Proactive convergence of endpoint reachability in data centers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12549478-B2
Application number	US-202418425988-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2024
Priority date	Jan 29, 2024
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

This disclosure describes techniques and mechanisms to enable proactive convergence of endpoints in a network corresponding to virtual machine mobility scenarios. The techniques may be used individually or together to reduce convergence times and improve network security. The techniques may include proactively exchanging IP-MAC binding information between an old location and a new location of a virtual machine; (2) utilizing a route reflector and a convergence efficient flood order to update the location of the virtual machine at the old location to point to the new location; (3) proactively poisoning the route to the virtual machine at the old location; and (4) utilizing an orchestrator to proactively notify leaf(s) of reachability information of the virtual machine prior to or during migration of the virtual machine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method associated with a control plane of a network, comprising:
determining that a virtual machine (VM) is moved from a first location to a second location, the first location being associated with a first switch of a plurality of switches within the network, and the second location being associated with a second switch of the plurality of switches; prior to a move of the VM from the first location to the second location being completed, receiving, at the second switch, a message comprising a MAC address and one or more IP addresses associated with the VM, wherein the message is sent from the first switch; storing, at the second switch, the MAC address associated with the VM and the one or more IP addresses associated with the VM; and advertising, by the second switch and to the plurality of switches, reachability information of the VM, the reachability information comprising one or more IP-MAC bindings, the reachability information being advertised prior to the move of the VM being completed.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second switch at the second location advertises the reachability information using a BGP EVPN protocol.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the MAC address and the one or more IP addresses are stored by a networking module within a hypervisor at the second location.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the message is sent by a virtual switch or a hypervisor associated with the VM at the first location.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the VM is one of a plurality of VMs being migrated to the second location, and wherein the advertising occurs at a time prior to the migration being completed.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
injecting, at the second location, the MAC address, the one or more IP addresses into an advertisement message, the advertisement message comprising an updated mobility sequence number; and advertising, by the second switch and to a route reflector, the advertisement message indicating reachability of the VM at the second location, wherein the route reflector:
stores the second location based at least in part on the updated mobility sequence number; and
advertises, to the plurality of switches, the advertisement message, such that traffic directed to the first location is forwarded to the second location.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the advertisement message comprises a BGP EVPN Route-type 2 message.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the first switch at the first location, data associated with the MAC address of the VM; determining, by the first switch, the one or more IP addresses associated with the MAC address; and based at least in part on the MAC address and the one or more IP addresses, poisoning, by the first switch, a route to the first location within the network.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the data is sent by a networking module of a hypervisor of the VM at the first location to the first switch via a RARP packet.

10 . A system comprising:
one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining that a virtual machine (VM) is moved from a first location to a second location, the first location being associated with a first switch of a plurality of switches within a network, and the second location being associated with a second switch of the plurality of switches;
prior to a move of the VM from the first location to the second location being completed, receiving, at the second switch, a message comprising a MAC address and one or more IP addresses associated with the VM, wherein the message is sent from the first switch;
storing, at the second switch, the MAC address associated with the VM and the one or more IP addresses associated with the VM; and
advertising, by the second switch and to the plurality of switches, reachability information of the VM, the reachability information comprising one or more IP-MAC bindings, the reachability information being advertised prior to the move of the VM being completed.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the second switch at the second location advertises the reachability information using a BGP EVPN protocol.

12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the MAC address and the one or more IP addresses are stored by a networking module within a hypervisor at the second location.

13 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the message is sent by a virtual switch or a hypervisor associated with the VM at the first location.

14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the VM is one of a plurality of VMs being migrated to the second location, and wherein the advertising occurs at a time prior to the migration being completed.

15 . The system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
injecting, at the second location, the MAC address, the one or more IP addresses into an advertisement message, the advertisement message comprising an updated mobility sequence number; and advertising, by the second switch and to a route reflector, the advertisement message indicating reachability of the VM at the second location, wherein the route reflector:
stores the second location based at least in part on the updated mobility sequence number; and
advertises, to the plurality of switches, the advertisement message, such that traffic directed to the first location is forwarded to the second location.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the advertisement message comprises a BGP EVPN Route-type 2 message.

17 . The system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
receiving, by the first switch at the first location, data associated with the MAC address of the VM; determining, by the first switch, the one or more IP addresses associated with the MAC address; and based at least in part on the MAC address and the one or more IP addresses, poisoning, by the first switch, a route to the first location within the network.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the data is sent by a networking module of a hypervisor of the VM at the first location to the first switch via a RARP packet.

19 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining that a virtual machine (VM) is moved from a first location to a second location, the first location being associated with a first switch of a plurality of switches within a network, and the second location being associated with a second switch of the plurality of switches; prior to a move of the VM from the first location to the second location being completed, receiving, at the second switch, a message comprising a MAC address and one or more IP addresses associated with the VM, wherein the message is sent from the first switch; storing, at the second switch, the MAC address associated with the VM and the one or more IP addresses associated with the VM; and advertising, by the second switch and to the plurality of switches, reachability information of the VM, the reachability information comprising one or more IP-MAC bindings, the reachability information being advertised prior to the move of the VM being completed.

20 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19 , the operations further comprising:
injecting,

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Kapadia Shyam Nayan
• Lal Roshan
• Banerjee Ayan

Classifications

• H04L45/74

  Address processing for routing · CPC title

• H04L45/02

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · 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