Exchanging runtime state information between datacenters with a gateway using a controller bridge

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12175276-B2
Application number	US-202318336271-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2023
Priority date	Jul 8, 2019
Publication date	Dec 24, 2024
Grant date	Dec 24, 2024

Abstract

In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method for dynamically exchanging runtime state data between datacenters with a gateway using a controller bridge is disclosed. In an embodiment, the method comprises: receiving one or more first runtime state data from one or more logical sharding central control planes (“CCPs”) controlling one or more logical sharding hosts; receiving one or more second runtime state data from a gateway that is controlled by a CCP that also controls one or more physical sharding hosts; aggregating to aggregated runtime state data, the one or more first runtime state data received from the one or more logical sharding CCPs and the one or more second runtime state data received from the gateway; determining updated runtime state data based on the aggregated runtime state data, the one or more first runtime state data, and the one or more second runtime state data; and transmitting the updated runtime state data to at least one of the one or more logical sharding CCPs and the gateway.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for dynamically exchanging runtime state information between datacenters operating with a gateway using a controller bridge, the method comprising:
receiving, by a controller bridge, one or more first runtime state data from one or more logical sharding central control planes (“CCPs”) controlling one or more logical sharding hosts;
receiving, by the controller bridge, one or more second runtime state data from a gateway that is controlled by a CCP that also controls one or more physical sharding hosts, wherein the one or more second runtime state data received from the gateway comprises a mapping between virtual network identifiers (“VNIs”) and a gateway remote tunnel endpoint (“RTEP”);
aggregating, by the controller bridge, to aggregated runtime state data, the one or more first runtime state data received from the one or more logical sharding CCPs and the one or more second runtime state data received from the gateway;
determining, by the controller bridge, updated runtime state data based on the aggregated runtime state data, the one or more first runtime state data, and the one or more second runtime state data; and
transmitting, by the controller bridge, the updated runtime state data to at least one of the one or more logical sharding CCPs and the gateway.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
executing, on a host computer configured with a hypervisor that abstracts physical computing resources of the host computer, one or more workloads;
implementing, by the hypervisor, a virtual switch that implements:
a logical switch identified by a first VNI; and
a first virtual tunnel endpoint (“VTEP”) that implements the RTEP;

wherein the RTEP is used by the gateway to perform packet encapsulation and to receive packets from the one or more physical sharding hosts.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the gateway reports, to the controller bridge, one or more mappings between virtual network identifiers (“VNIs”) and RTEPs implemented in the gateway and does not report one or more mappings between VNIs and virtual tunnel endpoints (“VTEPs”) implemented in the one or more physical sharding hosts that are serviced by the gateway.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the gateway maintains one or more mappings in which one or more logical switches include VTEPs implemented in the one or more physical sharding hosts that are controlled by the CCP that also controls the gateway.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the updated runtime state data is determined and transmitted to CCPs dynamically and without freezing traffic forwarding operations; and
wherein the updated runtime state data includes forwarding table information, including a mapping between VNIs of logical routers configured in sharding hosts and VTEPs established within a logical network.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more logical sharding CCPs, of the one or more logical sharding CCPs, first update state information; and
causing the one or more logical sharding CCPs to use the first update state information to update a mapping between VNIs and corresponding VTEPs implemented in the one or more logical sharding hosts managed by the one or more logical sharding CCPs.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
causing the gateway to receive second update state information; and
causing the gateway to store the second update state information in a mapping between VNIs and corresponding RTEP.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing one or more computer instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving one or more first runtime state data from one or more logical sharding central control planes (“CCPs”) controlling one or more logical sharding hosts;
receiving one or more second runtime state data from a gateway that is controlled by a CCP that also controls one or more physical sharding hosts, wherein the one or more second runtime state data received from the gateway comprises a mapping between virtual network identifiers (“VNIs”) and a gateway remote tunnel endpoint (“RTEP”);
aggregating to aggregated runtime state data, the one or more first runtime state data received from the one or more logical sharding CCPs and the one or more second runtime state data received from the gateway;
determining updated runtime state data based on the aggregated runtime state data, the one or more first runtime state data, and the one or more second runtime state data; and
transmitting the updated runtime state data to at least one of the one or more logical sharding CCPs and the gateway.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , wherein:
the operations further comprise:
executing, on a host computer configured with a hypervisor that abstracts physical computing resources of the host computer, one or more workloads;
implementing, by the hypervisor, a virtual switch that implements:
a logical switch identified by a first VNI; and
a first virtual tunnel endpoint (“VTEP”) that implements the RTEP; and

the RTEP is used by the gateway to perform packet encapsulation and to receive packets from the one or more physical sharding hosts.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , wherein the gateway reports, to the controller bridge, one or more mappings between virtual network identifiers (“VNIs”) and RTEPs implemented in the gateway and does not report one or more mappings between VNIs and virtual tunnel endpoints (“VTEPs”) implemented in the one or more physical sharding hosts that are serviced by the gateway.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , wherein the gateway maintains one or more mappings in which one or more logical switches include VTEPs implemented in the one or more physical sharding hosts that are controlled by the CCP that also controls the gateway.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , wherein the updated runtime state data is determined and transmitted to CCPs dynamically and without freezing traffic forwarding operations; and
wherein the updated runtime state data includes forwarding table information, including a mapping between VNIs of logical routers configured in sharding hosts and VTEPs established within a logical network.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
the one or more logical sharding CCPs to receive first update state information; and
the one or more logical sharding CCPs to use the first update state information to update a mapping between VNIs and corresponding VTEPs implemented in the one or more logical sharding hosts managed by the one or more logical sharding CCPs.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
causing the gateway to receive second update state information; and
causing the gateway to store the second update state information in a mapping between VNIs and corresponding RTEP.

15. A controller bridge implemented in a computer network and configured to implement mechanisms for dynamically exchanging runtime state data between datacenters, the control bridge comprising:
one or more processors;
one or more memory units; and
one or more non-transitory comput

Assignees

• VMware LLC

Inventors

• Wan Da
• Shen Jianjun
• Pan Feng
• Thakkar Pankaj
• Han Donghai

Classifications

• H04L12/4633

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

• G06F2009/45595

  Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances · CPC title

• G06F2009/4557

  Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing · CPC title

• G06F9/5083

  Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system · CPC title

• G06F9/5072

  Grid computing · CPC title