Automatically advertising NAT routes between logical routers

• US 10,057,157 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2015
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Goliya, Abhishek, Masurekar, Uday
• Primary Examiner(s): SHIVERS, ASHLEY L
• Application Number:
  US14/925,010
• Publication Number:
  US 20170063632A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,028 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/342 between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/021 Ensuring consistency of routing table updates, e.g. by using epoch numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/72 Routing based on the source address

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method for configuring a logical router in a logical network. The method receives a configuration of a rule for network address translation (NAT) used by a first logical router to translate a set of network addresses to a particular network address. The method automatically configures advertisement of a route for the particular network address to a second logical router. The method automatically adds the advertised route for the particular network address to a routing table for at least one component of the second logical router.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a logical router in a logical network, the method comprising:

receiving a configuration of a rule for network address translation (NAT) used by a first logical router to translate a set of network addresses to a particular network address;

automatically configuring advertisement of a route for the particular network address to a second logical router to which the first logical router connects; and

automatically adding the advertised route for the particular network address to a routing table for at least one component of the second logical router.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertised route is automatically added to the routing table for at least one component of the second logical router only when the particular network address is within a pool of allowable routes from the first logical router.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pool of allowable routes from the first logical router comprises any route specified as a route for a NAT address for the first logical router.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the pool of allowable routes from the first logical router comprises any route specified as a route for a NAT address for the first logical router within a particular block of network addresses.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the particular block of network addresses is a set of network addresses that are allowed for NAT use by a plurality of logical routers including the first logical router.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of logical routers each connect to the second logical router through separate logical interfaces of the second logical router, wherein the plurality of logical routers do not connect to each other directly.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first logical router and second logical router are at different tiers of a hierarchy of logical routers in the logical network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first logical router only connects logically to the second logical router and to a set of logical switches, wherein the second logical router connects to a plurality of additional logical routers and to an external network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second logical router comprises (i) a distributed routing component implemented on a plurality of machines and (ii) one or more centralized routing components each implemented on a single machine to process packets sent to and received from an external network, wherein each of the components of the second logical router has a separate corresponding routing table.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first logical router comprises a distributed routing component implemented on the plurality of machines that also implement the distributed routing component of the second logical router.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein automatically adding the advertised route for the particular network address comprises:

adding a route for the particular network address to the corresponding routing table for the distributed routing component, said added route for the distributed routing component having a next hop address corresponding to an interface of the first logical router; and

adding a route for the particular network address to the corresponding routing table for each of the centralized routing components, said added routes for the centralized routing components each having a next hop address corresponding to a different interface of the distributed routing component internal to the second logical router.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by a network controller cluster that manages the first and second logical routers.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the NAT rule is a first rule for a first service and the particular network address is a first network address, the method further comprising:

receiving a configuration of a second rule for a second service used by the first logical router that requires attracting traffic to a second network address;

automatically configuring advertisement of a route for the second network address to the second logical router; and

automatically adding the advertised route for the second network address to a routing table for the at least one component of the second logical router.

14. A machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit configures a logical router in a logical network, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a configuration of a rule for network address translation (NAT) used by a first logical router to translate a set of network addresses to a particular network address;

automatically configuring advertisement of a route for the particular network address to a second logical router; and

automatically adding the advertised route for the particular network address to a routing table for at least one component of the second logical router.

15. The machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein the advertised route is automatically added to the routing table for at least one component of the second logical router only when the particular network address is within a pool of allowable routes from the first logical router.

16. The machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the pool of allowable routes from the first logical router comprises any route specified as a route for a NAT address for the first logical router.

17. The machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the pool of allowable routes from the first logical router comprises any route specified as a route for a NAT address for the first logical router within a particular block of network addresses.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 17, wherein the particular block of network addresses is a set of network addresses that are allowed for NAT use by a plurality of logical routers including the first logical router, wherein the plurality of logical routers each connect to the second logical router through separate logical interfaces of the second logical router, wherein the plurality of logical routers do not connect to each other directly.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein the first logical router and second logical router are at different tiers of a hierarchy of logical routers in the logical network, wherein the first logical router only connects logically to the second logical router and to a set of logical switches, wherein the second logical router connects to a plurality of additional logical routers and to an external network.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein the second logical router comprises (i) a distributed routing component implemented on a plurality of machines and (ii) one or more centralized routing components each implemented on a single machine to process packets sent to and received from an external network, wherein each of the components of the second logical router has a separate corresponding routing table.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 20, wherein the set of instructions for automatically adding the advertised route for the particular network address comprises sets of instructions for:

adding a route for the particular network address to the corresponding routing table for the distributed routing component, said added route for the distributed routing component having a next hop address corresponding to an interface of the first logical router; and

adding a route for the particular network address to the corresponding routing table for each of the centralized routing components, said added routes for the centralized routing components each having a next hop address corresponding to a different interface of the distributed routing component internal to the second logical router.