Constructing a network enabling layer-2 interconnection of data centers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9264305-B2
Application number	US-201214130401-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2012
Priority date	Sep 1, 2011
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

A method for constructing a network enabling layer-2 interconnection of data centers includes: a current data center registers at a neighbor server when the current data center gets online, obtains information of all registered data centers, generates a virtual bridge port for each registered data center; after the current data center comes online, the current data center obtains information of all newly registered data centers according to a pre-set rule, generates a virtual bridge port for each newly registered data center; establishes a tunnel to each registered data center by using the virtual bridge port corresponding to the registered data center, and transmit data via the tunnel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for constructing a network enabling layer-2 interconnection of data centers, comprising:
registering, by an edge device of a first data center, information of the first data center, which includes an IP address of the first data center, at a neighbor server;
obtaining, by the edge device, information of a second data center from the neighbor server;
generating a virtual bridge port for the second data center based on the information of the second data center;
configuring a tunnel encapsulation entry corresponding to the virtual bridge port in a tunnel encapsulation mapping table, wherein the tunnel encapsulation entry includes the virtual bridge port, an IP address of the second data center, the IP address of the first data center; and
establishing, by the edge device, a tunnel with the second data center according to the tunnel encapsulation entry corresponding to the second data center, and transmitting data via the tunnel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining by the edge device information of the second data center from the neighbor server comprises:
obtaining, by the edge device when the first data center comes online, information of all registered data centers from the neighbor server;
generating a virtual bridge port for each registered data center according to information of the registered data center;
configuring a tunnel encapsulation entry corresponding to the virtual bridge port in the tunnel encapsulation mapping table;
obtaining, by the edge device after the first data center comes online, information of all newly registered data centers from the neighbor server;
generating a virtual bridge port for each newly registered data center according to information of the newly registered data center; and
configuring a tunnel encapsulation entry corresponding to the virtual bridge port in the tunnel encapsulation mapping table.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein obtaining information of all newly registered data centers from the neighbor server comprises:
sending, by the edge device, a register request to the neighbor server at each first pre-set time interval;
receiving a register response from the neighbor server; obtaining information of all registered data centers from the register response;
searching for a tunnel encapsulation entry corresponding to each registered data center according to the information of the registered data center; and
determining the registered data center is a newly registered data center when the tunnel encapsulation entry corresponding to the registered data center is not found, and obtaining information of the newly registered data center.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein registering by the edge device information of the first data center at the neighbor server and obtaining information of all registered data centers from the neighbor server comprise:
sending, by the edge device, a register request including information of the first data center to the neighbor server;
receiving a register response sent by the neighbor server in response to the register request; and
obtaining the information of all registered data centers from the register response.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
setting register re-attempt time intervals;
sending a register request to the neighbor server again if a register response is not received from the neighbor server within a current register re-attempt time interval and taking a next time interval in the register re-attempt time intervals as the current register re-attempt time interval until a register response is received from the neighbor server; and
sending a register request to the neighbor server again if a register response is not received from the neighbor server within the current register re-attempt time interval and taking a first time interval in the register re-attempt time intervals as the current register re-attempt time interval to start another round of register re-attempts if the current re-attempt time interval is the last time interval in the register re-attempt time intervals.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information of a data center comprises a MAC address of the data center, wherein the method further comprises:
before generating a virtual bridge port for each registered data center based on the information of the registered data center, determining whether the MAC address of the registered data center is identical to a MAC address of the first data center;
skipping the step of generating the virtual bridge port for the registered data center in response to a determination that the MAC address of the registered data center is identical with the MAC address of the first data center; and
performing the step of generating the virtual bridge port for the registered data center in response to a determination that the MAC address of the registered data center is not identical with the MAC address of the current data center.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
after generating the virtual bridge port for the registered data center, sending a resolution request to the registered data center, and setting a state of the virtual bridge port to be UP after receiving a resolution response from the registered data center; or setting the state of the virtual bridge port to be DOWN when the virtual bridge port is generated for the registered data center; and
after generating the virtual bridge port for the registered data center, sending a resolution request to the registered data center every second of a pre-set time interval, setting the state of the virtual bridge port to be DOWN when resolution responses for a pre-set number of consecutive resolution requests are not received, starting an aging timer for the virtual bridge port, and deleting the virtual bridge port when the aging timer expires.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, by the edge device of the first data center when the first data center is to go offline, a purge request, which comprises the IP address of the first data center, to the neighbor server, which transmits the purge request to other registered data centers; and
searching, by the edge device when receiving a purge request from the neighbor server, for a tunnel encapsulation entry corresponding to an IP address of a logging off data center in the purge request, and deleting a virtual bridge port corresponding to the tunnel encapsulation entry.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, by the edge device, a first MAC address of a host in the first data center to the second data center via the tunnel, receiving a second MAC address sent by the second data center, and recording the second MAC address and the virtual bridge port corresponding to the second data center into a MAC address mapping table; or
receiving an Ethernet packet from a virtual bridge port corresponding to a second host, recording a source MAC address in the received Ethernet packet and the virtual bridge port corresponding to the second host into the MAC address mapping table; and
receiving, by the edge device, an Ethernet packet destined for the second MAC address from an internal Ethernet port in the first data center, searching in the MAC address mapping table by using a destination MAC address of the Ethernet packet to determine a virtual bridge port corresponding to the destination MAC address, performing tunnel encapsulation on the Ethernet packet based on a tunnel encapsulation entry corresponding to the virtual bridge port, and sending the encapsulated packet.

10. An edge device for constructing a network enabling layer-2 interconnection of data centers, comprising: a register module, a control module and

Assignees

• Zhou Wan
• Zhu Guoping
• Hangzhou H3C Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhou Wan
• Zhu Guoping

Classifications

• H04L65/1073

  Registration or de-registration · CPC title

• H04L49/70 Primary

  Virtual switches · CPC title

• H04L41/0806 Primary

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L12/4633

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

• H04L69/324

  in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC · CPC title