Interoperability for distributed overlay virtual environment

• US 9,749,145 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2016
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Banavalikar, Bhalachandra G., Biswas, Amitabha, Jain, Vinit, Kidambi, Jayakrishna
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAN, SAI MING
• Application Number:
  US15/132,092
• Publication Number:
  US 20160234033A1
• Time in Patent Office: 498 Days
• Field of Search: 370254
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/28 characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] wireless communication networks H04W ; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/783 Distributed allocation of resources, e.g. bandwidth brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/354 for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/03 Protocol definition or specification protocol conformance testing H04L1/244
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method includes receiving tunnel information and end point information in response to a request to a distributed cluster. A common tunnel type supported by a source switch and a destination switch is selected. A packet is encapsulated with the common tunnel type supported by the source switch and the destination switch for a destination virtual machine (VM).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving tunnel information and end point information in response to a request to a distributed cluster;

selecting a common tunnel type supported by a source switch and a destination switch; and

encapsulating a packet with the common tunnel type supported by the source switch and the destination switch for a destination virtual machine (VM),

wherein a node of the distributed cluster switches with encapsulation of tunnel types that are supported by each switch.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a request for tunnel information and includes a request for the end point Internet Protocol (IP) address and a network identifier for communicating with the destination VM.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the end point information comprises a virtual network identifier (VNID), an end point media access control (MAC) address, and an end point Internet Protocol (IP) address; and

the tunnel information comprises the VNID, a tunnel end point (TEP) port, an IP address value, tunnel type supported by the source switch, and a translation gateway and tunnel types supported by the translation gateway.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the distributed cluster comprises a distributed overlay virtual Ethernet (DOVE) connectivity service (DCS) cluster, the node is a DCS node of the DCS cluster, the node enhances mapping of the tunnel information of the MAC address of VMs, and the DCS node maintains a list of each available translation gateway and maps each available translation gateway in the list with encapsulation protocol and tunnel type translation capabilities.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the DCS node creates a list of supported tunnel types that are supported by each switch and assigns a priority for each supported tunnel type supported for each switch;

the priority is determined based on one of;

a number of switches that support a particular tunnel type, a particular preference, and efficiency of processing particular tunnel types;

the list of supported tunnel types is sorted in priority order; and

the source virtual switch selects the common tunnel type supported by the source switch and the destination switch based on priority.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein translation via a translation gateway is not required for the selected common tunnel type.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the packet is encapsulated by adding encapsulation formatted fields comprising:

an outer media access control (MAC) address, an outer IP address, user datagram protocol (UDP), and an encapsulation protocol header, and the encapsulation protocol header comprises a format of a specific encapsulation protocol type.

8. A computer system comprising a processor, a computer readable memory, a computer readable storage device, and program code stored on the computer readable storage device for execution by the processor via the computer readable memory to perform a method comprising:

receiving tunnel information and end point information in response to a request to a distributed cluster;

selecting a common tunnel type supported by a source switch and a destination switch; and

encapsulating a packet with the common tunnel type supported by the source switch and the destination switch for a destination virtual machine (VM),

wherein a node of the distributed cluster switches with encapsulation of tunnel types that are supported by each switch.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the request comprises a request for tunnel information including a request for the end point Internet Protocol (IP) address and a network identifier for communicating with the destination VM.

10. The computer system of claim 8, wherein:

the end point information comprises a virtual network identifier (VNID), an end point media access control (MAC) address, and an end point Internet Protocol (IP) address; and

the tunnel information comprises the VNID, a tunnel end point (TEP) port, an IP address value, tunnel type supported by the source switch, and a translation gateway and tunnel types supported by the translation gateway.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the distributed cluster comprises a distributed overlay virtual Ethernet (DOVE) connectivity service (DCS) cluster, the node is a DCS node, the DCS node maps the tunnel information of the MAC address of VMs, and the DCS node maintains a list of each available translation gateway and maps each available translation gateway in the list with encapsulation protocol and tunnel type translation capabilities.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein:

the DCS node creates a list of supported tunnel types that are supported by each virtual switch and assigns a priority for each supported tunnel type supported for each virtual switch;

the priority is determined by the DCS node based on one of;

a number of virtual switches that support a particular tunnel type, a particular preference, and efficiency of processing particular tunnel types;

the list of supported tunnel types is sorted by the DCS node in priority order; and

the source virtual switch selects the common tunnel type supported by the source virtual switch and the destination virtual switch based on priority.

13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the packet is encapsulated by the source virtual switch by adding encapsulation formatted fields comprising:

an outer media access control (MAC) address, an outer IP address, user datagram protocol (UDP), and an encapsulation protocol header, and the encapsulation protocol header comprises a format of a specific encapsulation protocol type.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by the processor, tunnel information and end point information in response to a request to a distributed cluster;

selecting, by the processor, a common tunnel type supported by a source switch and a destination switch; and

encapsulating, by the processor, a packet with the common tunnel type supported by the source switch and the destination switch for a destination virtual machine (VM),

wherein a node of the distributed cluster switches with encapsulation of tunnel types that are supported by each switch.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the request comprises a request for tunnel information including a request for the end point Internet Protocol (IP) address and a network identifier for communicating with the destination VM.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein:

the end point information comprises a virtual network identifier (VNID), an end point media access control (MAC) address, and an end point Internet Protocol (IP) address; and

the tunnel information comprises the VNID, a tunnel end point (TEP) port, an IP address value, tunnel type supported by the source switch, and a translation gateway and tunnel types supported by the translation gateway.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein mapping of the tunnel information of the MAC address of VMs and switches is enhanced with encapsulation of tunnel types that are supported by each switch, a list of each available translation gateway is maintained, and each available translation gateway in the list is mapped with encapsulation protocol and tunnel type translation capabilities.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

creating, by the processor, a list of supported tunnel types that are supported by each switch;

assigning, by the processor, a priority for each supported tunnel type supported for each switch;

determining, by the processor, the priority based on one of;

a number of switches that support a particular tunnel type, a particular preference, and efficiency of processing particular tunnel types; and

sorting, by the processor, the list of supported tunnel types in priority order;

wherein selecting the common tunnel type supported by the source switch and the destination switch is based on priority.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the selected common tunnel type results in avoiding performing of a translation via a translation gateway, and the distributed cluster comprises a distributed overlay virtual Ethernet (DOVE) connectivity service (DCS) cluster.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein encapsulating further comprises adding, by the processor, encapsulation formatted fields comprising:

an outer media access control (MAC) address, an outer IP address, user datagram protocol (UDP), and an encapsulation protocol header, and the encapsulation protocol header comprises a format of a specific encapsulation protocol type.