Address management in an overlay network environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10129205-B2
Application number	US-201715689877-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2017
Priority date	Jan 22, 2013
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to overlay network address management. One embodiment includes an overlay gateway including an overlay network manager associated with a physical network. The overlay network manager prevents duplicate address assignment for overlay domains having a first sharing status and performs address translation for overlay domains having a second sharing status. Address translation is avoided for overlay domains having the first sharing status.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising a computer processor, a computer-readable hardware storage medium, and program code embodied with the computer-readable hardware storage medium for execution by the computer processor to implement a method comprising:
at an overlay network manager for a domain:
receiving a communication request from a first entity within the domain; and
determining whether the communication request comprises a request to communicate with a physical network sharing address space with the first entity or with a second entity outside the domain;
wherein the overlay network manager bypasses address translation services for the communication request in response to determining the communication request comprises a request to communicate with the physical network; and
wherein the overlay network manager provides address translation services to facilitate domain boundary crossing for the communication request in response to determining the communication request comprises a request to communicate with the second entity.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the overlay network manager optimizes address translation services by providing address translation services only upon domain boundary crossing, thereby improvising network performance and reducing administration effort.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein address translation services are not required and the overlay network manager performs only encapsulation and de-encapsulation for any communication request from the first entity to communicate with the physical network.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises:
at the overlay network manager:
detecting a duplicate address assignment in the domain; and
preventing the duplicate address assignment.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first entity comprises a virtual machine.

6. A method comprising:
at an overlay network manager for a domain:
receiving a communication request from a first entity within the domain; and
determining whether the communication request comprises a request to communicate with a physical network sharing address space with the first entity or with a second entity outside the domain;
wherein the overlay network manager bypasses address translation services for the communication request in response to determining the communication request comprises a request to communicate with the physical network; and
wherein the overlay network manager provides address translation services to facilitate domain boundary crossing for the communication request in response to determining the communication request comprises a request to communicate with the second entity.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the overlay network manager optimizes address translation services by providing address translation services only upon domain boundary crossing, thereby improvising network performance and reducing administration effort.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein address translation services are not required and the overlay network manager performs only encapsulation and de-encapsulation for any communication request from the first entity to communicate with the physical network.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
at the overlay network manager:
detecting a duplicate address assignment in the domain; and
preventing the duplicate address assignment.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first entity comprises a virtual machine.

11. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable hardware storage device having program code embodied therewith, the program code being executable by a computer to implement a method comprising:
at an overlay network manager for a domain:
receiving a communication request from a first entity within the domain; and
determining whether the communication request comprises a request to communicate with a physical network sharing address space with the first entity or with a second entity outside the domain;
wherein the overlay network manager bypasses address translation services for the communication request in response to determining the communication request comprises a request to communicate with the physical network; and
wherein the overlay network manager provides address translation services to facilitate domain boundary crossing for the communication request in response to determining the communication request comprises a request to communicate with the second entity.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the overlay network manager optimizes address translation services by providing address translation services only upon domain boundary crossing, thereby improvising network performance and reducing administration effort.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein address translation services are not required and the overlay network manager performs only encapsulation and de-encapsulation for any communication request from the first entity to communicate with the physical network.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises:
at the overlay network manager:
detecting a duplicate address assignment in the domain; and
preventing the duplicate address assignment.

15. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the first entity comprises a virtual machine.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Benny Stephan
• Biswas Amitabha
• Kidambi Jayakrishna

Classifications

• H04L61/2535 Primary

  Multiple local networks, e.g. resolving potential IP address conflicts · CPC title

• H04L61/103

  across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP] · CPC title

• H04L41/0803

  Configuration setting · CPC title

• H04L61/2007

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W8/26

  Network addressing or numbering for mobility support · CPC title