Hypervisor independent network virtualization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9602400-B2
Application number	US-201614987594-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2016
Priority date	Jun 20, 2012
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

A method includes receiving a first packet having a first virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID) directly from a first virtual switch using a first physical overlay switch located at an edge of an internet protocol (IP) network, encapsulating the first packet with an overlay header and tunneling the first encapsulated packet via Layer-3 operations across the IP network to a second physical overlay switch in response to a determination that a source of the packet is physically separated from a destination of the packet by the IP network, receiving a second encapsulated packet having a second overlay header from the second physical overlay switch, de-encapsulating the second encapsulated packet to create a second packet having a second VLAN ID, and sending the second packet having the second VLAN ID directly to the first virtual switch operating in the first hypervisor domain.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a first packet having a first virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID) directly from a first virtual switch operating in a first hypervisor domain using a first physical overlay switch located at an edge of an internet protocol (IP) network;
encapsulating the first packet with an overlay header;
tunneling the first encapsulated packet via Layer-3 operations across the IP network to a second physical overlay switch in response to a determination that a source of the packet is physically separated from a destination of the packet by the IP network, the second physical overlay switch being connected to one or more second virtual switches operating in a second hypervisor domain;
receiving a second encapsulated packet having a second overlay header from the second physical overlay switch;
de-encapsulating the second encapsulated packet to create a second packet having a second VLAN ID;
the first physical overlay switch creating the second VLAN ID based at least partially on the second overlay header; and
sending the second packet having the second VLAN ID directly to the first virtual switch operating in the first hypervisor domain.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first physical overlay switch is a top of rack switch.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first physical overlay switch is an embedded blade switch.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first hypervisor domain is associated with a first hypervisor that is unable to communicate with a second hypervisor associated with the second hypervisor domain, and wherein the first hypervisor is of a different type than the second hypervisor.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the source of the packet is a first virtual machine (VM) operating in the first hypervisor domain.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising the first physical overlay switch creating the overlay header based at least partially on the VLAN ID.

7. A method, comprising:
a first virtual switch sending a first packet having a first virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID) directly to a first physical overlay switch located at an edge of an internet protocol (IP) network, the first virtual switch operating in a first hypervisor domain;
the first virtual switch receiving a second packet having a second VLAN ID from the first physical overlay switch, the second packet being sent by a second virtual switch operating in a second hypervisor domain to the first physical overlay switch;
the first virtual switch removing the second VLAN ID from the second packet; and
the first virtual switch switching the second packet to a destination port designated in the second packet,
wherein the first hypervisor domain is associated with a first hypervisor that is unable to communicate with a second hypervisor associated with the second hypervisor domain.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
the first virtual switch receiving the first packet from a first source device connected to the first virtual switch; and
the first virtual switch encapsulating the first packet with the first VLAN ID.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the source of the packet is a first virtual machine (VM) operating in the first hypervisor domain.

10. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the first physical overlay switch is a top of rack switch.

11. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the first physical overlay switch is an embedded blade switch.

12. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the first physical overlay switch is a top of rack switch that is an embedded blade switch.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the embedded program instructions readable/executable by a processor of a first physical overlay switch to:
receive, by the processor, a first packet having a first virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID) directly from a first virtual switch operating in a first hypervisor domain, the first physical overlay switch being located at an edge of an internet protocol (IP) network;
encapsulate, by the processor, the first packet with an overlay header;
tunnel, by the processor, the first encapsulated packet via Layer-3 operations across the IP network to a second physical overlay switch in response to a determination that a source of the packet is physically separated from a destination of the packet by the IP network, the second physical overlay switch being connected to one or more second virtual switches operating in a second hypervisor domain;
receive, by the processor, a second encapsulated packet having a second overlay header from the second physical overlay switch;
de-encapsulate, by the processor, the second encapsulated packet to create a second packet having a second VLAN ID;
create the second VLAN ID, by the processor, based at least partially on the second overlay header; and
send, by the processor, the second packet having the second VLAN ID directly to the first virtual switch operating in the first hypervisor domain.

14. The computer program product as recited in claim 13 , wherein the first physical overlay switch is a top of rack switch.

15. The computer program product as recited in claim 13 , wherein the first physical overlay switch is an embedded blade switch.

16. The computer program product as recited in claim 13 , wherein the first hypervisor domain is associated with a first hypervisor that is unable to communicate with a second hypervisor associated with the second hypervisor domain, and wherein the first hypervisor is of a different type than the second hypervisor.

17. The computer program product as recited in claim 13 , wherein the source of the packet is a first virtual machine (VM) operating in the first hypervisor domain.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 13 , wherein the embedded program instructions are further readable/executable by the processor to create, by the processor, the overlay header based at least partially on the VLAN ID.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Benny Stephan
• Kidambi Jayakrishna
• Pandey Vijoy A

Classifications

• H04L45/64 Primary

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• H04L12/4645

  Details on frame tagging (routing of packets H04L45/00; support for virtual LAN H04L49/354) · CPC title

• H04L12/4633 Primary

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

• H04L49/70

  Virtual switches · CPC title

• H04L45/04

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