Methods, systems, and computer readable media for stateless load balancing of network traffic flows
First Claim
1. A method for performing stateless load balancing of network traffic flows, the method comprising:
- at a layer 3 packet forwarding and layer 2 switching device;
responding to address resolution protocol (ARP) requests from clients, the ARP requests including a virtual IP (VIP) address shared by the device and a plurality of servers coupled to the device, with the medium access control (MAC) address of the device;
receiving, from the clients, packets addressed to the VIP address and having the MAC address of the device; and
load sharing the packets among the servers using a layer 3 forwarding operation that appears to the clients as a layer 2 switching operation by performing the layer 3 forwarding operation based on the MAC address received from the client.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for performing stateless load balancing of network traffic flows are disclosed. According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for performing stateless load balancing of network traffic flows. The method occurs at a layer 3 packet forwarding and layer 2 switching device. The method includes responding to address resolution protocol (ARP) requests from clients, the ARP requests including a virtual IP (VIP) address shared by the device and a plurality of servers coupled to the device, with the medium access control (MAC) address of the device. The method also includes receiving, from the clients, packets addressed to the VIP address and having the MAC address of the device. The method further includes load sharing the packets among the servers using a layer 3 forwarding operation that appears to the clients as a layer 2 switching operation.
74 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for performing stateless load balancing of network traffic flows, the method comprising:
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at a layer 3 packet forwarding and layer 2 switching device; responding to address resolution protocol (ARP) requests from clients, the ARP requests including a virtual IP (VIP) address shared by the device and a plurality of servers coupled to the device, with the medium access control (MAC) address of the device; receiving, from the clients, packets addressed to the VIP address and having the MAC address of the device; and load sharing the packets among the servers using a layer 3 forwarding operation that appears to the clients as a layer 2 switching operation by performing the layer 3 forwarding operation based on the MAC address received from the client. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A layer 3 packet forwarding and layer 2 switching device for performing stateless load balancing, the device comprising:
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a processor; and a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor implement; a proxy address resolution protocol (ARP) function for responding to ARP requests from clients, the ARP requests including a virtual IP (VIP) address shared by the device and a plurality of servers coupled to the device, with the medium access control (MAC) address of the device; and a load balancing module for receiving, from the clients, packets addressed to the VIP address and having the MAC address of the device and for load sharing the packets among the servers using a layer 3 forwarding operation that appears to the clients as a layer 2 switching operation by performing the layer 3 forwarding operation based on the MAC address received from the client. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing a computer program including computer executable instructions that when executed by the processor of a computer perform steps comprising:
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at a layer 3 packet forwarding and layer 2 switching device; responding to an address resolution protocol (ARP) request from clients, the ARP request including a virtual IP (VIP) address shared by the device and a plurality of servers coupled to the device with the medium access control (MAC) address of the device; receiving, from the clients, packets addressed to the VIP address and having the MAC address of the device; and load sharing the packets among the servers using a layer 3 forwarding operation that appears to the clients as a layer 2 switching operation by performing the layer 3 forwarding operation based on the MAC address received from the client.
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Specification