STATEFUL CONNECTION OPTIMIZATION OVER STRETCHED NETWORKS USING SPECIFIC PREFIX ROUTES

• US 20180062993A1
• Filed: 08/29/2017
• Published: 03/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: WU, Weiqing, SRINIVASAN, Aravind, MASKALIK, Serge, SABIN, Todd, THAKKAR, Sachin
• Granted Patent: US 10,419,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/462 LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/083 for increasing network speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/66 Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/745 Address table lookup; Address filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/122 by diverting traffic away from congested entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/365 Dynamic adaptation of the packet size
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• 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 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 : Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 : Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

Techniques for stateful connection optimization over stretched networks are disclosed. Such stretched networks may extend across both a data center and a cloud. In one embodiment, configuration changes are made to cloud layer 2 (L2) concentrators used by extended networks and a cloud router such that the L2 concentrators block packets with the cloud router'"'"'s source MAC address and block address resolution protocol (ARP) requests for a gateway IP address from/to cloud networks that are part of the extended networks. Further, the cloud router is configured with the same gateway IP address as that of a default gateway router in the data center and responds to ARP requests for the gateway IP address with its own MAC address. In addition, specific prefix routes (e.g., /32 routes) for virtual computing instances on route optimized networks in the cloud are injected into the cloud router and propagating to a data center router.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of optimizing connections over an extended network created by bridging a first network in a first computing system, a second network in a second computing system, and a wide area network using a first bridging appliance in the first computing system and a second bridging appliance in the second computing system, comprising:

configuring the first bridging appliance to;

block packets with a source media access control (MAC) address belonging to a first router in the first computing system, and

block address resolution protocol (ARP) requests for a gateway Internet Protocol (IP) address from and to the first network;

configuring the first router in the first computing system to have a same gateway IP address as a second router in the second computing system that is a default gateway of the extended network;

injecting, into the first router, one or more specific prefix routes for one or more respective virtual computing instances on the first network; and

propogating the one or more specific prefix routes to the second router.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, propogating a route to a third network that is local to the first computing system to the second router.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more specific routes are /32 routes; and

the first router is configured to have a /32 IP address which is not announced to peer routers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to determining a first virtual computing instance has attached to the first network in a first computing system:

injecting, into the first router, an additional specific prefix route for the first virtual computing instance; and

propogating the additional specific prefix route to the second router.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first computing instance has attached to the first network in a first computing system after migrating from the second computing system to the first computing system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to determining a first virtual computing instance has detached from the first network in a first computing system:

removing, into the first router, an injected specific prefix route associated with the first virtual computing instance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first bridging appliance and the second bridging appliance are layer 2 (L2) concentrator appliances.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computing system is a cloud computing system and the second computing system is an on-premise virtualized computing system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual computing instances on the first network are virtual machines.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed by one or more processors, performs operations for optimizing connections over an extended network created by bridging a first network in a first computing system, a second network in a second computing system, and a wide area network using a first bridging appliance in the first computing system and a second bridging appliance in the second computing system, the operations comprising:

configuring the first bridging appliance to;

block packets with a source media access control (MAC) address belonging to a first router in the first computing system, and

block address resolution protocol (ARP) requests for a gateway Internet Protocol (IP) address from and to the first network;

configuring the first router in the first computing system to have a same gateway IP address as a second router in the second computing system that is a default gateway of the extended network;

injecting, into the first router, one or more specific prefix routes for one or more respective virtual computing instances on the first network; and

propogating the one or more specific prefix routes to the second router.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, the operations further comprising, propogating a route to a third network that is local to the first computing system to the second router.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein:

the one or more specific routes are /32 routes; and

the first router is configured to have a /32 IP address which is not announced to peer routers.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, the operations further comprising, responsive to determining a first virtual computing instance has attached to the first network in a first computing system:

injecting, into the first router, an additional specific prefix route for the first virtual computing instance; and

propogating the additional specific prefix route to the second router.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first computing instance has attached to the first network in a first computing system after migrating from the second computing system to the first computing system.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, the operations further comprising, responsive to determining a first virtual computing instance has detached from the first network in a first computing system:

removing, into the first router, an injected specific prefix route associated with the first virtual computing instance.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the first bridging appliance and the second bridging appliance are layer 2 (L2) concentrator appliances.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the first computing system is a cloud computing system and the second computing system is an on-premise virtualized computing system.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the virtual computing instances on the first network are virtual machines.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, wherein the memory includes a program executable in the processor to perform operations for optimizing connections over an extended network created by bridging a first network in a first computing system, a second network in a second computing system, and a wide area network using a first bridging appliance in the first computing system and a second bridging appliance in the second computing system, the operations comprising;

configuring the first bridging appliance to;

block packets with a source media access control (MAC) address belonging to a first router in the first computing system; and

block address resolution protocol (ARP) requests for a gateway Internet Protocol (IP) address from and to the first network,

configuring the first router in the first computing system to have a same gateway IP address as a second router in the second computing system that is a default gateway of the extended network,

injecting, into the first router, one or more specific prefix routes for one or more respective virtual computing instances on the first network, and

propogating the one or more specific prefix routes to the second router.

20. The system of claim 19, the operations further comprising, propogating a route to a third network that is local to the first computing system to the second router.