Address cache for tunnel endpoint associated with an overlay network

A system comprising:

• a virtual extensible local area network tunnel endpoint (VTEP) associated with an overlay network, the VTEP comprising:
• an address cache;
• and
• an address cache manager to:
• maintain the address cache to map internet protocol (IP) addresses of virtual machines in the overlay network to corresponding media access control (MAC) addresses of the virtual machines;
• receive an address resolution protocol (ARP) broadcast request from a first virtual machine hosted with the VTEP, the ARP broadcast request including a target IP address of a second virtual machine to resolve;
• access the address cache to identify a particular MAC address of the second virtual machine that maps to the target IP address;
• and
• locally respond to the ARP broadcast request to resolve the target IP address without broadcasting the ARP broadcast request to other virtual machines in the overlay network.

A non-transitory machine readable medium storing executable instructions to:

• maintain an address cache for a virtual extensible local area network tunnel endpoint (VTEP) associated with an overlay network, the address cache to map internet protocol (IP) addresses of virtual machines in the overlay network to corresponding media access control (MAC) addresses of the virtual machines;
• receive an address resolution protocol (ARP) broadcast request from a first virtual machine hosted with the VTEP, the ARP broadcast request including a target IP address of a second virtual machine to resolve;
• query the address cache determine whether an entry for the target IP address of the second virtual machine is stored in the address cache;
• and
• when the address cache stores an entry for the target IP address included in the ARP broadcast request:
• locally process the ARP broadcast request within the VTEP to resolve the target IP address of the second virtual machine without broadcasting the ARP broadcast request to other virtual machines in the overlay network;
• and
• when the address cache does not store an entry for the target IP address included in the ARP broadcast request:
• send an address cache query message to a different VTEP in the overlay network to determine whether an address cache of the different VTEP stores an entry for the target IP address of the second virtual machine;
• and
• receive an address cache response message from the different VTEP specifying a particular MAC address of the second virtual machine that maps to the target IP address as determined through the address cache of the different VTEP.