System and method for identifying communication between virtual servers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10812293-B2
Application number	US-201715682043-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 21, 2017
Priority date	Sep 24, 2009
Publication date	Oct 20, 2020
Grant date	Oct 20, 2020

Abstract

A server, includes a virtual machine identifier assigning section to assign an identifier of a virtual machine operating on the server; and a network interface to transmit a packet including a Layer 2 header information which includes the identifier of the virtual machine and a first packet field for a VLAN-Tag, wherein the network interface transmits the packet to a packet encapsulate section which encapsulates a second packet field including the Layer 2 header information with a virtual network identifier representing a virtual network to which the virtual machine belongs.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A server, comprising:
a network interface configured to connect to a physical network;
a virtual machine; and
a hypervisor configured to encapsulate, with a virtual network identifier representing a virtual network to which the virtual machine belongs, a frame including layer 2 header information which includes a media access control (MAC) address of the virtual machine, an Internet protocol (IP) destination address, and a field for a virtual local area network tag (VLAN-Tag),
wherein the hypervisor sends the encapsulated frame to the physical network via the network interface.

2. The server according to claim 1 , wherein the hypervisor receives a second frame encapsulated by the virtual network identifier and decapsulates the received second frame by removing the virtual network identifier.

3. The server according to claim 1 , wherein the virtual network identifier represents a virtual tenant network in a multi-tenant network.

4. A network system comprising:
a switch apparatus configured to forward a frame; and
a server including a virtual machine,
wherein the server comprises:
a network interface configured to connect to a physical network; and
a hypervisor configured to encapsulate, with a virtual network identifier representing a virtual network to which the virtual machine belongs, the frame including layer 2 header information which includes a media access control (MAC) address of the virtual machine, an Internet protocol (IP) destination address, and a field for a virtual local area network tag (VLAN-Tag), and

wherein the hypervisor sends the encapsulated frame to the physical network via the network interface.

5. The network system according to claim 4 , wherein the hypervisor receives a second frame encapsulated by the virtual network identifier and decapsulates the received second frame by removing the virtual network identifier.

6. The network system according to claim 4 , wherein the virtual network identifier represents a virtual tenant network in a multi-tenant network.

7. A communication method, comprising:
encapsulating, with a virtual network identifier representing a virtual network to which a virtual machine belongs, a frame including layer 2 header information which includes a media access control (MAC) address of the virtual machine, an Internet protocol (IP) destination address, and a field for a virtual local area network tag (VLAN-Tag); and
sending the encapsulated frame to a physical network via a network interface.

8. The communication method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving a second frame encapsulated by the virtual network identifier; and
decapsulating the received second frame by removing the virtual network identifier.

9. The communication method according to claim 7 , wherein the virtual network identifier represents a virtual tenant network in a multi-tenant network.

10. A communication apparatus, comprising:
a network interface configured to connect to a physical network;
a virtual machine; and
a hypervisor configured to receive a frame,
wherein:
the hypervisor encapsulates, with a virtual network identifier representing a virtual network to which the virtual machine belongs, the received frame including layer 2 header information which includes a media access control (MAC) address of the virtual machine, an Internet protocol (IP) destination address, and a field for a virtual local area network tag (VLAN-Tag); and
the hypervisor sends the encapsulated frame to the physical network via the network interface.

11. The communication apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the hypervisor receives a second frame encapsulated by the virtual network identifier and
decapsulates the received second frame by removing the virtual network identifier.

12. The communication apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the virtual network identifier represents a virtual tenant network in a multi-tenant network.

13. A communication method, comprising:
receiving a frame;
encapsulating, with a virtual network identifier representing a virtual network to which a virtual machine belongs, the received frame including layer 2 header information which includes a media access control (MAC) address of the virtual machine, an Internet protocol (IP) destination address, and a field for a virtual local area network tag (VLAN-Tag); and
sending the encapsulated frame to a physical network via a network interface.

14. The communication method according to claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving a second frame encapsulated by the virtual network identifier; and
decapsulating the received second frame by removing the virtual network identifier.

15. The communication method according to claim 13 , wherein the virtual network identifier represents a virtual tenant network in a multi-tenant network.

Assignees

• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Iwata Atsushi
• Iijima Akio

Classifications

• H04L45/745

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04L12/4666 Primary

  Operational details on the addition or the stripping of a tag in a frame, e.g. at a provider edge node · CPC title

• H04L12/4633 Primary

  Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling · CPC title

• H04L2101/622

  Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses · CPC title

• H04L61/5038

  for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN] · CPC title