Indirect vxlan bridging

A method for forwarding packets, comprising:

• receiving, by a network element, an inner packet comprising a final bridging destination address;
• identifying an intermediate routing destination address using the final bridging destination address;
• generating, by the network element, an encapsulated packet comprising the inner packet and the intermediate routing destination address;
• and
• transmitting the encapsulated packet.

A network element, comprising:

• a processor;
• a plurality of ports;
• and
• a memory comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor perform a method, the method comprising:
• receiving, at a first port of the plurality of ports, a first encapsulated packet addressed to the network element;
• decapsulating the first encapsulated packet to obtain an inner packet comprising a final bridging destination address;
• identifying an intermediate routing destination address using the final bridging destination address;
• generating a second encapsulated packet comprising the inner packet and the intermediate routing destination address;
• and
• transmitting, using a second port of the plurality of ports, the second encapsulated packet.

A network element, comprising:

• a processor;
• a plurality of ports;
• and
• a memory comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor perform a method, the method comprising:
• receiving, at a first port of the plurality of ports, an inner packet comprising a final bridging destination address;
• identifying an intermediate routing destination address using the final bridging destination address;
• generating an encapsulated packet comprising the inner packet and the intermediate routing destination address;
• and
• transmitting, using a second port of the plurality of ports, the encapsulated packet.

A method for forwarding packets, comprising:

• receiving, by a network element, a first encapsulated packet;
• decapsulating the first encapsulated packet to obtain an inner packet;
• determining that the inner packet is to be broadcasted;
• identifying, based on the determining, a plurality of final bridging destination addresses;
• identifying a plurality of intermediate routing destination addresses associated with the plurality of final bridging destination addresses;
• generating, by the network element, a plurality of second encapsulated packets, wherein each of the plurality of second encapsulated packets comprises the inner packet and one of the plurality of intermediate routing destination addresses;
• and
• transmitting the plurality of second encapsulated packets.

A method for forwarding packets, comprising:

• receiving, by a network element, an encapsulated packet addressed to a second network element;
• identifying a final routing source address included in the encapsulated packet;
• replacing, using an intermediate routing source address, the final routing source address to obtain a rewritten encapsulated packet;
• and
• transmitting the rewritten encapsulated packet.