REDUCING ARP/ND FLOODING IN CLOUD ENVIRONMENT

• US 20180013674A1
• Filed: 08/14/2016
• Published: 01/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nainar, Nagendra Kumar, Asati, Rajiv, Pignataro, Carlos M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,608,865 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• 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 9/45504 Abstract machines for programme code execution, e.g. Java virtual machine [JVM], interpreters, emulators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/32 Flooding denial of service attacks H04L63/1458
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/66 Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/745 Address table lookup; Address filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• 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 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/50 Address allocation

Abstract

Aspects of the embodiments are directed to receiving an address resolution protocol (ARP) request message from a requesting virtual machine, the ARP request message comprising a request for a destination address for a destination virtual machine, wherein the destination address comprises one or both of a destination hardware address or a destination media access control address; augmenting the ARP request message with a network service header (NSH), the NSH identifying an ARP service function; and forwarding the augmented ARP request to the ARP service function.

Claims

1. One or more computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

receive an address resolution protocol (ARP) request message from a requesting virtual machine, the ARP request message comprising a request for a destination address for a destination virtual machine, wherein the destination address comprises one or both of a destination hardware address or a destination media access control address;

perform a look up in a border gateway protocol (BGP) table;

identify a destination address from the BGP table based on the ARP request; and

transmit the destination address to the virtual machine.

2. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the software is further operable to:

create an ARP reply message that comprises the destination address; and

transmit the destination address in the ARP reply message to the virtual machine.

3. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the software is further operable to:

update a forwarding table with the destination address for the destination virtual machine.

4. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 3, wherein the software is further operable to:

remove an entry for the destination address of the destination virtual machine from forwarding table after the expiration of a predetermined amount of time.

5. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the destination address comprises one or both of an internet protocol (IP) or media access control (MAC) address.

6. A network element for performing address resolution, the network element comprising:

at least one memory element having instruction stored thereon;

at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory element and configured to execute the instructions to cause the network element to;

receive an address resolution protocol (ARP) request message from a requesting virtual machine, the ARP request message comprising a request for a destination address for a destination virtual machine, wherein the destination address comprises one or both of a destination hardware address or a destination media access control address;

perform a look up in a border gateway protocol (BGP) table;

identify a destination address from the BGP table based on the ARP request; and

transmit the destination address to the virtual machine.

7. The network element of claim 6, the at least one processor configured to cause the network element to:

create an ARP reply message that comprises the destination address; and

transmit the destination address in the ARP reply message to the virtual machine.

8. The network element of claim 6, the at least one processor configured to cause the network element to update a forwarding table with the destination address for the destination virtual machine.

9. The network element of claim 7, the at least one processor configured to cause the network element to remove an entry for the destination address of the destination virtual machine from forwarding table after the expiration of a predetermined amount of time.

10. The network element of claim 6, wherein the destination address comprises one or both of an internet protocol (IP) or media access control (MAC) address.

12. The method claim 10, further comprising:

creating an ARP reply message that comprises the destination address; and

transmitting the destination address in the ARP reply message to the virtual machine.

13. The method claim 10, further comprising updating a forwarding table with the destination address for the destination virtual machine.

14. The method claim 12, further comprising removing an entry for the destination address of the destination virtual machine from forwarding table after the expiration of a predetermined amount of time.

11. A method comprising:

receiving an address resolution protocol (ARP) request message from a requesting virtual machine, the ARP request message comprising a request for a destination address for a destination virtual machine, wherein the destination address comprises one or both of a destination hardware address or a destination media access control address;

performing a look up in a border gateway protocol (BGP) table;

identifying a destination address from the BGP table based on the ARP request; and

transmitting the destination address to the virtual machine.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the destination address comprises one or both of an internet protocol (IP) or media access control (MAC) address.

16. One or more computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

receive, at an overlay edge network element, a packet destined for a virtual machine destination, the packet identifying a virtual machine destination address;

determine that the virtual machine destination has migrated to a new host site; and

forwarding the packet to the new host site.

17. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the software is further operable to receive from the virtual machine destination an update to the virtual machine destination address indicating the new host site.

18. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the software is further operable to update an address resolution protocol service function with information about the new host site for the virtual machine destination.

19. A network element for performing address resolution, the network element comprising:

at least one memory element having instruction stored thereon;

at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory element and configured to execute the instructions to cause the network element to;

receive, at an overlay edge network element, a packet destined for a virtual machine destination, the packet identifying a virtual machine destination address;

determine that the virtual machine destination has migrated to a new host site; and

forwarding the packet to the new host site.

20. The network element of claim 19, wherein the instructions are further operable to receive from the virtual machine destination an update to the virtual machine destination address indicating the new host site.

21. The network element of claim 19, wherein the instructions are further operable to update an address resolution protocol service function associated with the overlay edge network element with information about the new host site for the virtual machine destination