Forwarding Ethernet packets

• US 10,608,866 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2018
• Issued: 03/31/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Tian, Shikun, Wang, Yingbin, Chen, Weicai, Chen, Bo
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsegaye, Saba
• Application Number:
  US15/961,646
• Publication Number:
  US 20180241608A1
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/7453 using hashing
• 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 61/2596 Translation of addresses of the same type other than IP, e.g. translation from MAC to MAC addresses

Abstract

Forwarding Ethernet packets is disclosed, including: receiving an incoming packet; determining a value based at least in part on performing a hash operation on at least a portion of a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address included in the incoming packet; comparing the value against a pre-established look-up table to determine whether a corresponding index value is found, wherein the pre-established look-up table stores index values and corresponding data sets to respective ones of the index values; determining a destination media access control (MAC) address associated with the incoming packet based at least in part on whether the corresponding index value is found in the pre-established look-up table; and forwarding the incoming packet to a virtual machine associated with the determined destination MAC address.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

receive an incoming packet;

determine an index value based at least in part on performing a hash operation on at least a portion of a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address included in the incoming packet;

determine a media access control (MAC) address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded based at least in part on a determination of whether the index value corresponding to the performing the hash operation is included in a mapping of index values to MAC addresses, wherein;

the mapping of index values to MAC addresses comprising fields for the index value, the destination IP address, a local MAC address, and a global MAC address; and

to determine the MAC address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded comprises;

determine whether the index value is included in the mapping of index values to MAC addresses; and

in response to a determination that the index value is included in the mapping of index values to MAC addresses, determine that the MAC address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded corresponds to a local MAC address mapped to the index value and a MAC address included in the incoming packet; and

forward the incoming packet to a virtual machine associated with the MAC address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded, including to forward the incoming packet to the local MAC address based on a MAC address translation performed with respect to the incoming packet; and

one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors and configured to provide the one or more processors with instructions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the mapping of index values to MAC addresses is stored in a pre-established look-up table, and the determining the MAC address to which the income packet is to be forward comprises:

compare the index value against a pre-established look-up table, wherein the pre-established look-up table stores index values and corresponding data sets to respective ones of the index values.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein to determine the MAC address to which the income packet is to be forward further comprises:

determine whether the index value is included in the pre-established look-up table;

in response to determining that the value is included in the pre-established look-up table, identify a set of MAC addresses corresponding to the index value based at least in part on the comparing of the index value against the pre-established look-up table; and

determine a destination MAC address associated with the incoming packet based at least in part on whether the index value is found in the pre-established look-up table.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein to determine the destination MAC address associated with the incoming packet based at least in part on whether the index value is found in the pre-established look-up table comprises:

determine whether the index value is found in the set of MAC addresses corresponding to the index value; and

in response to determine that the index value is found in the set of MAC addresses corresponding to the index value, select the MAC address from among the set of MAC addresses corresponding to the index value and perform the MAC address translation on the incoming packet.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein in response to a determination that the index value is not found in the pre-established look-up table, the destination MAC address associated with the incoming packet is determined to comprise a value associated with a destination MAC address included in the incoming packet.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

in response to a determination that the index value can be found in the pre-established look-up table,

determine a matching data set from the one or more data sets corresponding to the index value, wherein the matching data set includes an IP address that matches the destination IP address included in the incoming packet; and

determine whether a destination MAC address included in the incoming packet matches a global MAC address associated with the matching data set.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein in response to determining that the destination MAC address included in the incoming packet does not match the global MAC address associated with the matching data set, the destination MAC address associated with the incoming packet is determined to comprise a value associated with the destination MAC address included in the incoming packet.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the index value determined based at least in part on performing the hash operation on the at least portion of the destination IP address included in the incoming packet comprises a hash value output by the hash operation.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the index value determined based at least in part on performing the hash operation on the at least portion of the destination IP address included in the incoming packet comprises a function of a hash value output by the hash operation.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the index value corresponds to one or more data sets in the pre-established look-up table.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the one or more data sets includes a corresponding IP address, a local MAC address, and a global MAC address.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive an outgoing packet;

determine another value based at least in part on performing another hash operation on at least a portion of an origin IP address included in the outgoing packet;

compare the other value against the pre-established look-up table to determine whether the other value can be found; and

determine an origin MAC address associated with the outgoing packet based at least in part on a data set corresponding to the other value.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping of index values to MAC addresses is comprised in a preset table that associates index values, MAC addresses, and corresponding virtual machines.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining a media access control (MAC) address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded comprises performing a lookup of the MAC address in the preset table using the index value determined based at least in performing the hash operation.

