METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING A FLEXIBLE VIRTUAL LOCAL AREA NETWORK

• US 20130136123A1
• Filed: 11/28/2012
• Published: 05/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ge, Yi, Liu, Hang, Zhang, Yue, Zheng, Kai
• Granted Patent: US 9,794,084 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4645 Details on frame tagging routing of packets H04L45/00; support for virtual LAN H04L49/354
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4675 Dynamic sharing of VLAN information amongst network nodes configuration of the network or of network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/201 Multicast operation; Broadcast operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/351 for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches

Abstract

A method and apparatus for implementing a virtual local area network. The method includes determining a global virtual local area network for transmitting a data frame in response to receiving the data frame at a first switch, encapsulating the data frame based at least in part on said determination and transmitting it to at least one second switch over the determined global virtual local area network. The data frame is received at the second switch and an identifier of the global virtual local area network is obtained according to the data frame. Based at least in part on the identifier of the global virtual local area network, it is determined that which local virtual local area network served by the second switch the de-capsulated data frame can be sent to.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a virtual local area network, comprising:

determining a global virtual local area network for transmitting a data frame, in response to receiving the data frame at a first switch, wherein the data frame is from one of one or more first local virtual local area networks served by the first switch;

encapsulating the data frame based at least in part on the determination of the global virtual local area network; and

transmitting the encapsulated data frame over the global virtual local area network for sending the data frame to at least one second switch, wherein the second switch serves one or more second local virtual local area networks.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data frame comprises a unicast frame, and wherein said determining the global virtual local area network comprises:

querying a directory server with addresses of a source host and a destination host of the data frame to verify whether the source host and the destination host belong to the same global virtual local area network, wherein the destination host belongs to one of the one or more second local virtual local area networks; and

obtaining an address of the second switch from the directory server, if the source host and the destination host belong to the global virtual local area network.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said encapsulating the data frame comprises adding at least the following information to the data frame:

a source address comprising an address of the first switch; and

a destination address comprising an address of the second switch.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data frame comprises a broadcast frame, and wherein said determining the global virtual local area network comprises:

querying a directory server with an address of a source host of the data frame to determine the global virtual local area network to which the source host belongs; and

obtaining a multicast address corresponding to the global virtual local area network from the directory server.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said encapsulating the data frame comprises adding at least the following information to the data frame:

a source address comprising an address of the first switch; and

a destination address comprising a multicast address corresponding to the global virtual local area network.

6. An apparatus for implementing a virtual local area network, comprising:

a determining unit configured to determine a global virtual local area network for transmitting a data frame, in response to receiving the data frame at a first switch, wherein the data frame is from one of one or more first local virtual local area networks served by the first switch;

an encapsulating unit configured to encapsulate the data frame based at least in part on the determination of the global virtual local area network; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the encapsulated data frame over the global virtual local area network for sending the data frame to at least one second switch, wherein the second switch serves one or more second local virtual local area networks.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the data frame comprises a unicast frame, and wherein said determining the global virtual local area network comprises:

querying a directory server with addresses of a source host and a destination host of the data frame to verify whether the source host and the destination host belong to the same global virtual local area network, wherein the destination host belongs to one of the one or more second local virtual local area networks; and

obtaining an address of the second switch from the directory server, if the source host and the destination host belong to the global virtual local area network.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said encapsulating the data frame comprises adding at least the following information to the data frame:

a source address comprising an address of the first switch; and

a destination address comprising an address of the second switch.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the data frame comprises a broadcast frame, and wherein said determining the global virtual local area network comprises:

querying a directory server with an address of a source host of the data frame to determine the global virtual local area network to which the source host belongs; and

obtaining a multicast address corresponding to the global virtual local area network from the directory server.

10. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said encapsulating the data frame comprises adding at least the following information to the data frame:

a source address comprising an address of the first switch; and

a destination address comprising a multicast address corresponding to the global virtual local area network.

11. A method for implementing a virtual local area network, comprising:

receiving a data frame transmitted over a global virtual local area network, wherein the data frame is from one of one or more first local virtual local area networks served by a first switch;

obtaining an identifier of the global virtual local area network according to the data frame; and

determining, based at least in part on the identifier of the global virtual local area network, an identifier of one of one or more second local virtual local area networks served by a second switch to send the de-capsulated data frame to the second local virtual local area network identified by the determined identifier.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the data frame comprises a unicast frame, and wherein said obtaining the identifier of the global virtual local area network comprises:

obtaining an address of a destination host of the data frame from the de-capsulated data frame;

query a directory server with the address of the destination host; and

obtaining the identifier of the global virtual local area network corresponding to the address of the destination host from the directory server.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the data frame comprises a broadcast frame, and wherein said obtaining the identifier of the global virtual local area network comprises:

obtaining a multicast address corresponding to the global virtual local area network from the data frame;

query a directory server with the multicast address; and

obtaining the identifier of the global virtual local area network corresponding to the multicast address from the directory server.

14. An apparatus for implementing a virtual local area network, comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive a data frame transmitted over a global virtual local area network, wherein the data frame is from one of one or more first local virtual local area networks served by a first switch;

an obtaining unit configured to obtain an identifier of the global virtual local area network according to the data frame; and

a determining unit configured to determine, based at least in part on the identifier of the global virtual local area network, an identifier of one of one or more second local virtual local area networks served by a second switch to send the de-capsulated data frame to the second local virtual local area network identified by the determined identifier.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the data frame comprises a unicast frame, and wherein said obtaining the identifier of the global virtual local area network comprises:

obtaining an address of a destination host of the data frame from the de-capsulated data frame;

query a directory server with the address of the destination host; and

obtaining the identifier of the global virtual local area network corresponding to the address of the destination host from the directory server.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the data frame comprises a broadcast frame, and wherein said obtaining the identifier of the global virtual local area network comprises:

obtaining a multicast address corresponding to the global virtual local area network from the data frame;

query a directory server with the multicast address; and

obtaining the identifier of the global virtual local area network corresponding to the multicast address from the directory server.

17. A method for configuring a virtual local area network, comprising:

determining, in response to detecting that a host enters into a first local virtual local area network served by a first switch, a global virtual local area network to which the host belongs, for transmitting a data frame from the host to at least one second switch over the global virtual local area network, wherein the second switch serves one or more second local virtual local area networks;

adding an address of the first switch to a directory server to correspond to an address of the host stored on the directory server; and

creating a mapping record at the first switch if the host is the first host in the first local virtual local area network, which records a correspondence relationship between an identifier of the first local virtual local area network and an identifier of the global virtual local area network.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising:

removing the address of the first switch corresponding to the address of the host stored on the directory server, in response to detecting that the host leaves the first local virtual local area network; and

deleting the mapping record, if the host is the last host in the first local virtual local area network.

19. An apparatus for configuring a virtual local area network, comprising:

a determining unit configured to determine, in response to detecting that a host enters into a first local virtual local area network served by a first switch, a global virtual local area network to which the host belongs, for transmitting a data frame from the host to at least one second switch over the global virtual local area network, wherein the second switch serves one or more second local virtual local area networks;

an adding unit configured to add an address of the first switch to a directory server to correspond to an address of the host stored on the directory server; and

a creating unit configured to create a mapping record at the first switch if the host is the first host in the first local virtual local area network, which records a correspondence relationship between an identifier of the first local virtual local area network and an identifier of the global virtual local area network.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising:

a removing unit configured to remove the address of the first switch corresponding to the address of the host stored on the directory server, in response to detecting that the host leaves the first local virtual local area network; and

a deleting unit configured to delete the mapping record, if the host is the last host in the first local virtual local area network.