LOGICAL L3 ROUTING WITH DHCP

• US 20130151676A1
• Filed: 02/01/2013
• Published: 06/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thakkar, Pankaj, Zhang, Ronghua, Koponen, Teemu
• Granted Patent: US 9,356,906 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/54 Organization of routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/256 NAT traversal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2592 using tunnelling or encapsulation

Abstract

For a network controller for managing a set of hosts, a method for configuring a host to provide a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service is described. The method configures a DHCP module in a first host to provide a DHCP service. The method configures a managed forwarding element in the first host to (1) use the DHCP module to obtain network addresses and (2) forward packets using the obtained network addresses. The method configures a second managed forwarding element in a second host to (1) use the DHCP module to obtain network addresses and (2) forward packets using the obtained network addresses.

Claims

1. For a network controller for managing a set of hosts, a method for configuring a host to provide a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service, the method comprising:

configuring a DHCP module in a first host to provide a DHCP service;

configuring a managed forwarding element in the first host to (i) use the DHCP module to obtain network addresses and (ii) forward packets using the obtained network addresses; and

configuring a second managed forwarding element in a second host to (i) use the DHCP module to obtain network addresses and (ii) forward packets using the obtained network addresses.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the DHCP module and the managed forwarding element are separate software applications configured in the first host.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a set of virtual machines (VMs) are provisioned in the first host and communicatively connected to the first managed forwarding element.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one VM of the set of VMs is managed by one user and at least one other VM of the set of VMs is managed by another user, wherein the VMs get the DHCP service from the DHCP module through the first managed forwarding element.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a set of virtual machines (VMs) are provisioned in the second host and communicatively connected to the second managed forwarding element.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one VM of the set of VMs is managed by one user and at least one other VM of the set of VMs is managed by another user, wherein the VMs get the DHCP service from the DHCP module through the second managed forwarding element.

7. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit configures a host to provide a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

configuring a managed forwarding element in a host as a second-level managed forwarding element; and

configuring a DHCP module in the host to provide a network address when the DHCP receives a DHCP request through the second-level managed forwarding element from a managed edge forwarding element.

8. The machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the second-level managed forwarding element is facilitates communications between two managed edge forwarding elements, wherein the managed edge forwarding elements interface directly with sources and destinations of packets, wherein the second-level managed switching element does not directly interface with the sources and destinations of packets.

9. The machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the host is a first host of a set of hosts and the DHCP module is a central DHCP module, the program further comprises sets of instructions for:

configuring the managed edge forwarding element in a second host of the set of hosts; and

configuring a local DHCP module in the second host to provide a network address when the local DHCP module receives a DHCP request through the managed edge forwarding element from a virtual machine that is provisioned in the second host.

10. The machine readable medium of claim 9, the program further comprises a set of instructions for configuring the global DHCP module to send a set of available network addresses to the local DHCP module.

11. The machine readable medium of claim 10, the program further comprises a set of instructions for configuring the local DHCP module to obtain more available network addresses from the global DHCP module when the local DHCP module runs out of available network addresses to provide.

12. The machine readable medium of claim 7, the program further comprises a set of instructions for generating a tunnel between the second-level managed forwarding element and the managed edge forwarding element.

13. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit configures a host to provide a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service, the program comprises sets of instructions for:

configuring, in a first host in the set of hosts, an DHCP module to provide a DHCP service; and

configuring, in a second host in the set of hosts, a managed forwarding element to (i) use the DHCP module to obtain network addresses and (ii) forward packets using the obtained network addresses.

14. The machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein a set of virtual machines (VMs) are provisioned in the second host and communicatively connected to the managed forwarding element.

15. The machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein at least one VM of the set of VMs is managed by one user and at least one other VM of the set of VMs is managed by another user, wherein the VMs get the DHCP service from the DHCP module through the managed forwarding element.

16. A non-transitory machine readable medium for storing a program for configuring a host to provide a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

configuring an DHCP module in a first host to provide a DHCP service;

configuring a first managed forwarding element in the first host to (i) use the DHCP module to obtain network addresses and (ii) forward packets using the obtained network addresses; and

configuring a second managed forwarding element in a second host to (i) use the DHCP module to obtain network addresses and (ii) forward packets using the obtained network addresses.

17. The machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein a set of virtual machines (VMs) are provisioned in the first host and communicatively connected to the first managed forwarding element.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 17, wherein at least one VM of the set of VMs is managed by one user and at least one other VM of the set of VMs is managed by another user, wherein the VMs get the DHCP service from the DHCP module through the first managed forwarding element.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein a set of virtual machines (VMs) are provisioned in the second host and communicatively connected to the second managed forwarding element.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein at least one VM of the set of VMs is managed by one user and at least one other VM of the set of VMs is managed by another user, wherein the VMs get the DHCP service from the DHCP module through the second managed forwarding element.