Mapping discovery for virtual network
First Claim
1. A network interface that provides, to a user, access to a virtual network, comprising:
- a physical network interface arranged to receive data packets from the user to be sent across the virtual network, the data packets comprising a destination address in an address space of the virtual network;
an address mapper arranged to determine from the destination address a forwarding address where the forwarding address is an address in an address space of a forwarding network, the address in the address space of the forwarding network identifying a remote interface in a plurality of remote interfaces, the remote interfaces spanning multiple network segments and being coupled by multipoint tunneling through the forwarding networks; and
,a configuration part arranged to automatically configure the address mapper by sending from the network interface a discovery request for a given virtual network address over the forwarding network, to prompt a response with an indication of a corresponding forwarding address, and to use the indication in such a response to configure the address mapper, wherein the discovery request is encapsulated in a multicast packet that includes a virtual network address and wherein a virtual net daemon tunnels the multicast packet to peer daemons on remote network segments.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A virtual network has network interfaces coupled by tunnels (100) through a forwarding network (40), each interface having a forwarding address in an address space of the forwarding network, each network interface having a reconfigurable address mapper (320) for determining a forwarding address for a packet, and encapsulating the packet with its forwarding address so that the forwarding network can forward the data packet transparent to its destination address. The network interface automatically configures the address mapper by sending a discovery request for a given virtual network address over the forwarding network, to prompt a response with an indication of the corresponding forwarding address, and to use the indication in such a response to configure the address mapper. This can ease the administrative burden of setting up and maintaining the address mapper and to ease network reconfiguration according to demand or faults for example.
76 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A network interface that provides, to a user, access to a virtual network, comprising:
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a physical network interface arranged to receive data packets from the user to be sent across the virtual network, the data packets comprising a destination address in an address space of the virtual network; an address mapper arranged to determine from the destination address a forwarding address where the forwarding address is an address in an address space of a forwarding network, the address in the address space of the forwarding network identifying a remote interface in a plurality of remote interfaces, the remote interfaces spanning multiple network segments and being coupled by multipoint tunneling through the forwarding networks; and
,a configuration part arranged to automatically configure the address mapper by sending from the network interface a discovery request for a given virtual network address over the forwarding network, to prompt a response with an indication of a corresponding forwarding address, and to use the indication in such a response to configure the address mapper, wherein the discovery request is encapsulated in a multicast packet that includes a virtual network address and wherein a virtual net daemon tunnels the multicast packet to peer daemons on remote network segments. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of configuring an address mapper for a virtual network, the address mapper residing in a network interface that provides a user access to the virtual network, the virtual network having a number of remote interfaces spanning multiple network segments and coupled by multipoint tunneling through a forwarding network, each remote interface having a forwarding address in an address space of the forwarding network, the network interface being arranged to receive data packets to be sent across the virtual network, the data packets having a destination address in an address space of the virtual network, the address mapper being arranged to determine which of the forwarding addresses to use for each packet, according to a destination address within each packet, the method comprising:
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sending, by the network interface, a discovery request for a given virtual network address over the forwarding network, to prompt a response with an indication of the corresponding forwarding address, wherein the discovery request is encapsulated in a multicast packet that includes a virtual network multicast address and wherein a virtual net daemon tunnels the multicast packet to peer daemons on remote network segments; and using, by the network interface, the indication to configure the address mapper.
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Specification