Dynamic orchestration of overlay tunnels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016299775-A1
Application number	US-201615091319-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 5, 2016
Priority date	Apr 8, 2015
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a dynamic overlay tunnel orchestration system. During operation, the system detects the appearance of a first virtual machine running on a hypervisor of a first host machine coupled to a first switch in a network. The system identifies a first virtual local area network (VLAN) associated with the first virtual machine and determines whether an overlay tunnel exists between the first switch and a second switch coupling a second virtual machine belonging to the first VLAN. If no such overlay tunnel exists, the system generates an instruction for the first and second switches to establish a first overlay tunnel between the first and second switches.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computing system, comprising:
a processor; and a memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to perform a method, the method comprising:
detecting appearance of a first virtual machine running on a hypervisor of a first host machine coupled to a first switch in a network;
identifying a first virtual local area network (VLAN) associated with the first virtual machine;
determining whether an overlay tunnel exists between the first switch and a second switch coupling a second virtual machine belonging to the first VLAN; and
generating an instruction for the first and second switches to establish a first overlay tunnel between the first and second switches.

2 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises allocating a network identifier for the first VLAN, wherein the network identifier indicates traffic belonging to the first VLAN in the first overlay tunnel.

3 . The computing system of claim 2 , wherein the method further comprises maintaining a mapping between the first VLAN and a tuple comprising the first overlay tunnel and the network identifier.

4 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises refraining from instructing the first and second switches to establish the first overlay tunnel in response to determining that an overlay tunnel exists between the first and second switches.

5 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
detecting removal of the first virtual machine from the first host machine; determining whether the first overlay tunnel provides an overlay service to the first and second switches; in response to determining that the first overlay tunnel does not provide an overlay service, generating an instruction for the first and second switches to terminate the first overlay tunnel between the first and second switches.

6 . The computing system of claim 5 , wherein determining whether the first overlay tunnel provides an overlay service to the first and second switches comprises one or more of:
determining whether the first overlay tunnel carries traffic belonging to a second VLAN; and determining whether a third virtual machine belonging to the first VLAN is running on the hypervisor of the first host machine.

7 . The computing system of claim 5 , wherein the removal of the first virtual machine includes:
migration of the first virtual machine; and deletion of the first virtual machine.

8 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises obtaining information associated with the first virtual machine from a notification message from a notification agent in the hypervisor of the first host machine.

9 . A computer-executable method, comprising:
detecting appearance of a first virtual machine running on a hypervisor of a first host machine coupled to a first switch in a network; identifying a first virtual local area network (VLAN) associated with the first virtual machine; determining whether an overlay tunnel exists between the first switch and a second switch coupling a second virtual machine belonging to the first VLAN; and generating an instruction for the first and second switches to establish a first overlay tunnel between the first and second switches.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising allocating a network identifier for the first VLAN, wherein the network identifier indicates traffic belonging to the first VLAN in the first overlay tunnel.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising maintaining a mapping between the first VLAN and a tuple comprising the first overlay tunnel and the network identifier.

12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising refraining from instructing the first and second switches to establish the first overlay tunnel in response to determining that an overlay tunnel exists between the first and second switches.

13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
detecting removal of the first virtual machine from the first host machine; determining whether the first overlay tunnel provides an overlay service to the first and second switches; in response to determining that the first overlay tunnel does not provide an overlay service, generating an instruction for the first and second switches to terminate the first overlay tunnel between the first and second switches.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein determining whether the first overlay tunnel provides an overlay service to the first and second switches comprises one or more of:
determining whether the first overlay tunnel carries traffic belonging to a second VLAN; and determining whether a third virtual machine belonging to the first VLAN is running on the hypervisor of the first host machine.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the removal of the first virtual machine includes:
migration of the first virtual machine; and deletion of the first virtual machine.

16 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising obtaining information associated with the first virtual machine from a notification message from a notification agent in the hypervisor of the first host machine.

17 . A switch, comprising:
a tunnel management module configured to establish an overlay tunnel with a second switch based on a first instruction identifying tunnel endpoint switches of the overlay tunnel; and a mapping module configured to maintain, in a storage device, a mapping between a first tuple and a second tuple, wherein the first tuple comprises a media access control (MAC) address and a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier of a virtual machine, wherein the second tuple comprises the overlay tunnel and a network identifier, and wherein the network identifier indicates traffic belonging to the VLAN in the overlay tunnel.

18 . The switch of claim 17 , wherein the first instruction further comprises the VLAN identifier, the overlay tunnel, and the network identifier, and wherein the virtual machine is coupled to the second switch.

19 . The switch of claim 17 , further comprising a forwarding module configured to encapsulate a packet in a tunnel encapsulation header associated with the overlay tunnel based on the mapping, wherein the tunnel encapsulation header includes the network identifier.

20 . The switch of claim 17 , wherein the tunnel management module is further configured to terminate the overlay tunnel with the second switch based on a second instruction identifying tunnel endpoint switches for the overlay tunnel.

Assignees

• Brocade Comm Systems Inc

Inventors

• Madapurath Ritesh
• Holla Sachin
• Gowda Manjunath A G
• Joshi Sanjeev

Classifications

• 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

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• H04L45/64

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• G06F2009/45595

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

• H04L12/4633

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