15. The system of claim 4, wherein in response to determining the destination MAC address included in the incoming packet matches the global MAC address associated with the matching data set, the destination MAC address associated with the incoming packet is determined to comprise a value associated with a local MAC address associated with the matching data set.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving an incoming packet;

determining, by one or more processors, an index value based at least in part on performing a hash operation on at least a portion of a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address included in the incoming packet;

determining a media access control (MAC) address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded based at least in part on a determination of whether the index value corresponding to the performing the hash operation is included in a mapping of index values to MAC addresses, wherein;

the mapping of index values to MAC addresses comprising fields for the index value, the destination IP address, a local MAC address, and a global MAC address; and

determining the MAC address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded comprises;

determining whether the index value is included in the mapping of index values to MAC addresses; and

in response to determining that the index value is included in the mapping of index values to MAC addresses, determining that the MAC address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded corresponds to a local MAC address mapped to the index value and a MAC address included in the incoming packet; and

forwarding the incoming packet to a virtual machine associated with the MAC address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded, including forwarding the incoming packet to the local MAC address based on a MAC address translation performed with respect to the incoming packet.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the mapping of index values to MAC addresses is stored in a pre-established look-up table, and the determining the MAC address to which the income packet is to be forward comprises:

comparing the index value against a pre-established look-up table, wherein the pre-established look-up table stores index values and corresponding data sets to respective ones of the index values.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining the MAC address to which the income packet is to be forward further comprises:

determining whether the index value is included in the pre-established look-up table;

in response to a determination that the value is included in the pre-established look-up table;

identifying a set of MAC addresses corresponding to the index value based at least in part on the comparing of the index value against the pre-established look-up table; and

determining a destination MAC address associated with the incoming packet based at least in part on whether the index value is found in the pre-established look-up table.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein determining the destination MAC address associated with the incoming packet based at least in part on whether the value is found in the pre-established look-up table comprises:

determining whether the index value is found in the set of MAC addresses corresponding to the index value; and

in response to a determination that the index value is found in the set of MAC addresses corresponding to the index value, selecting the MAC address from among the set of MAC addresses corresponding to the index value and perform the MAC address translation on the incoming packet.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein in response to a determination that the index value is not found in the pre-established look-up table, the destination MAC address associated with the incoming packet is determined to comprise a value associated with a destination MAC address included in the incoming packet.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining a matching data set from the one or more data sets corresponding to the index value, wherein the matching data set includes an IP address that matches the destination IP address included in the incoming packet; and

determining whether a destination MAC address included in the incoming packet matches a global MAC address associated with the matching data set.

22. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving an incoming packet;

determining an index value based at least in part on performing a hash operation on at least a portion of a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address included in the incoming packet;

determining a media access control (MAC) address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded based at least in part on a determination of whether the index value corresponding to the performing the hash operation is included in a mapping of index values to MAC addresses, wherein;

the mapping of index values to MAC addresses comprising fields for the index value, the destination IP address, a local MAC address, and a global MAC address; and

determining the MAC address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded comprises;

determining whether the index value is included in the mapping of index values to MAC addresses; and

in response to determining that the index value is included in the mapping of index values to MAC addresses determining that the MAC address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded corresponds to a local MAC address mapped to the index value and a MAC address included in the incoming packet; and

forwarding the incoming packet to a virtual machine associated with the MAC address to which the incoming packet is to be forwarded, including forwarding the incoming packet to the local MAC address based on a MAC address translation performed with respect to the incoming packet.