Managing traffic for endpoints in data center environments to provide cloud management connectivity

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
• determining, by an agent running on an endpoint device, to perform a management operation, wherein performance of the management operation includes communicating with a gateway proxy in the data center that provides connectivity to a cloud management platform;
• assigning a first Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Link-Local Address (LLA) to the endpoint device in the data center;
• assigning a second IPV6 LLA to the gateway proxy associated with the data center;
• assigning a Virtual Tunnel Endpoint (VTEP) address to the gateway proxy;
• receiving, at the endpoint device, the second IPV6 LLA that is associated with the gateway proxy;
• populating, by the endpoint device, a Layer 2 (L2) packet with the first IPV6 LLA as a first source IP address and the second IPv6 LLA as a first destination IP address, wherein the L2 packet includes information associated with performance of the management operation;
• sending, from the endpoint device, the L2 packet over a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) to a switch in the data center to which the endpoint device is attached;
• encapsulating, at the switch, the first packet using an encapsulation protocol to generate a Layer-3 (L3) packet, the L3 packet having the VTEP address associated with the gateway proxy as a second destination address;
• sending, from the switch, the L3 packet via a virtual tunnel in the data center to the VTEP address associated with the gateway proxy located in the data center;
• decapsulating, at the gateway proxy, the L3 packet to result in the L2 packet;
• and
• sending, from the gateway proxy, the information included in the L2 packet to the cloud management platform over a network that is external to the data center.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• determining, by an agent running on an endpoint device, to perform a management operation, wherein performance of the management operation includes communicating with a gateway proxy in the data center that provides connectivity to a cloud management platform;
• assigning a first Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Link-Local Address (LLA) to the endpoint device in the data center;
• assigning a second IPV6 LLA to the gateway proxy associated with the data center;
• assigning a Virtual Tunnel Endpoint (VTEP) address to the gateway proxy;
• receiving, at the endpoint device, the second IPV6 LLA that is associated with the gateway proxy;
• populating, by the endpoint device, a Layer 2 (L2) packet with the first IPV6 LLA as a first source IP address and the second IPV6 LLA as a first destination IP address, wherein the L2 packet includes information associated with performance of the management operation;
• sending, from the endpoint device, the L2 packet over a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) to a switch in the data center to which the endpoint device is attached;
• encapsulating, at the switch, the first packet using an encapsulation protocol to generate a Layer-3 (L3) packet, the L3 packet having the VTEP address associated with the gateway proxy as a second destination address;
• sending, from the switch, the L3 packet via a virtual tunnel in the data center to the VTEP address associated with the gateway proxy located in the data center;
• decapsulating, at the gateway proxy, the L3 packet to result in the L2 packet;
• and
• sending, from the gateway proxy, the information included in the L2 packet to the cloud management platform over a network that is external to the data center.