Interconnection of switches based on hierarchical overlay tunneling

• US 9,912,614 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2016
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Koganti, Phanidhar
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Dung B
• Application Number:
  US15/005,946
• Publication Number:
  US 20170163569A1
• Time in Patent Office: 771 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/58 Association of routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/66 Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/10 characterised by the switching fabric construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/118 Address processing within a device, e.g. using internal ID or tags for routing within a switch
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric

Abstract

A novel fabric switch is provided. The switch includes a tunnel management apparatus that maintains a local inter-switch tunnel and an inter-fabric tunnel. The local inter-switch tunnel facilitates communication to a switch in a local fabric switch. The inter-fabric tunnel facilitates communication to a remote fabric switch. The switch further includes a packet header management apparatus that decapsulates a packet received from the local inter-switch tunnel and encapsulates the packet with a new tunnel header for transmission over the inter-fabric tunnel.

Claims

1. A switch, comprising:

tunnel circuitry configured to maintain a local inter-switch tunnel and an inter-fabric tunnel, wherein the inter-switch tunnel facilitates communication between the switch and a second switch in a first network of interconnected switches, and wherein the inter-fabric tunnel facilitates communication to a third switch in a second network of interconnected switches; and

header circuitry configured to decapsulate a first encapsulation header of a packet received from the inter-switch tunnel and encapsulate the packet with a second encapsulation header for transmission over the inter-fabric tunnel, wherein the first and second encapsulation headers include a first and a second fabric identifiers, which identify the first and second networks of interconnected switches, respectively.

2. The switch of claim 1, wherein the tunnel circuitry is further configured to manage an edge tunnel, which facilitates communication between the switch and an end host.

3. The switch of claim 1, wherein the second fabric identifier in the second encapsulation header indicates a destination of the second encapsulation header.

4. The switch of claim 1, wherein the second encapsulation header includes a network service header.

5. The switch of claim 1, further comprising a storage device configured to store a data structure, which stores a mapping between a medium access control (MAC) address and a virtual tunnel endpoint.

6. The switch of claim 1, further comprising a storage device configured to store a data structure, which stores a mapping between a MAC address and the second fabric identifier.

7. The switch of claim 1, further comprising forwarding circuitry configured to preclude a second packet received from the inter-switch tunnel from being forwarded onto a second inter-switch tunnel between the switch and a fourth switch in the first network of interconnected switches.

8. The switch of claim 1, further comprising forwarding circuitry configured to load a MAC address in forwarding hardware of the switch in response to identifying the MAC address in a packet.

9. A method, comprising:

maintaining a inter-switch tunnel and an inter-fabric tunnel, wherein the inter-switch tunnel facilitates communication between a switch and a second switch in a first network of interconnected switches, and wherein the inter-fabric tunnel facilitates communication to a third switch in a second network of interconnected switches;

decapsulating a first encapsulation header of a packet received from the inter-switch tunnel; and

encapsulating the packet with a second encapsulation header for transmission over the inter-fabric tunnel, wherein the first and second encapsulation headers include a first and a second fabric identifiers, which identify the first and second networks of interconnected switches, respectively.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising managing an edge tunnel, which facilitates communication between the switch and an end host.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the second fabric identifier in the second encapsulation header indicates a destination of the second encapsulation header.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the second encapsulation header includes a network service header.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing, in a storage device of the switch, a mapping between a medium access control (MAC) address and a virtual tunnel endpoint.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing a mapping between a MAC address and the second fabric identifier.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising precluding a second packet received from the inter-switch tunnel from being forwarded onto a second inter-switch tunnel between the switch and a fourth switch in the first network of interconnected switches.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising loading a MAC address in forwarding hardware of the switch in response identifying the MAC address in a packet.

17. A computing system, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform a method, the method comprising;

maintaining an inter-switch tunnel and an inter-fabric tunnel, wherein the inter-switch tunnel facilitates communication between the computing system and a second computing system in a first network of interconnected switches, and wherein the inter-fabric tunnel facilitates communication to a third computing system in a second network of interconnected switches;

decapsulating a first encapsulation header of a packet received from the inter-switch tunnel; and

encapsulating the packet with a second encapsulation header for transmission over the inter-fabric tunnel, wherein the first and second encapsulation headers include a first and a second fabric identifiers, which identify the first and second networks of interconnected switches, respectively.

18. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises managing an edge tunnel, which facilitates communication between the computing system and an end host.

19. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the second fabric identifier in the second encapsulation header indicates a destination of the second encapsulation header.

20. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the second encapsulation header includes a network service header.