Connectivity segment selection
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a physical network having a plurality of connectivity segments, each connectivity segment supporting network traffic to unspecified recipients, wherein different connectivity segments are interconnected by network components that do not support network traffic to unspecified recipients; and
each connectivity segment comprising a plurality of host computers each executing a set of virtual machines, wherein each particular host computer of each particular connectivity segment is assigned a connectivity segment identifier that associates the particular host computer with the particular connectivity segment,wherein to replicate, to a first connectivity segment, data messages that are distributed to unspecified recipients in a second connectivity segment, one host computer in the second connectivity segment sends a unicast message to one host computer in the first connectivity segment, which in response to the unicast message distributes data messages to unspecified recipients in the first connectivity segment.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A novel method for fully utilizing the multicast or broadcast capability of a physical network is provided. The method identifies segments of the network within which broadcast traffic, multicast traffic, or traffic to unknown recipients (BUM traffic) is allowed or enabled. The identified segment encompasses parts of the network that the BUM traffic is able reach while excluding parts of the network nodes that the BUM traffic is unable to reach. Each identified segment includes network nodes that are interconnected by physical network hardware that supports BUM traffic. The method identifies multiple BUM traffic segments in a given network that each supports its own BUM traffic. The different BUM traffic segments are interconnected by physical network hardware that does not support BUM network traffic. Each identified segment is assigned an identifier that uniquely distinguishes the identified segment from other identified segments.
96 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a physical network having a plurality of connectivity segments, each connectivity segment supporting network traffic to unspecified recipients, wherein different connectivity segments are interconnected by network components that do not support network traffic to unspecified recipients; and each connectivity segment comprising a plurality of host computers each executing a set of virtual machines, wherein each particular host computer of each particular connectivity segment is assigned a connectivity segment identifier that associates the particular host computer with the particular connectivity segment, wherein to replicate, to a first connectivity segment, data messages that are distributed to unspecified recipients in a second connectivity segment, one host computer in the second connectivity segment sends a unicast message to one host computer in the first connectivity segment, which in response to the unicast message distributes data messages to unspecified recipients in the first connectivity segment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A controller comprising:
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a set of processing units; and a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by the set of processing units, the program comprising sets of instructions for; defining a plurality of connectivity segments, each of which comprises a plurality of hosts, wherein each connectivity segment supports multicast traffic between said plurality of hosts; and defining, for each particular connectivity segment, a particular host as a proxy for receiving, from a host of another connectivity segment, a request to generate multicast traffic to the plurality of hosts within the particular connectivity segment. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A method comprising:
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at a first host machine that hosts a first set of virtual machines in a first network segment, storing segment identifier information for a plurality of host machines in a plurality of network segments, wherein the segment identifier information comprises a segment identifier that identifies a corresponding network segment for each host machine; receiving a multicast message from a machine in the first network segment; sending a multicast message to the first set of virtual machines and to a second host machine that hosts a second set of virtual machines in the first network segment; and for the received multicast message, sending a unicast message to a proxy host machine for each of the other network segments of the plurality of network segments, each particular proxy host machine of each particular other segment for generating, based on the sent unicast message, a multicast message to other machines within the particular other segment. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification