Method and system for network traffic steering towards a service device
Assigneec/o Arista Networks, Inc.
InventorsAnuraag Mittal, Aparna Karanjkar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for steering network traffic towards a service device. Specifically, the disclosed method and system entail the installation of multiple service devices around a network. Service policies are cloned across the multiple service devices, and further, each service device is assigned common virtual routing and bridging addresses. Using at least these common virtual routing and bridging addresses, intercept virtual tunnel end points (VTEPs) redirect or bridge network traffic to a service device.
Claims20
A method for steering a media access control (MAC) frame, comprising:
- receiving redirect criteria by an intercept virtual tunnel end point (VTEP);
- receiving, from a source host, the MAC frame comprising a set of data fields, wherein the set of data fields comprises an original virtual layer-2 (VL2) broadcast domain tag;
- making a first determination, based on a matching of at least one data field of the set of data fields with the redirect criteria, to steer the MAC frame towards a common virtual VTEP Internet Protocol (IP) address instead of a destination IP address specified in the MAC frame, wherein the destination IP address is associated with a first destination host;
- and
- transmitting, based on the first determination, the MAC frame towards a service device operatively connected to the common virtual VTEP IP address.
A system, comprising:
- a service device of a plurality of service devices;
- a plurality of network elements operatively connected to the plurality of service devices;
- a source host directly connected to a first network element of the plurality of network elements;
- and
- an intercept virtual tunnel end point (VTEP) executing on the first network element, and configured to:
- receive redirect criteria;
- receive, from the source host, a media access control (MAC) frame comprising a set of data fields, wherein the set of data fields comprises an original virtual layer-2 (VL2) broadcast domain tag;
- make a first determination, based on a matching of at least one data field of the set of data fields with the redirect criteria, to steer the MAC frame towards a common virtual VTEP Internet Protocol (IP) address instead of a destination IP address specified in the MAC frame, wherein the destination IP address is associated with a destination host;
- and
- transmit, based on the first determination, the MAC frame towards the service device, wherein the plurality of service devices is operatively connected to the common virtual VTEP IP address.
A non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by a computer processor, enables the computer processor to:
- receive redirect criteria by an intercept virtual tunnel end point (VTEP);
- receive, from a source host, a media access control (MAC) frame comprising a set of data fields, wherein the set of data fields comprises an original virtual layer-2 (VL2) broadcast domain tag;
- make a first determination, based on a matching of at least one data field of the set of data fields with the redirect criteria, to steer the MAC frame towards a common virtual VTEP Internet Protocol (IP) address instead of a destination IP address specified in the MAC frame, wherein the destination IP address is associated with a first destination host;
- and
- transmit, based on the first determination, the MAC frame towards a service device operatively connected to the common virtual VTEP IP address.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.