Health-aware overlay packet forwarding between tunnel endpoint (TEP) groups

A method for a first computer system to perform health-aware overlay packet forwarding in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment that includes the first computer system and a second computer system, wherein the method comprises:

• monitoring, by the first computer system, multiple paths between (a) a first tunnel endpoint (TEP) group supported by the first computer system and (b) a second TEP group supported by the second computer system, wherein the multiple paths include a first path and a second path;
• updating, by the first computer system, health information associated with the multiple paths to indicate that at least (a) the first path is healthy and (b) the second path is unhealthy;
• and
• in response to detecting an egress packet that is associated with a packet flow from a first virtualized computing instance supported by the first computer system to a second virtualized computing instance supported by the second computer system,
• mapping, by the first computer system, the egress packet to the first path instead of the second path based on the health information, wherein the first path is between (a) a first TEP from the first TEP group and (b) a second TEP from the second TEP group;
• and
• generating and forwarding, by the first computer system, an encapsulated packet along the first path towards the second computer system, wherein the encapsulated packet includes the egress packet and an outer header that is addressed from the first TEP to the second TEP.

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 health-aware overlay packet forwarding in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment that includes the computer system, being a first computer system, and a second computer system, wherein the method comprises:

• monitoring multiple paths between (a) a first tunnel endpoint (TEP) group supported by the first computer system and (b) a second TEP group supported by the second computer system, wherein the multiple paths include a first path and a second path;
• updating health information associated with the multiple paths to indicate that at least (a) the first path is healthy and (b) the second path is unhealthy;
• and
• in response to detecting an egress packet that is associated with a packet flow between a first virtualized computing instance supported by the first computer system and a second virtualized computing instance supported by the second computer system,
• based on the health information, mapping the egress packet to the first path instead of the second path, wherein the first path is between (a) a first TEP from the first TEP group and (b) a second TEP from the second TEP group;
• and
• generating and forwarding an encapsulated packet along the first path towards the second computer system, wherein the encapsulated packet includes the egress packet and an outer header that is addressed from the first TEP to the second TEP.