System and method for live migration of a virtualized networking stack

A system, comprising:

• a source host including one or more processors;
• a migration guest running on the source host;
• a target host in communication with the source host;
• and
• an other guest in communication with the migration guest on the source host, the other guest being a virtual machine;
• wherein:
• the other guest is configured to send a lookup request to a network controller, and receive a token for communicating directly with the migration guest on the target host wherein the token is sent by the network controller and received at the other guest in response to the lookup request;
• the target host is configured to send packets directly to the other guest upon completion of migration of the migration guest;
• and
• the other guest is configured to determine when a packet is received directly from the target host, to use the token to authenticate and set up an egress path from the other guest to the target host in response, and to send packets directly to the migration guest on the target host.

A method, comprising:

• receiving, at a migration guest on a source host, an indication that the migration guest will be migrated from the source host to a target host;
• changing, by the migration guest, a state of the migration guest from a first state to a second state in response to receiving the indication, wherein in the second state the migration guest completes existing tasks without accepting new task;
• copying the migration guest from the source host to the target host;
• sending, by the migration guest on the target host, one or more packets directly to an other guest, the one or more packets indicating to the other guest that migration is complete, the other guest being a virtual machine;
• and
• receiving, by the migration guest on the target host, packets directly from the other guest through an egress path specified by a token at the other guest, wherein the token is sent by a network controller and received at the other guest in response to a lookup request.