.

10. The network node of claim 9 , wherein the OUI is associated with a service provider associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC, and wherein the network node and the network are each associated with the service provider that is associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC.

11. The network node of claim 9 , wherein the OUI is associated with a service provider associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC, and wherein the network node and the network are each associated with a second service provider that is different from the service provider that is associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC.

12. The network node of claim 9 , wherein the OUI is associated with at least one of an application service provider or a content service provider, each of which is different from a service provider associated with the one of the destination NIC or the destination VNIC.

13. The network node of claim 9 , wherein routing the data packet over OSI model layer 3 or network layer of the network, based at least in part on the MAC destination address in the header of the data packet comprises one of steering or forwarding, with a software defined network (“SDN”) controller in the network node, the data packet over OSI model layer 3 or network layer of the network, based at least in part on the MAC destination address in the header of the data packet.

14. The network node of claim 9 , wherein the set of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the network node to:
receive a data frame having a header comprising a second MAC destination address that is the same as the MAC destination address in the header of the data packet; and
route the data frame over OSI model layer 2 or data link layer of the network, based at least in part on the same MAC destination address in the header of the data frame.

15. The network node of claim 9 , wherein the network comprises one or more of a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), a wireless wide area network (“WWAN”), a virtual private network (“VPN”), the Internet, or an extranet.

16. The network node of claim 9 , wherein the network node comprises one of a software defined network (“SDN”) controller, a network switch, a router, a server computer, a gateway device, an optical network terminal (“ONT”), a network interface device (“NID”), an enhanced NID (“eNID”), a residential gateway (“RG”) device, a business gateway (“BG”) device, or a virtual gateway (“vG”) device.

17. A system, comprising:
one of a destination network interface controller (“NIC”) or a destination virtual NIC (“VNIC”) in a first network; and
a network node in a second network, the network node comprising:
at least one processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one pr

Assignees

• Centurylink Ip Llc

Inventors

• Bugenhagen Michael K
• Walker William R
• Mcbride Kevin M

Classifications

• H04L69/22

  Parsing or analysis of headers · CPC title

• H04L45/42

  Centralised routing · CPC title

• H04L45/66

  Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's · CPC title

• H04L49/70 Primary

  Virtual switches · CPC title

• H04L49/25

  Routing or path finding in a switch fabric · CPC title