Defining routing domain for distributed packet processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11005753-B2
Application number	US-201916276604-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2019
Priority date	May 15, 2017
Publication date	May 11, 2021
Grant date	May 11, 2021

Abstract

For a managed network including multiple host machines implementing multiple logical networks, some embodiments provide a method that reduces the memory and traffic load required to implement the multiple logical networks. The method generates configuration data for each of multiple host machines including (i) data to configure a host machine to implement a set of logical forwarding elements that belong to a set of routing domains and (ii) identifiers for each routing domain in the set of routing domains. The method then receives data regarding tunnels endpoints operating on each of the host machines and an association with the routing identifiers sent to the host machines. The method then generates a routing domain tunnel endpoint list for each routing domain based on the data received from each of the host machines including a list of the tunnel endpoints associated with the routing domain which the host machines can use to facilitate packet processing.

First claim

We claim:

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium of a central controller computer storing a program for execution by a processing unit of the central controller computer, the program for facilitating implementation of logical routing by a plurality of managed forwarding elements (MFEs) that implement a set of logical switches belonging to a set of routing domains identified by unique identifiers, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
from each MFE of a set of the plurality of MFEs, receiving data regarding associations between routing domain identifiers and tunnel endpoints of the MFE;
based on the received data, generating, for each routing domain in the set of routing domains, a list of the tunnel endpoints associated with the routing domain; and
sending the list for each routing domain in the set of routing domains to each MFE in the plurality of MFEs associated with the routing domain to facilitate packet processing.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for generating configuration data for configuring the plurality of MFEs to implement logical switches in the set of logical switches belonging to the set of routing domains, the configuration data comprising the identifier for each routing domain to which the logical switches belong.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein each list regarding associations between routing domain identifiers and tunnel endpoints of a particular MFE is sent to a local controller executing on a same host machine as the MFE for the local controller to configure the MFE based on the received list.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein a particular MFE uses the list sent for a particular routing domain to facilitate Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) packet processing.

5. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 4 , wherein using the list sent for the particular routing domain comprises:
using the list to identify a set of tunnel endpoints at a set of other MFEs in the plurality of MFEs that are in the particular routing domain; and
sending out an ARP packet to the identified set of tunnel endpoints.

6. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein at least one particular MFE comprises a plurality of tunnel endpoints,
wherein a first tunnel endpoint of the particular MFE is associated with a first routing domain identifier, and
wherein a second tunnel endpoint of the particular MFE is associated with a second routing domain identifier.

7. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the tunnel endpoints are virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) tunnel endpoints (VTEPs).

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein facilitating packet processing comprises comparing tunnel endpoint identifiers in the list for a particular routing domain to a tunnel endpoint identifier received as part of a particular ARP packet for the particular routing domain to determine whether the association between the tunnel endpoint identifier and a MAC address associated with the particular ARP packet will be learned by the MFE.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the association between the tunnel endpoint identifier and the MAC address associated with the particular ARP packet is learned only if the tunnel identifier matches a tunnel identifier in the list sent for the particular routing domain.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the learned association between the tunnel endpoint identifier and the MAC address associated with the particular ARP packet is used to send an ARP reply packet as a unicast packet.

11. A non-transitory machine readable medium of a host computer in a plurality of host computers, the non-transitory machine readable medium of the host computer storing a program for execution by a processing unit of the host computer, each host computer of the plurality of host computers executing a managed forwarding element (MFE), the plurality of MFEs implementing a set of logical switches belonging to a set of routing domains identified by unique identifiers, the program for facilitating implementation of logical routing by the MFEs, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
sending to a network controller associations between a set of routing domain identifiers and tunnel endpoints of the MFE; and
for each routing domain in the set of routing domains, receiving, from the network controller, a list that specifies the tunnel endpoints of the plurality of MFEs that are associated with the routing domain,
wherein the received lists are used by the MFE for processing packets for the set of routing domains.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for receiving, from the network controller, configuration data for implementing logical switches in the set of logical switches belonging to the set of routing domains, the configuration data comprising the unique identifier for each routing domain to which the logical switches belong.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the program is for a local controller executing on a same host machine as the MFE, the program further comprising a set of instructions for providing the received lists to the MFE.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the MFE uses the list sent for a particular routing domain to facilitate ARP packet processing.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein using the list sent for the particular routing domain comprises:
using the list to identify a set of tunnel endpoints at a set of other MFEs in the plurality of MFEs that are in the particular routing domain; and
sending out an ARP packet to the identified set of tunnel endpoints.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the MFE comprises a plurality of tunnel endpoints,
wherein a first tunnel endpoint of the MFE is associated with a first routing domain identifier, and
wherein a second tunnel endpoint of the MFE is associated with a second routing domain identifier.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the tunnel endpoints are virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) tunnel endpoints (VTEPs).

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein using the received lists for packet processing comprises comparing tunnel endpoint identifiers in the list for a particular routing domain to a tunnel endpoint identifier received as part of a particular ARP packet for the particular routing domain to determine whether the association between the tunnel endpoint identifier and a MAC address associated with the particular ARP packet will be learned by the MFE.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the association between the tunnel endpoint identifier and the MAC address associated with the particular ARP packet is learned only if the tunnel identifier matches a tunnel identifier in the list sent for the particular routing domain.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the learned association between the tunnel endpoint identifier and the MAC address associated with the particular ARP packet is used to send an ARP reply packet as a unicast packet.

Assignees

• Nicira Inc

Inventors

• Jiang Caixia
• Shen Jianjun
• Thakkar Pankaj
• Chanda Anupam
• Zhang Ronghua
• Chandrashekhar Ganesan
• Liu Vicky
• Wan Da
• Pan Frank
• Wang Hua
• Han Donghai

Classifications

• H04L45/04

  Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing · 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

• H04L45/122

  by minimising distances, e.g. by selecting a route with minimum of number of hops · CPC title

• H04L45/44 Primary

  Distributed routing · CPC title

• H04L12/4633

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