Configuration of logical router

• US 9,977,685 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2013
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chandrashekhar, Ganesan, Subramaniyam, Rahul Korivi, Singh, Ram Dular, Agarwal, Vivek, Wang, Howard
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): LOO, JUVENA W
• Application Number:
  US14/137,877
• Publication Number:
  US 20150103843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/44 Distributed routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/741 Routing in networks with a plurality of addressing schemes, e.g. with both IPv4 and IPv6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method of operating several logical networks over a network virtualization infrastructure. The method defines a managed physical switching element (MPSE) that includes several ports for forwarding packets to and from a plurality of virtual machines. Each port is associated with a unique media access control (MAC) address. The method defines several managed physical routing elements (MPREs) for the several different logical networks. Each MPRE is for receiving data packets from a same port of the MPSE. Each MPRE is defined for a different logical network and for routing data packets between different segments of the logical network. The method provides the defined MPSE and the defined plurality of MPREs to a plurality of host machines as configuration data.

Claims

1. A method of operating a plurality of logical networks over a network virtualization infrastructure, the method comprising:

defining a managed physical switching element (MPSE), the MPSE comprising a plurality of ports for forwarding packets to and from a plurality of virtual machines, each port associated with a unique media access control (MAC) address;

defining a plurality of managed physical routing elements (MPREs) for the plurality of different logical networks, the MPREs defined to receive data packets from a same port of the MPSE, wherein each MPRE is defined for a different logical network and for performing logical L3 routing of data packets between different logical L2 segments of the logical network; and

providing the defined MPSE and the defined plurality of MPREs to a plurality of host machines as configuration data, wherein each host machine operates the MPSE and the plurality of MPREs according to the provided configuration data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the defined MPSE and the defined plurality of MPREs to the plurality of host machines comprises providing the configuration data to a cluster of controllers that control the plurality of host machines and providing a set of instructions to each host machine for fetching a set of configuration data from the cluster of controllers.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising defining a plurality of logical interfaces for each MPRE, wherein each logical interface is associated with a different network segment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each logical interface is associated with a different internet protocol (IP) address.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the different logical networks are isolated from each other by the different logical interfaces.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network virtualization infrastructure supports a plurality of different tenants, wherein each logical network is defined for a different tenant.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the provided configuration data is for each host machine to operate the plurality of MPREs for the plurality of logical networks.

8. A method comprising:

defining a first configuration for a logical routing element that is to be operated in a plurality of host machines, wherein each host machine operates an instance of the logical routing element for performing logical L3 routing of data packets between different logical L2 segments of a logical network;

defining a second configuration for a plurality of logical interfaces for the logical routing element, each logical interface for interfacing a different segment of the logical network; and

providing the first configuration and the second configuration to each of the host machines.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein providing the first and second configurations to each of the host machines comprises providing the configurations to a cluster of controllers that control the plurality of host machines and providing a set of instructions to each host machine for fetching a set of configuration data from the cluster of controllers.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein each logical interface is associated with a different internet protocol (IP) address.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of host machines are in a network virtualization infrastructure that supports a plurality of different tenants, wherein each host machine is to operate a plurality of logical routing elements for a plurality of different tenants.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the different tenants use different logical networks, wherein the different logical networks are isolated from each other by the different logical interfaces.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the logical routing element is a first logical routing element, wherein the method comprises defining a third configuration for a second logical routing element that is to be operated in said plurality of host machines simultaneously with the first logical routing element.

14. A method comprising:

providing configuration data of a logical network to a cluster of controllers that controls a plurality of host machines, wherein the host machines are in a network virtualization infrastructure; and

providing instructions to each host machine of the plurality of host machines for fetching a set of configuration data from the cluster controllers, wherein the set of configuration data is for configuring the host machine to operate an instance of a logical routing element as a managed physical routing element (MPRE) for performing logical L3 routing of data packets between virtual machines operating in different logical L2 segments of the logical network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the configuration data comprises parameters for a plurality of logical interfaces in the logical routing element, wherein each logical interface is for interfacing a different segment of the logical network.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein at least one segment of the logical network is an overlay encapsulation network.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein at least two of the segments are different overlay encapsulation network associated with different network identifiers.

18. A method comprising:

receiving configuration data of a logical network that is to operate in a network virtualization infrastructure comprising a plurality of host machines, the configuration data defines a logical routing element (LRE) in each host machine as a managed physical routing element (MPRE) for performing logical L3 routing data packets between virtual machines in different logical L2 segments of the logical network;

receiving a set of dynamic routing information from the network virtualization infrastructure and providing the gathered information to the MPREs operating in the plurality of host machines; and

providing the configuration data to the plurality of host machines.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the dynamic routing information is provided by a particular host machine that learns routing information from the network virtualization infrastructure.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the received configuration data further comprises a set of static routing information.