Extensible control plane for network management in a virtual infrastructure environment

A method of managing communications in a virtual infrastructure environment comprising a plurality of nodes, comprising the steps of:

• a. receiving, at a top of rack router, a first data packet from outside the virtual infrastructure environment having multiple possible endpoints within a network environment,
• b. writing, at the top of rack router, an index location for the first data packet on a forwarding table, wherein the index location comprises an endpoint address readable by an extensible network control plane that extends to a plurality of nodes within the virtual infrastructure environment;
• c. replacing, at the top of rack router, original source information in the first data packet with new destination information that includes the endpoint address readable by the extensible network control plane;
• and
• d. forwarding the first data packet to a desired endpoint location within a particular node of the virtual infrastructure environment corresponding to the endpoint address.