Media access control address learning for packets
AssigneeNicira, Inc.
InventorsZiyou WANG, Hua WANG, Anupam CHANDA, Jianjun SHEN, Donghai HAN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Certain embodiments described herein are generally directed to media access control (MAC) address learning for packets sent between end points (EPs) in a network (e.g., overlay network). For example, in some embodiments, VTEPs may be used to provide packet forwarding services, load balancing services, gateway services, etc., to EPs in the network. In certain embodiments, the VTEPs may be assigned unique labels, which are used by the VTEPs to map MAC addresses of packets to destination addresses for the packets.
Claims22
A method for performing media access control learning, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a destination VTEP (tunnel endpoint), an encapsulated packet, the encapsulated packet comprising a source address associated with an intermediate VTEP, a destination address associated with the destination VTEP, and a first label associated with a source VTEP, the encapsulated packet further comprising an inner packet, the inner packet comprising a source media access control address of a source endpoint;
- receiving, at the destination VTEP, information indicative of a plurality of labels and associated addresses of VTEPs;
- determining, by the destination VTEP, a first address associated with the source VTEP based on the first label and the information indicative of the plurality of labels and associated addresses of VTEPs;
- and
- mapping the first address of the source VTEP to the source media access control address of the source endpoint.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to be executed in a computer system, wherein the instructions when executed in the computer system perform a method for performing media access control learning, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a destination VTEP, an encapsulated packet, the encapsulated packet comprising a source address associated with an intermediate VTEP, a destination address associated with the destination VTEP, and a first label associated with a source VTEP, the encapsulated packet further comprising an inner packet, the inner packet comprising a source media access control address of a source endpoint;
- receiving, at the destination VTEP, information indicative of a plurality of labels and associated addresses of VTEPs;
- determining, by the destination VTEP, a first address associated with the source VTEP based on the first label and the information indicative of the plurality of labels and associated addresses of VTEPs;
- and
- mapping the first address of the source VTEP to the source media access control address of the source endpoint.
A computer system, wherein system software for the computer system is programmed to execute a method for performing media access control learning, said method comprising:
- receiving, at a destination VTEP, an encapsulated packet, the encapsulated packet comprising a source address associated with an intermediate VTEP, a destination address associated with the destination VTEP, and a first label associated with a source VTEP, the encapsulated packet further comprising an inner packet, the inner packet comprising a source media access control address of a source endpoint;
- receiving, at the destination VTEP, information indicative of a plurality of labels and associated addresses of VTEPs;
- determining, by the destination VTEP, a first address associated with the source VTEP based on the first label and the information indicative of the plurality of labels and associated addresses of VTEPs;
- and
- mapping the first address of the source VTEP to the source media access control address of the source endpoint.
A computer system comprising:
- means for receiving, at a destination VTEP, an encapsulated packet, the encapsulated packet comprising a source address associated with an intermediate VTEP, a destination address associated with the destination VTEP, and a first label associated with a source VTEP, the encapsulated packet further comprising an inner packet, the inner packet comprising a source media access control address of a source endpoint;
- means for receiving, at the destination VTEP, information indicative of a plurality of labels and associated addresses of VTEPs;
- means for determining, by the destination VTEP, a first address associated with the source VTEP based on the first label and the information indicative of the plurality of labels and associated addresses of VTEPs;
- and
- means for mapping the first address of the source VTEP to the source media access control address of the source endpoint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.