Static routes for logical routers

• US 9,419,855 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2014
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ganichev, Igor, Garcia, Joseph A., Zhang, Ronghua, Atteka, Ansis, Koponen, Teemu
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, Siming
• Application Number:
  US14/214,544
• Publication Number:
  US 20150263897A1
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/35 Switches specially adapted for specific applications

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method for a network controller. The method receives configuration data, for a logical router managed by the network controller, that specifies at least one logical port for the logical router. The method automatically generates connected routes for the logical router based on network address ranges specified for the logical ports of the logical router. The method receives a manually input static route for the logical router. The method generates data tuples, for distribution to several managed network elements, based on the connected and static routes for the logical router in order for the several managed network elements to implement the logical router.

Claims

1. For a network controller, a method comprising:

receiving configuration data, for a logical router managed by the network controller, that specifies at least one logical port for the logical router;

automatically generating connected routes at the network controller for the logical router based on network address ranges specified for the logical ports of the logical router;

at the network controller, receiving a manually input static route for the logical router;

generating data tuples based on the connected and static routes for the logical router; and

distributing the generated data tuples from the network controller to a plurality of managed network elements in order for the managed network elements to implement the logical router by processing packets according to the connected and static routes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of a plurality of logical switches is attached to a different port of the logical router, wherein the configuration data specifies a subnet associated with each port.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the automatically generated connected route for a particular logical port specifies the particular logical port as a destination for packets addressed to network addresses in the subnet associated with the particular logical port.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the manually input static route specifies, for packets addressed to a network address in a particular range of network addresses, one of (i) a next hop network address, (ii) an output port of the logical router, and (iii) a drop packet action.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the manually input static route is received through an application programming interface of the network controller.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network controller is a first network controller, wherein the manually input static route is received through an interface with a second network controller, wherein the second network controller generates data tuples for a different logical router based on configuration data received by the second network controller for the different logical router.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second network controller receives the static route through its application programming interface.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the first network controller receives the configuration data for the logical router through an application programming interface.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating data tuples for the logical switches, the data tuples for the logical switches also for distribution to at least a subset of the plurality of managed network elements.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the managed network elements comprise (i) managed forwarding elements that operate in virtualization software of a plurality of hosts and (ii) managed L3 gateways implemented in virtualized containers on a subset of the plurality of hosts, the managed L3 gateways for connecting machines operating in the plurality of hosts to external networks not managed by the network controller.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the manually input static route is a first manually input static route and specifies a next hop network address for packets addressed to network addresses in a first range of network addresses, wherein a second manually input static route specifies an output port of the logical router for packets addressed to network addresses in a second range of network addresses and a third manually input static route specifies a drop packet action for packets addressed to network addresses in a third range of network addresses.

12. A network controller comprising:

a set of processing units; and

a set of machine readable media storing, for execution by the set of processing units;

an input interface for receiving (i) configuration data, for a logical router managed by the network controller, that specifies at least one logical port for the logical router and a range of network addresses associated with each specified logical port, and (ii) a manually input static route for the logical router;

a table mapping engine for generating data tuples for a plurality of managed network elements, based on (i) connected routes generated automatically for the logical router based on the network address ranges specified for the logical router ports and (ii) the manually input static route; and

a distribution interface for distributing the generated data tuples to the plurality of managed network elements in order for the managed network elements to implement the logical router by processing packets according to the connected and static routes.

13. The network controller of claim 12, wherein the configuration data specifies (i) the attachment of a logical switch to at least one of the logical router ports and (ii) a network address range associated with each logical port.

14. The network controller of claim 13, wherein the automatically generated connected route for a particular logical router port specifies the particular logical router port as a destination for packets addressed to the network address range associated with the particular logical port.

15. The network controller of claim 12, wherein the manually input static route specifies, for packets addressed to a network address in a particular range of network addresses, one of (i) a next hop network address, (ii) an output port of the logical router, and (iii) a drop packet action.

16. The network controller of claim 12, wherein the input interface is an application programming interface.

17. The network controller of claim 16 further comprising a communication interface with a second network controller for receiving a second manually input static route for the logical router that is entered through an application programming interface of the second network controller, wherein the second network controller generates data tuples for a different logical router based on configuration data received by the second network controller for the different logical router.

18. The network controller of claim 12, wherein the network controller is a first network controller, wherein the input interface is a communication interface with a second network controller.

19. The network controller of claim 18, wherein the second network controller receives the static route through its application programming interface.

20. The network controller of claim 13, wherein the table mapping engine is further for generating additional data tuples for distribution to at least a subset of the managed network elements in order for the subset of the managed network elements to implement the logical switches.

21. The network controller of claim 12, wherein the managed network elements comprise (i) managed forwarding elements that operate in virtualization software of a plurality of hosts and (ii) managed L3 gateways implemented in virtualized containers on a first subset of the plurality of hosts, the managed L3 gateways for connecting machines operating on a second subset of the plurality of hosts to external networks not managed by the network controller.