Bridging between Network Segments with a Logical Router

• US 20150103839A1
• Filed: 12/20/2013
• Published: 04/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Subramaniyam, Rahul Korivi, Agarwal, Vivek, Chandrashekhar, Ganesan, Singh, Ram Dular, Wang, Howard
• Granted Patent: US 9,910,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• 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 system that includes a first set of virtual machines belonging to a first overlay network and a second set of virtual machines belonging to a second overlay network. The first and second sets of virtual machines operate in several host machines, each of which includes a managed physical routing element (MPRE) for routing data packet between virtual machines in different overlay networks. A particular MPRE is configured as a bridge for routing packets between virtual machines that are in different overlay networks but in a same IP (internet protocol) subnet.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first plurality of virtual machines belonging to a first overlay network;

a second plurality of virtual machines belonging to a second overlay network, wherein the first and second pluralities of virtual machines are operating in a plurality of host machines, each host machine comprising a managed physical routing element (MPRE) for routing data packet between virtual machines in different overlay networks, wherein a particular MPRE is configured as a bridge for routing packets between virtual machines that are in different overlay networks but in a same IP (internet protocol) subnet.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first overlay network is VLAN and the second overlay work is VXLAN.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each MPRE comprises a plurality of logical interfaces, each logical interface for interfacing with a different overlay network.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein at least one of the logical interfaces of the MPRE is configured as a bridge logical interface (bridge LIF), wherein logical interfaces not configured as bridge LIFs are configured as routing LIFs for routing data packets by using network layer IP address.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein each routing LIF receives data packet having a destination MAC address that belongs to the MPRE.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein each bridge LIF receives data packets that needs bridging from the overlay network that it interfaces with, wherein a data packet from an overlay network needs bridging when its destination media access control (MAC) address is not in the overlay network.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein, when a MPRE does not know which overlay network that the destination MAC address belongs to, the MPRE sends the received data packet out on the all bridge LIFs other than the bridge LIF from which the data packet is received.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the MPRE learns a pairing between a MAC address and an overlay network from the source MAC address and an identifier of the overlay work from the received data packet.

9. A system comprising:

a first plurality of virtual machines belonging to a first overlay network; and

a second plurality of virtual machines belonging to a second overlay network, wherein the first and second pluralities of virtual machines are operating in a plurality of host machines, each host machine comprising a managed physical routing element (MPRE) for routing data packet between virtual machines in different overlay networks, wherein at least one of the MPREs is configured as a bridge that learns pairings between link layer address and overlay network identifiers.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first overlay network is VLAN and the second overlay work is VXLAN.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein each MPRE comprises a plurality of logical interfaces, each logical interface for interfacing with a different overlay network.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one of the logical interfaces of the MPRE is configured as a bridge logical interface (bridge LIF), wherein logical interfaces not configured as bridge LIFs are configured as routing LIFs for routing data packets by using network layer IP address.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein each bridge LIF receives data packets that needs bridging from the overlay network that it interfaces with, wherein a data packet from an overlay network needs bridging when its destination media access control (MAC) address is not in the overlay network.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein, when a MPRE does not know which overlay network that the destination MAC address belongs to, the MPRE sends the received data packet out on the all bridge LIFs other than the bridge LIF from which the data packet is received.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the MPRE learns a pairing between a MAC address and an overlay network from the source MAC address and an identifier of the overlay work from the received data packet.

16. A method comprising:

defining a managed physical routing element (MPRE) that is to be operated in a plurality of host machines, wherein an instance of the MPRE operating in a host machine is for routing a data packet from a first segment of the logical network to a second segment of the logical network;

configuring a particular instance of the MPRE operating in a particular host machine to act as a bridge that learns pairings between link layer address and overlay network identifiers.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first segment is VLAN encapsulation network and the second segment is a VXLAN encapsulation network.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein each MPRE comprises a plurality of logical interfaces, each logical interface for interfacing with a different segment of the logical network.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the logical interfaces of the MPRE is configured as a bridge logical interface (bridge LIF), wherein logical interfaces not configured as bridge LIFs are configured as routing LIFs for routing data packets by using network layer IP address.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein each bridge LIF receives data packets that needs bridging from the overlay network that it interfaces with, wherein a data packet from an overlay network needs bridging when its destination media access control (MAC) address is not in the overlay network.