Distributed logical L3 routing

• US 9,369,426 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2012
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Koponen, Teemu, Zhang, Ronghua, Casado, Martin, Thakkar, Pankaj, Gross, Jesse E. IV, Wendlandt, Daniel J., Mahajan, Mehak
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu, Wutchung
• Application Number:
  US13/589,062
• Publication Number:
  US 20130044636A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: 370253-254, 370/392, 370/400, 370/396
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/54 Organization of routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• 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 61/256 NAT traversal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2592 using tunnelling or encapsulation

Abstract

A novel method for configuring first and second managed forwarding elements to perform logical L2 switching and L3 routing is described. The method generates a first set of flow entries for configuring the first managed forwarding element to perform logical L2 ingress processing and L3 routing processing. The method generates a second set of flow entries for configuring the second managed forwarding element to performing logical L2 egress processing.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium for storing a program for configuring a plurality of managed forwarding elements (MFEs) to perform logical L2 switching and L3 routing, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

generating a first set of data records for configuring a first MFE to install a first set of flow entries implementing a first logical switching element, a logical routing element, and a second logical switching element, the first set of flow entries applied by the first MFE to implement (i) logical L2 processing for the first logical switching element, logical L3 routing for the logical routing element, and logical L2 ingress processing for the second logical switching element on packets sent by a first machine that operates on a same first physical host machine as the first MFE and (ii) logical L2 egress processing for the first logical switching element on packets sent to the first machine; and

generating a second set of data records for configuring a second MFE to install a second set of flow entries implementing the first logical switching element, the logical routing element, and the second logical switching element, the second set of flow entries applied by the second MFE to implement (i) logical L2 processing for the second logical switching element, logical L3 routing for the logical routing element, and logical L2 ingress processing for the first logical switching element on packets sent by a second machine that operates on a same second physical host machine as the second MFE and (ii) logical L2 egress processing for the second logical switching element on packets sent to the second machine.

2. The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for configuring the first and second managed forwarding elements to create a tunnel for sending packets to each other.

3. The machine readable medium of claim 2, wherein the set of instructions for configuring the first and second MFEs to create the tunnel comprises a set of instructions for generating a third set of data records for configuring the first MFE to install a third set of flow entries directing the first MFE to send packets with a destination address corresponding to the second machine to the second MFE via the tunnel.

4. The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first set of flow entries are applied by the first managed forwarding element to perform logical L2 ingress access control list (ACL) operations as part of the logical L2 processing for the first logical switching element on packets sent by the first machine.

5. The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second set of flow entries are applied by the second managed forwarding element to perform logical L2 egress access control list (ACL) operations as part of the logical L2 egress processing for the second logical switching element on packets sent to the second machine.

6. The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first logical switching element couples to a first set of machines including the first machine and excluding the second machine, the second logical switching element couples to a second set of machines including the second machine and excluding the first machine, and the logical routing element couples to the first and second logical switching elements.

7. An electronic device operating as a network controller instance, the electronic device comprising:

a set of processing units for executing sets of instructions; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium for storing a program which when executed by at least one of the processing units configures a plurality of managed forwarding elements (MFEs) to perform logical L2 switching and L3 routing, the program comprising sets of instructions for;

generating a first set of data records for configuring a first MFE to install a first set of flow entries implementing a first logical switching element, a logical routing element, and a second logical switching element, the first set of flow entries applied by the first MFE to implement (i), logical L2 processing for the first logical switching element, logical L3 routing for the logical routing element, and logical L2 ingress processing for the second logical switching element on packets sent by a first machine that operates on a same first physical host machine as the first MFE and (ii) logical L2 egress processing for the first logical switching element on packets sent to the first machine; and

generating a second set of for configuring a second to install a second set of flow entries implementing the first logical switching element, the logical routing element, and the second logical switching element, the second set of flow entries applied by the first MFE to implement (i) logical L2 processing for the second logical switching element, logical L3 routing for the logical routing element, and logical L2 ingress processing for the first logical switching element on packets sent by a second machine that operates on a same second physical host machine as the second MFE and (ii) logical L2 egress processing for the second logical switching element on packets sent to the second machine.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for configuring the first and second managed forwarding elements to establish a tunnel for sending packets to each other.

9. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the logical L2 processing for a particular logical switching element comprises logical L2 ingress and egress access control list (ACL) operations.

10. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the first logical switching element couples to a first set of machines including the first machine and excluding the second machine, the second logical switching element couples to a second set of machines including the second machine and excluding the first machine, and the logical routing element couples to the first and second logical switching elements.

11. A method for configuring a plurality of managed forwarding elements (MFEs) to perform logical L2 switching and L3 routing, the method comprising:

generating a first set of data records for configuring a first MFE to install a first set of flow entries implementing a first logical switching element, a logical routing element, and a second logical switching element, the first set of flow entries applied by the first MFE to implement (i) logical L2 processing for the first logical switching element logical L3 routing for the logical routing element and logical L2 ingress processing for the second logical switching element on packets sent by a first machine that operates on a same first physical host machine as the first MFE and (ii) logical L2 egress processing for the first logical switching element on packets sent to the first machine; and

generating a second set of data records for configuring a second MFE to install a second set of flow entries implementing the first logical switching element, the logical routing element, and the second logical switching element, the second set of flow entries applied by the first MFE to implement (i) logical L2 processing for the second logical switching element, logical L3 routing for the logical routing element, and logical L2 ingress processing for the first logical switching element on packets sent by a second machine that operates on a same second physical host machine as the second MFE and (ii) logical L2 egress processing for the second logical switching element on packets sent to the second machine.

12. The method of claim 11 further configuring the first and second managed forwarding elements to create a tunnel for sending packets to each other.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein configuring the first and second MFEs to create the tunnel comprises generating a third set of data records for configuring the first MFE to install a third set of flow entries directing the first MFE to send packets with a destination address corresponding to the second machine to the second MFE via the tunnel.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first set of flow entries are applied by the first managed forwarding element to perform logical L2 ingress access control list (ACL) operations as part of the logical L2 processing for the first logical switching element on packets sent by the first machine.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the second set of flow entries are applied by the second managed forwarding element to perform logical L2 egress access control list (ACL) operations as part of the logical L2 egress processing for the second logical switching element on packets sent to the second machine.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first logical switching element couples to a first set of machines including the first machine and excluding the second machine, the second logical switching element couples to a second set of machines including the second machine and excluding the first machine, and the logical routing element couples to the first and second logical switching elements.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the logical L2 processing for the first logical switching element performed by the first MFE for a particular packet sent by the first machine comprises ingress processing, logical switching based on a destination MAC address of the particular packet, and logical egress processing.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the logical switching identifies a logical egress port of the first logical switching element for the particular packet, the logical egress port corresponding to the logical routing element.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the logical L3 routing for the logical routing element performed by the first MFE for a particular packet sent by the first machine comprises identifying a logical egress port of the logical routing element based on a destination IP address of the particular packet.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the logical egress port corresponds to the second logical switching element.