Address resolution broadcasting in a networked device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10516645-B1
Application number	US-201715499729-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Apr 27, 2017
Priority date	Apr 27, 2017
Publication date	Dec 24, 2019
Grant date	Dec 24, 2019

Abstract

A method of address resolution broadcasting in a networked device is provided. The method includes receiving, at a switch fabric of the networked device, an address resolution request from one of a plurality of nodes of the networked device and substituting, as a source address, a cluster MAC address for a MAC address of the one of the plurality of nodes in the address resolution request. The method includes sending the address resolution request over a network and receiving, at the switch fabric, an address resolution reply over the network. The method includes substituting, as a destination address, an address for transmission to each of the plurality of nodes for the cluster MAC address in the address resolution reply, and transmitting the address resolution reply to the plurality of nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A networked device with address resolution broadcasting, comprising;
a plurality of nodes in a storage cluster, each node having an individual address and storage memory, wherein the plurality of nodes span one or more chassis and each of the nodes of the plurality of nodes are storage nodes;
a switch fabric to receive an address resolution request from one of the plurality of nodes, substitute an address that identifies the storage cluster for the individual address of the one of the plurality of nodes as a source address of the address resolution request, and send the address resolution request over a network; and
the switch fabric is further to receive an address resolution reply over the network, substitute a broadcast address for transmission to each of the plurality of nodes for the address that identifies the networked device as a destination address of the address resolution reply, and broadcast the address resolution reply to the plurality of nodes.

2. The networked device with address resolution broadcasting of claim 1 , wherein the switch fabric is further to intercept the address resolution request for source address substitution and to intercept the address resolution reply for destination address substitution.

3. The networked device with address resolution broadcasting of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of nodes is to populate an address resolution cache responsive to receiving the broadcast address resolution reply.

4. The networked device with address resolution broadcasting of claim 1 , wherein:
the address resolution request is an address resolution protocol (ARP) request according to Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4); and
the address resolution reply is an ARP reply according to IPv4.

5. The networked device with address resolution broadcasting of claim 1 , wherein:
the address resolution request is a neighbor discovery protocol (NDP) solicitation according to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6); and
the address resolution reply is an NDP advertisement according to IPv6.

6. The networked device with address resolution broadcasting of claim 1 , wherein the switch fabric is further to determine whether each of a plurality of network packets received into the networked device includes the address resolution reply or a further address resolution reply, and load balance received network packets that do not include address resolution replies, across the plurality of nodes.

7. A networked device with address resolution broadcasting, comprising:
a plurality of nodes in a storage cluster, each having an individual address and storage memory, wherein the plurality of nodes span one or more chassis and each of the nodes of the plurality of nodes are storage nodes;
a switch fabric to receive an address resolution request from one of the plurality of nodes, substitute a cluster media access control (MAC) address for the MAC address of the one of the plurality of nodes as a source address of the address resolution request, and send the address resolution request over a network; and
the switch fabric is further to receive an address resolution reply over the network, substitute a broadcast address for transmission to each of the plurality of nodes for the cluster MAC address as a destination address of the address resolution reply, and broadcast the address resolution reply to the plurality of nodes.

8. The networked device with address resolution broadcasting of claim 7 , wherein the switch fabric is further to intercept the address resolution request, to substitute the cluster MAC address for transmission to each of the plurality of nodes, and intercept the address resolution reply, to substitute the broadcast address for transmission to each of the plurality of nodes, and not load balance the address resolution reply.

9. The networked device with address resolution broadcasting of claim 7 ,
each of the plurality of nodes having an address resolution cache to update the address resolution cache responsive to receiving the broadcast address resolution reply.

10. The networked device with address resolution broadcasting of claim 7 ,
the address resolution request is an address resolution protocol (ARP) request according to Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) or a neighbor discovery protocol (NDP) solicitation according to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6); and
the address resolution reply is an ARP reply according to IPv4 or an NDP advertisement according to IPv6.

11. The networked device with address resolution broadcasting of claim 7 , wherein the switch fabric is further to load balance at least a subset of received network packets that do not include address resolution replies, across the plurality of nodes.

12. A method of address resolution broadcasting in a networked device, comprising:
receiving at a switch fabric of the networked device, an address resolution request from one of a plurality of nodes in a storage cluster of the networked device, each node having an individual address and storage memory, wherein the plurality of nodes span one or more chassis and each of the nodes of the plurality of nodes are storage nodes;
substituting, as a source address, a cluster media access control (MAC) address for a MAC address of the one of the plurality of nodes in the address resolution request;
sending the address resolution request over a network;
receiving, at the switch fabric, an address resolution reply over the network;
substituting, as a destination address, a broadcast address for transmission to each of the plurality of nodes for the cluster MAC address in the address resolution reply; and
broadcasting the address resolution reply to the plurality of nodes.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
intercepting the address resolution request, to substitute the cluster MAC address; and
intercepting the address resolution reply, to substitute the broadcast address for transmission to each of the plurality of nodes and distribute the address resolution reply to each of the plurality of nodes and not load balance the address resolution reply.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising,
populating an address resolution cache at each of the plurality of nodes, responsive to each of the plurality of nodes receiving the broadcast address resolution reply.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein:
the address resolution request in which the cluster MAC address is substituted for the MAC address of the one of the plurality of nodes is an address resolution protocol (ARP) request according to Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4); and
the address resolution reply in which the broadcast address for transmission to each of the plurality of nodes is substituted for the cluster MAC address is an ARP reply according to IPv4.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein:
the address resolution request in which the cluster MAC address is substituted for the MAC address of the one of the plurality of nodes is a neighbor discovery protocol (NDP) solicitation according to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6); and
the address resolution reply in which the broadcast address for transmission to each of the plurality of nodes is substituted for the cluster MAC address is an NDP advertisement according to IPv6.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
load-balancing, across the plurality of nodes, a plurality of network packets that are received into the networked device and do not include address resolution replies.

Assignees

• Pure Storage Inc

Inventors

• Patel Jayesh
• Sajeepa Prabhath
• Talayco Daniel

Classifications

• H04L67/1095

  Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes · CPC title

• H04L67/1097

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• H04L49/00

  Packet switching elements · CPC title

• H04L45/741

  Routing in networks with a plurality of addressing schemes, e.g. with both IPv4 and IPv6 · CPC title

• H04L61/2596

  Translation of addresses of the same type other than IP, e.g. translation from MAC to MAC addresses · CPC title