Configuration of logical router

• US 10,528,373 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2018
• Issued: 01/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chandrashekhar, Ganesan, Subramaniyam, Rahul Korivi, Singh, Ram Dular, Agarwal, Vivek, Wang, Howard
• Primary Examiner(s): Elpenord, Candal
• Assistant Examiner(s): Loo, Juvena W
• Application Number:
  US15/984,486
• Publication Number:
  US 20180276013A1
• Time in Patent Office: 596 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/44 Distributed routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/741 Routing in networks with a plurality of addressing schemes, e.g. with both IPv4 and IPv6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method of operating several logical networks over a network virtualization infrastructure. The method defines a managed physical switching element (MPSE) that includes several ports for forwarding packets to and from a plurality of virtual machines. Each port is associated with a unique media access control (MAC) address. The metho defines several managed physical routing elements (MPREs) for the several different logical networks. Each MPRE is for receiving data packets from a same port of the MPSE. Each MPRE is defined for a different logical network and for routing data packets between different segments of the logical network. The method provides the defined MPSE and the defined plurality of MPREs to a plurality of host machines as configuration data.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for a managed physical routing element (MPRE) to be executed by at least one processor of a host computer, wherein the host computer hosts a plurality of virtual machines, a managed physical switching element (MPSE), and the managed physical routing element (MPRE), wherein the MPSE implements along with MPSEs on other host computers a plurality of logical network segments that are connected by a logical router that is implemented by the MPRE and MPREs on other host computers, the program comprising set of instructions for:

at the MPRE;

receiving, through the MPSE, a plurality of data messages from a set of virtual machines in the plurality of virtual machines, wherein the data messages are received from a same port of the MPSE;

for each data message in the set of data messages, routing the data message from a first logical network segment to a second logical network segment;

for each of the routed data messages, returning the routed data message to the port of the MPSE from which it was received for the MPSE to forward to a destination of the data message.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the MPRE comprises a plurality of logical interfaces, each logical interface for receiving data messages from a different logical network segment in the plurality of logical network segments.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 2, wherein each logical interface shares a same link layer address.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 3, wherein MPREs on each host computer hosting an MPRE implementing a same logical router are addressed by virtual machines executing on the same host using the same internal link layer address shared by the logical interfaces.

5. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 4, wherein each MPRE is addressable by other host machines at a separate external link layer address, wherein each host machine hosts an uplink processor that converts link layer addresses of data messages originating from the MPRE from the shared internal link layer address to the separate external link layer addresses.

6. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 2, wherein the set of instructions for routing the data message from a first logical network segment to a second logical network segment comprises a set of instructions for:

identifying a first logical interface on which the data message is received;

performing a set of ingress operations for the first logical network segment associated with the first logical interface in the plurality of logical interfaces; and

identifying an egress second logical interface associated with the second logical network segment.

7. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 6, wherein the set of instructions for routing the data message from the first logical network segment to the second network segment further comprises a set of instructions for performing a set of egress operations for the second logical network segment.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 6, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the first logical interface on which the data message is received comprises a set of instructions for identifying the first logical interface based on a source network address.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 6, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the first logical interface on which the data message is received comprises a set of instructions for identifying the first logical interface based on a virtual network identifier.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the MPRE is a first MPRE, the plurality of logical network segments is a first plurality of logical network segments, the logical router is a first logical router, and the set of virtual machines is a first set of virtual machines, wherein the host computer also hosts a second MPRE implementing, along with other MPREs on other host machines, a second logical router, the program further comprising sets of instructions for:

at the second MPRE;

receiving, through the MDSE, a set of data messages from a second set of virtual machines, wherein the data messages are received from the same port of the MDSE;

for each data message in the second set of data messages, routing the data message from a third logical network segment to a fourth logical network segment;

for each of the routed data messages, returning the routed data message to the port of the MDSE from which it was received for the MDSE to forward to a destination of the data message.

11. A method for a host computer hosting a plurality of virtual machines, a managed physical switching element (MPSE), and a managed physical routing element (NITRE), wherein the MPSE implements along with MPSEs on other host computers a plurality of logical network segments that are connected by a logical router that is implemented by the NITRE and MPREs on other host computers, the method comprising:

at the NITRE;

receiving, through the MPSE, a plurality of data messages from a set of virtual machines in the plurality of virtual machines, wherein the data messages are received from a same port of the MPSE;

for each data message in the set of data messages, routing the data message from a first logical network segment to a second logical network segment;

for each of the routed data messages, returning the routed data message to the port of the MPSE from which it was received for the MPSE to forward to a destination of the data message.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the MPRE comprises a plurality of logical interfaces, each logical interface for receiving data messages from a different logical network segment in the plurality of logical network segments.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein each logical interface shares a same link layer address.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein MPREs on each host computer hosting an MPRE implementing a same logical router are addressed by virtual machines executing on the same host using the same internal link layer address shared by the logical interfaces.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein each MPRE is addressable by other host machines at a separate external link layer address, wherein each host machine hosts an uplink processor that converts link layer addresses of data messages sent to the MPRE from the separate external link layer addresses to the shared internal link layer address.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein routing the data message from a first logical network segment to a second network segment comprises:

identifying a first logical interface on which the data message is received;

performing a set of ingress operations for the first logical network segment associated with the first logical interface in the plurality of logical interfaces; and

identifying an egress second logical interface associated with the second logical network segment.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein routing the data message from the first logical network segment to the second network segment comprises performing a set of egress operations for the second logical network segment.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying the first logical interface on which the data message is received comprises identifying the first logical interface based on a source network address.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying the first logical interface on which the data message is received comprises identifying the first logical interface based on a virtual network identifier.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the MPRE is a first MPRE, the plurality of logical network segments is a first plurality of logical network segments, the logical router is a first logical router, and the set of virtual machines is a first set of virtual machines, wherein the host computer also hosts a second MPRE implementing, along with other MPREs on other host machines, a second logical router, the method further comprising:

at the second MPRE;

receiving, through the MDSE, a set of data messages from a second set of virtual machines, wherein the data messages are received from the same port of the MDSE;

for each data message in the second set of data messages, routing the data message from a third logical network segment to a fourth logical network segment;

for each of the routed data messages, returning the routed data message to the port of the MDSE from which it was received for the MDSE to forward to a destination of the data message.