Topology-aware control information dissemination in software-defined networking environments

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that includes a set of instructions which, in response to execution by a processor of a computer system, cause the processor to perform a method of topology-aware control information dissemination in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment that includes the computer system and a plurality of hosts, wherein the method comprises:

• configuring a plurality of network groups each to support one or more entity-type members and one or more address-type members, wherein the one or more entity-type members include a logical switch port, a logical switch, and a logical router and the one or more address-type members include an IP address and a MAC address, wherein the entity-type members are different from the address-type members;
• configuring a plurality of network configuration objects each to support a first field and a second field, wherein the first field references the one or more address-type members, the second field references the one or more entity-type members, and the first field is different from the second field;
• obtaining group topology information specifying a first network group and a second network group from the plurality of network groups, and a network configuration object from the plurality of network configuration objects that references the first network group;
• determining that the first network group is referenced by the second field of the network configuration object;
• and
• in response to the determining, generating and sending, only to each corresponding host of the plurality of hosts, first control information associated with a corresponding subset of the first network group, wherein the corresponding subset includes (1) any entity-type member supported by the corresponding host and (2) any address-type member that matches a required type of the first field of the network configuration object during an implementation of the network configuration object but excludes (1) any entity-type member not supported by the corresponding host and (2) any address-type member that is referenced only by the second field of the network configuration object during the implementation of the network configuration object.

A computer system configured to perform topology-aware control information dissemination in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment that includes the computer system and a plurality of hosts, wherein the computer system comprises:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• configure a plurality of network groups each to support one or more entity-type members and one or more address-type members, wherein the one or more entity-type members include a logical switch port, a logical switch, and a logical router and the one or more address-type members include an IP address and a MAC address, wherein the entity-type members are different from the address-type members;
• configure a plurality of network configuration objects each to support a first field and a second field, wherein the first field references the one or more address-type members, the second field references the one or more entity-type members, and the first field is different from the second field;
• obtain group topology information specifying a first network group and a second network group from the plurality of network groups, and a network configuration object from the plurality of network configuration objects that references the first network group;
• determine that the first network group is referenced by the second field of the network configuration object;
• and
• in response to determining that the first network group is referenced by the second field, generate and send, only to each corresponding host of the plurality of hosts, first control information associated with a corresponding subset of the first network group, wherein the corresponding subset includes (1) any entity-type member supported by the corresponding host and (2) any address-type member that matches a required type of the first field of the network configuration object during an implementation of the network configuration object but excludes (1) any entity-type member not supported by the corresponding host and (2) any address-type member that is referenced only by the second field of the network configuration object during the implementation of the network configuration object.