Distributed Logical L3 Routing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016373355-A1
Application number	US-201615256441-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 2, 2016
Priority date	Aug 17, 2011
Publication date	Dec 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

For a network controller for managing hosts in a network, a method for configuring a host to resolve network addresses is described. The method configures an address resolution module in a host to resolve a network address. The method configures a managed forwarding element in the host to (1) avoid sending a request to resolve the network address to another host by using the address resolution module to resolve the network address and (2) forward packets using the resolved network address.

First claim

1 - 22 . (canceled)

23 . For a first managed forwarding element that implements a plurality of logical networks, a method comprising:
receiving a packet from a first machine operating on a same physical host machine as the first managed forwarding element; performing (i) layer 2 (“L2”) processing for a first logical switch, to which the first machine logically couples, to logically forward the packet to a logical router, (ii) layer 3 (“L3”) processing for the logical router to logically forward the packet to a second logical switch to which a second machine associated with a destination address of the packet belongs, and (iii) L2 processing for the second logical switch; and based on the L2 processing for the second logical switch, forwarding the packet to a second managed forwarding element operating on a same physical host machine as the second machine.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein forwarding the packet to the second managed forwarding element comprises encapsulating the packet in a tunnel that connects the first and second managed forwarding elements.

25 . The method of claim 23 , wherein performing the L2 processing for the second logical switch comprises (i) performing a set of ingress ACL operations for the second logical switch and (ii) identifying a logical egress port of the second logical switch that corresponds to the destination address of the packet.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein performing the L2 processing for the second logical switch further comprises performing a set of egress ACL operations for the second logical switch.

27 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the set of instructions for forwarding the packet to the second managed forwarding element comprises mapping the logical egress port to the second managed forwarding element.

28 . The method of claim 23 , wherein performing the L2 processing for the first logical switch comprises (i) mapping the packet to the first logical switch, (ii) performing a set of ingress ACL operations for the first logical switch, (iii) identifying a logical egress port of the first logical switch that corresponds to the logical router, and (iv) performing a set of egress ACL operations for the first logical switch.

29 . The method of claim 28 , wherein the identified logical egress port has a MAC address corresponding to a logical port of the logical router.

30 . The method of claim 23 , wherein performing the L3 processing comprises (i) performing a set of ingress ACL operations for the logical router, (ii) identifying a logical egress port of logical router that corresponds to the second logical switch, and (iii) performing a set of egress ACL operations for the first logical switch.

31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the identified logical egress port is associated with an IP subnet for the second logical switch, wherein the packet has a destination IP address in the IP subnet.

32 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the second managed forwarding element performs a set of egress ACL operations for the second logical switch and delivers the packet to the second machine based on context information stored in the packet by the first managed forwarding element.

33 . A machine readable medium storing a first managed forwarding element which when executed by at least one processing unit of a host machine implements a plurality of logical networks, the managed forwarding element comprising sets of instructions for:
receiving a packet from a first machine operating on a same physical host machine as the first managed forwarding element; performing (i) layer 2 (“L2”) processing for a first logical switch, to which the first machine logically couples, to logically forward the packet to a logical router, (ii) layer 3 (“L3”) processing for the logical router to logically forward the packet to a second logical switch to which a second machine associated with a destination address of the packet belongs, and (iii) L2 processing for the second logical switch; and based on the L2 processing for the second logical switch, forwarding the packet to a second managed forwarding element operating on a same physical host machine as the second machine.

34 . The machine readable medium of claim 33 , wherein the set of instructions for forwarding the packet to the second managed forwarding element comprises a set of instructions for encapsulating the packet in a tunnel that connects the first and second managed forwarding elements.

35 . The machine readable medium of claim 33 , wherein the set of instructions for performing the L2 processing for the second logical switch comprises sets of instructions for:
performing a set of ingress ACL operations for the second logical switch; and identifying a logical egress port of the second logical switch that corresponds to the destination address of the packet.

36 . The machine readable medium of claim 35 , wherein the set of instructions for performing the L2 processing for the second logical switch further comprises performing a set of egress ACL operations for the second logical switch.

37 . The machine readable medium of claim 35 , wherein the set of instructions for forwarding the packet to the second managed forwarding element comprises mapping the logical egress port to the second managed forwarding element.

38 . machine readable medium of claim 33 , wherein the set of instructions for performing the L2 processing for the first logical switch comprises sets of instructions for:
mapping the packet to the first logical switch; performing a set of ingress ACL operations for the first logical switch; identifying a logical egress port of the first logical switch that corresponds to the logical router; and performing a set of egress ACL operations for the first logical switch.

39 . machine readable medium of claim 38 , wherein the identified logical egress port has a MAC address corresponding to a logical port of the logical router.

40 . machine readable medium of claim 33 , wherein the set of instructions for performing the L3 processing comprises sets of instructions for:
performing a set of ingress ACL operations for the logical router; identifying a logical egress port of logical router that corresponds to the second logical switch; and performing a set of egress ACL operations for the first logical switch.

41 . The machine readable medium of claim 40 , wherein the identified logical egress port is associated with an IP subnet for the second logical switch, wherein the packet has a destination IP address in the IP subnet.

42 . machine readable medium of claim 33 , wherein the second managed forwarding element performs a set of egress ACL operations for the second logical switch and delivers the packet to the second machine based on context information stored in the packet by the first managed forwarding element.

Assignees

• Nicira Inc

Inventors

• Zhang Ronghua
• Koponen Teemu
• Thakkar Pankaj

Classifications

• H04L47/125

  by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering · CPC title

• H04L45/54

  Organization of routing tables · CPC title

• H04L45/04

  Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing · CPC title

• H04L41/0803

  Configuration setting · CPC title

• H04L61/103 Primary

  across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP] · CPC title