Logical L3 daemon

• US 9,461,960 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2013
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Ronghua, Gross, Jesse E. IV, Koponen, Teemu
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu, Wutchung
• Application Number:
  US13/757,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20130148656A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• Field of Search: 370/401, 370/395.54, 370/392, 370/389, 370254-255, 370/338, 709/245, 709/226, 709/242
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 hosts in a network, a method for configuring a host to resolve network addresses is described. The method configures an address resolution module in a host to resolve a network address. The method configures a managed forwarding element in the host to (1) avoid sending a request to resolve the network address to another host by using the address resolution module to resolve the network address and (2) forward packets using the resolved network address.

Claims

1. For a managed forwarding element (MFE) that operates in a host machine to implement a plurality of logical networks for a plurality of machines operating on the host machine, a method comprising:

at the MFE, receiving a packet from a particular machine operating on the host machine;

at the MFE, performing logical L2 switching for a first logical L2 domain to which the particular machine belongs to logically send the packet to a logical port that couples to a logical router;

while performing logical L3 routing for the logical router at the MFE, determining that a destination network address of the packet requires address resolution;

using an address resolution module operating on the host machine to resolve the network address; and

forwarding the packet using the resolved network address.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein using the address resolution module to resolve the network address avoids sending an address resolution protocol (ARP) request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the address resolution module maintains and uses a list of address pairs, wherein each pair in the list includes a first address and a second address, the first address being an address to resolve, the second address being an address to which the first address is to be resolved.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first address is a network layer address and the second address is a data link layer address.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the first address is an Internet Protocol (IP) address and the second address is a Media Access Control (MAC) address.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the address resolution module sends an address resolution protocol (ARP) request to other host machines to obtain an address to which to resolve the network address when the list does not include an address pair that includes the network address.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein (i) the host machine is a first host machine and the list of address pairs is a local list, (ii) a second host machine comprises a global address resolution module to maintain and use a global list of address pairs that are collected from other host machines, and (iii) the address resolution module asks the global address resolution module for an address to which to resolve the network address when the local list of the first host does not include an address pair that includes the network address.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the global address resolution module sends an address resolution protocol (ARP) request to other host machines to obtain an address to which to resolve the network address when the global list does not include an address pair that includes the network address.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the address resolution module creates a new address pair and updates the local list with the new address pair upon receiving a resolved address from the global address resolution module.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the address resolution module creates a new address pair when a new virtual machine is provisioned in or migrated to the host machine.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the address resolution module sends the new address pair to a global address resolution module used by address resolution modules at a plurality of host machines.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein using the address resolution module to resolve the network address comprises:

sending a flow entry that includes the network address to the address resolution module; and

receiving, from the address resolution module, a modified flow entry that includes the resolved network address.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the address resolution module and the managed forwarding element are separate software applications running in the host machine.

14. A computer configured as a first host for managing network traffic to route, the computer comprising:

a set of processing units;

a machine readable medium storing;

an address resolution module for execution by at least one processing unit in the set of processing units, the address resolution module configured to resolve network addresses; and

a software forwarding element for execution by at least one processing unit in the set of processing units, the software forwarding element configured to (i) process packets received from a machine operating on the first host through a logical processing pipeline including a L2 pipeline of a logical switch to which the machine logically couples and a L3 pipeline of a logical router to which the logical switch logically couples, (ii) use the address resolution module to resolve destination network addresses of packets while performing logical L3 routing within the L3 pipeline and (iii) forward the packets using the resolved network addresses.

15. The computer of claim 14, wherein the address resolution module is further configured to maintain and use a list of address pairs, wherein each pair in the list includes a first address and a second address, the first address being an address to resolve, the second address being an address to which the first address is to be resolved.

16. The computer of claim 15, wherein the first address is a network layer address and the second address is a data link layer address.

17. The computer of claim 15, wherein the first address is an Internet Protocol (IP) address and the second address is a Media Access Control (MAC) address.

18. The computer of claim 15, wherein the address resolution module is further configured to send an address resolution protocol (ARP) request to other host machines to obtain an address to which to resolve the network address when the list does not include an address pair that includes the destination network address of a particular packet.

19. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for a managed forwarding element (MFE) which when executed by at least one processing unit of a host machine implements a plurality of logical networks for a plurality of machines operating on the host, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

at the MFE, receiving a packet from a particular machine operating on the host machine;

at the MFE, performing logical L2 switching for a first logical L2 domain to which the particular machine belongs to logically send the packet to a logical port that couples to a logical router;

while performing logical L3 routing for the logical router at the MFE, determining that a destination network address of the packet requires address resolution;

using an address resolution module operating on the host machine to resolve the network address; and

forwarding the packet using the resolved network address.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein the address resolution module maintains and uses a list of address pairs, wherein each pair in the list includes a first address and a second address, the first address being an address to resolve, the second address being an address to which the first address is to be resolved.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 20, wherein (i) the host machine is a first host machine and the list of address pairs is a local list, (ii) a second host machine comprises a global address resolution module to maintain and use a global list of address pairs that are collected from other host machines, and (iii) the address resolution module asks the global address resolution module for an address to which to resolve the network address when the local list of the first host does not include an address pair that includes the network address.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the global address resolution module sends an address resolution protocol (ARP) request to other host machines to obtain an address to which to resolve the network address when the global list does not include an address pair that includes the network address.