Route advertisement by managed gateways

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11025543-B2
Application number	US-202016776157-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2020
Priority date	Mar 14, 2014
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a network system. The network system includes a first set of host machines for hosting virtual machines that connect to each other through a logical network. The first set of host machines includes managed forwarding elements for forwarding data between the host machines. The network system includes a second set of host machines for hosting virtualized containers that operate as gateways for forwarding data between the virtual machines and an external network. At least one of the virtualized containers peers with at least one physical router in the external network in order to advertise addresses of the virtual machines to the physical router.

First claim

We claim:

1. For a gateway executing on a host computer in a managed network that interfaces with at least one router external to the managed network, wherein a logical network is implemented across a plurality of host computers of the managed network, a method comprising:
routing (i) packets received from the external router and directed to destinations in the logical network and (ii) packets received from the host computers across which the logical network is implemented and directed to destination addresses outside of the logical network; and
peering with the external router in order for the logical network to advertise a set of network addresses in the logical network that are reachable through the gateway.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the logical network comprises at least one logical switch to which virtual machines attach;
the virtual machines have a range of network addresses; and
the advertised set of network addresses comprises the range of network addresses.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising advertising an interface of the gateway as a next hop for the set of network addresses in the logical network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gateway is implemented by a namespace executing on the host computer.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein peering with the external router comprises executing a routing protocol application to establish adjacency with the external router and exchange routing information with the external router.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein a daemon executes on the host computer to receive database records defining a configuration for the routing protocol application and to convert the received database records into a configuration file for the routing protocol application.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the daemon executes within virtualization software of the host computer.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the configuration comprises data defining settings for the routing protocol application, the set of network addresses reachable through the gateway, and data defining the external router with which to peer.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the data defining the external router comprises a network address, an autonomous system number, a keep-alive time, and a hold-down timer for the external router.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the logical network is a first logical network implemented across a first plurality of host machines and the gateway is a first gateway;
a second gateway executing on the host computer (i) routes packets received from the external router and directed to destinations in the second logical network and packets received from the host computers across which the second logical network is implemented and directed to destination addresses outside of the second logical network and (ii) peers with the external router in order for the second logical network to advertise a set of network addresses in the second logical network that are reachable through the gateway.

11. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit of a host computer in a managed network implements a gateway that interfaces with at least one router external to the managed network, wherein a logical network is implemented across a plurality of host computers of the managed network, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
routing (i) packets received from the external router and directed to destinations in the logical network and (ii) packets received from the host computers across which the logical network is implemented and directed to destination addresses outside of the logical network; and
peering with the external router in order for the logical network to advertise a set of network addresses in the logical network that are reachable through the gateway.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein:
the logical network comprises at least one logical switch to which virtual machines attach;
the virtual machines have a range of network addresses; and
the advertised set of network addresses comprises the range of network addresses.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for advertising an interface of the gateway as a next hop for the set of network addresses in the logical network.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the gateway is implemented by a namespace executing on the host computer.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the set of instructions for peering with the external router comprises a set of instructions for executing a routing protocol application to establish adjacency with the external router and exchange routing information with the external router.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein a daemon executes on the host computer to receive database records defining a configuration for the routing protocol application and to convert the received database records into a configuration file for the routing protocol application.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the daemon executes within virtualization software of the host computer.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the configuration comprises data defining settings for the routing protocol application, the set of network addresses reachable through the gateway, and data defining the external router with which to peer.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the data defining the external router comprises a network address, an autonomous system number, a keep-alive time, and a hold-down timer for the external router.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein:
the logical network is a first logical network implemented across a first plurality of host machines and the gateway is a first gateway;
a second gateway executing on the host computer (i) routes packets received from the external router and directed to destinations in the second logical network and packets received from the host computers across which the second logical network is implemented and directed to destination addresses outside of the second logical network and (ii) peers with the external router in order for the second logical network to advertise a set of network addresses in the second logical network that are reachable through the gateway.

Assignees

• Nicira Inc

Inventors

• Tubaltsev Ariel
• Zhang Ronghua
• Basler Benjamin C
• Maskalik Serge
• Ramanathan Rajiv
• Leroy David J
• Neginhal Srinivas
• Fan Kai-Wei
• Atteka Ansis

Classifications

• H04L45/02

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04L45/74 Primary

  Address processing for routing · CPC title

• H04L45/586 Primary

  of virtual routers · CPC title

• H04L49/354

  for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN] · CPC title