Allocation and management of tunnel endpoints in software defined networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11876643-B2
Application number	US-201916519931-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2019
Priority date	Jul 23, 2019
Publication date	Jan 16, 2024
Grant date	Jan 16, 2024

Abstract

Described herein are systems and methods for allocating to tunnel endpoints to virtual machines on a host. In one example, a host identifies when a new virtual machine is coupled to a virtual switch and determines a tenant associated with the new virtual machine. The host further determines whether a tunnel endpoint is allocated to the tenant and, when a tunnel endpoint has not been allocated, allocates a new tunnel endpoint to the tenant and maps the new virtual machine to the new tunnel endpoint.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying a connection of a virtual machine to a port of a virtual switch on a host;
identifying a tenant of a plurality of tenants associated with the virtual machine;
determining that a tunnel endpoint is not allocated to the tenant on the host; and
in response to determining that a tunnel endpoint is not allocated to the tenant:
initiating a tunnel endpoint on the host for the tenant; and
directing traffic for the virtual machine to the initiated tunnel endpoint.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying a second connection of a second virtual machine to a second port of the virtual switch on the host;
identifying a second tenant of the plurality of tenants associated with the second virtual machine;
determining that a second tunnel endpoint is allocated to the second tenant on the host; and
in response to determining that a second tunnel endpoint is allocated to the tenant, directing traffic for the second virtual machine to the second tunnel endpoint.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunnel endpoint is associated with a tenant identifier.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunnel endpoint is associated with a tenant identifier, and wherein the tenant identifier comprises at least a source encapsulation internet protocol (IP) address and a virtual local area network (VLAN) tag.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunnel endpoint is associated with a tenant identifier, and wherein the method further comprises:
after directing traffic for the virtual machine to the tunnel endpoint, obtaining a packet from the virtual machine;
generating a second packet that encapsulates the first packet, wherein the second packet comprises the tenant identifier.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:
determining a quality of service associated with the second packet; and
assigning the second packet to an egress queue based on the quality of service.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying a second connection of a second virtual machine to a second port of the virtual switch on the host;
identifying a second tenant of the plurality of tenants associated with the second virtual machine;
determining that a second tunnel endpoint is not allocated to the second tenant on the host; and
in response to determining that a second tunnel endpoint is not allocated to the tenant:
initiating a second tunnel endpoint on the host for the second tenant; and
directing traffic for the second virtual machine to the second initiated tunnel endpoint.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second packet comprises a Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) packet or a Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation (GENEVE) packet.

9. A computing apparatus comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media;
a processing system operatively coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media; and
program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media that, when executed by the processing system, direct the processing system to:
identify a connection of a virtual machine to a port of a virtual switch on a host;
identify a tenant of a plurality of tenants associated with the virtual machine;
determine that a tunnel endpoint is not allocated to the tenant on the host; and
in response to determining that a tunnel endpoint is not allocated to the tenant:
initiate a tunnel endpoint on the host for the tenant; and
direct traffic for the virtual machine to the initiated tunnel endpoint.

10. The computing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the program instructions further direct the processing system to:
identify a second connection of a second virtual machine to a second port of the virtual switch on the host;
identify a second tenant of the plurality of tenants associated with the second virtual machine;
determine that a second tunnel endpoint is allocated to the second tenant on the host; and
in response to determining that a second tunnel endpoint is allocated to the tenant, direct traffic for the second virtual machine to the second tunnel endpoint.

11. The computing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the tunnel endpoint is associated with a tenant identifier.

12. The computing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the tunnel endpoint is associated with a tenant identifier, and wherein the tenant identifier comprises at least a source encapsulation internet protocol (IP) address and a virtual local area network (VLAN) tag.

13. The computing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the tunnel endpoint is associated with a tenant identifier, and wherein the program instructions further direct the processing system to:
after directing traffic for the virtual machine to the tunnel endpoint, obtain a packet from the virtual machine;
generate a second packet that encapsulates the first packet, wherein the second packet comprises the tenant identifier.

14. The computing apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the program instructions further direct the processing system to:
determine a quality of service associated with the second packet; and
assign the second packet to an egress queue based on the quality of service.

15. The computing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the program instructions further direct the processing system to:
identify a second connection of a second virtual machine to a second port of the virtual switch on the host;
identify a second tenant of the plurality of tenants associated with the second virtual machine;
determine that a second tunnel endpoint is not allocated to the second tenant on the host; and
in response to determining that a second tunnel endpoint is not allocated to the tenant:
initiate a second tunnel endpoint on the host for the second tenant; and
direct traffic for the second virtual machine to the second initiated tunnel endpoint.

16. The computing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the second packet comprises a Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) packet or a Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation (GENEVE) packet.

17. The computing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the tunnel endpoint is associated with a tenant identifier, and wherein the program instructions further direct the processing system to notify a control system of the tenant identifier associated with the tenant.

18. An apparatus comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media;
a processing system operatively coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media; and
program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media that, when executed by the processing system, direct the processing system to:
identify a connection of a virtual machine to a port of a virtual switch on a host;
identify a tenant of a plurality of tenants associated with the virtual machine;
determine whether a tunnel endpoint is allocated to the tenant on the host; and
when a tunnel endpoint is not allocated to the tenant:
initiate a tunnel endpoint on the host for the tenant; and
direct traffic for the virtual machine to the initiated tunnel endpoint; and

when a tunnel endpoint is allocated to the tenant:
direct traffic for the virtual machine to the tunnel endpoint.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the tunnel endpoint is associated with a tenant identifier, and wherein the tenant identifier comprises at least a source encapsulation internet protocol (IP) address and a virtual

Assignees

• VMware LLC

Inventors

• Babbar Mansi
• Mathew Subin Cyriac
• Raman Chidambareswaran
• Parmar Ankit

Classifications

• H04L12/4633 Primary

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

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · 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

• H04L47/805

  QOS or priority aware · CPC title

• H04L47/808

  User-type aware · CPC title