Coexistence and migration of legacy ethernet and overlay networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10298490-B2
Application number	US-201514963470-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2015
Priority date	Dec 9, 2015
Publication date	May 21, 2019
Grant date	May 21, 2019

Abstract

Coexistence and migration of legacy and VXLAN networks may be provided. A first anchor leaf switch and a second anchor leaf switch may detect that they can reach each other over a Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) overlay layer 2 network. In response to detecting that they can reach each other over the VXLAN, the second anchor leaf switch may block VLANs mapped to the VXLAN's VXLAN Network Identifier (VNI) on the second anchor leaf switch's ports connecting to spine routers. In addition, the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch may detect that they can reach each other over a physical layer 2 network. In response to detecting that they can reach each other over a physical layer 2 network, the second anchor leaf switch may block Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) segments at the second anchor leaf switch.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
migrating layer 3 gateways from a first aggregation router and a second aggregation router to a first anchor leaf switch and a second anchor leaf switch, wherein the first aggregation router and the second aggregation router are connected to both the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch, and wherein the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch comprise connecting switches of a virtual local area network segment and a virtual extendible local area network segment;
detecting, by the first anchor leaf switch comprising an active router for at least one server and the second anchor leaf switch comprising a standby router for the at least one server during migrating the layer 3 gateways, that the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch can reach each other over a Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) overlay layer 2 network;
blocking, by the second anchor leaf switch in response to detecting that the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch can reach each other over the VXLAN overlay layer 2 network to prevent loops during migrating the layer 3 gateways, Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) mapped to the VXLAN's VXLAN Network Identifier (VNI) on the second anchor leaf switch's ports connecting to spine routers comprising the first aggregation router and the second aggregation router; and
unblocking, in response to determining that migrating the layer 3 gateways is complete, the previously blocked VLANs mapped to the VXLAN's VNI on the second anchor leaf switch's ports connecting to the spine routers comprising the first aggregation router and the second aggregation router.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first anchor leaf switch comprises an active layer 3 gateway.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch comprises detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch wherein the first anchor leaf switch comprises an active layer 3 gateway running one of the following: First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP); Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP); and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch comprises detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch wherein the second anchor leaf switch comprises a standby layer 3 gateway.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch comprises detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch wherein the second anchor leaf switch comprises a standby layer 3 gateway running one of the following: First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP); Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP); and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch that the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch can reach each other over the Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) overlay layer 2 network comprises using a Multiprotocol-Border Gateway Protocol (MP-BGP) session.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein blocking the Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN) mapped to the VXLAN's VXLAN Network Identifier (VNI) on the second anchor leaf switch's ports connecting to the spine routers comprises one of the following: manipulating Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) port state and installing network access control lists (ACLs).

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising blocking, by non-anchor VXLAN enabled leaf switches in response to detecting that the first anchor leaf switch and the non-anchor leaf can reach each other via the VXLAN overlay layer 2 network, VLANs mapped to the VNIs on the non-anchor leaf switches on ports connecting to the spine routers.

9. A method comprising:
migrating layer 3 gateways from a first aggregation router and a second aggregation router to a first anchor leaf switch and a second anchor leaf switch, wherein the first aggregation router and the second aggregation router are connected to both the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch, and wherein the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch comprise connecting switches of a virtual local area network segment and a virtual extendible local area network segment;
detecting, by the first anchor leaf switch comprising an active router for at least one server and the second anchor leaf switch comprising a standby router for the at least one server during migrating the layer 3 gateways, that the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch can reach each other over a physical layer 2 network;
blocking, by the second anchor leaf switch in response to detecting that the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch can reach each other over the physical layer 2 network during migrating the layer 3 gateways, the Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) segment at the second anchor leaf switch to prevent loops during migrating the layer 3 gateways; and
unblocking, in response to determining that migrating the layer 3 gateways is complete, the previously blocked VXLAN segment at the second anchor leaf switch.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first anchor leaf switch comprises an active layer 3 gateway.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch comprises detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch wherein the first anchor leaf switch comprises an active layer 3 gateway running one of the following: First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP); Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP); and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch comprises detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch wherein the second anchor leaf switch comprises a standby layer 3 gateway.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch comprises detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch wherein the second anchor leaf switch comprises a standby layer 3 gateway running one of the following: First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP); Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP); and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch that the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch can reach each other over a physical layer 2 network comprises running a Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) continuity check.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein detecting by the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch that the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch can reach each other over a physical layer 2 network comprises exchanging Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) roots via network management.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein blocking, by the second anchor leaf switch in response to detecting that the first anchor leaf switch and the second anchor leaf switch can reach each other the physical layer 2 network, Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) segments at the second anchor leaf switch comprises not configuring the VXLAN segments' Network Identifiers (VNIs) under a VXLAN Tunnel End Point (VT

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Dong Liqin
• Yang Yibin
• Krattiger Lukas
• Zhou Xinggang
• Jin Di
• Leung Siu-Man

Classifications

• H04L45/64

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• H04L45/48

  Routing tree calculation · CPC title

• H04L45/58

  Association of routers · CPC title

• H04L12/4641

  Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] (LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272) · CPC title

• H04L45/66 Primary

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