Method and system for network traffic steering towards a service device

The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the MAC frame towards the service device, comprises:

• identifying, using an association, the intercept VTEP as one of a plurality of service VTEPs associated with the common virtual VTEP IP address, wherein the association relates the destination host to a network element, wherein the intercept VTEP is executing on the network element;
• and
• bridging, based on the identifying, the MAC frame to the service device, wherein the service device is directly connected to the network element. The method of claim 2, further comprising:
• prior to receiving the redirect criteria:
• learning, by the intercept VTEP, a first MAC address associated with the destination host on a network interface on the network element, wherein the network interface connects to the service device;
• generating and storing the association, wherein the association comprises the first MAC address and the network interface;
• sharing, with a cloud service, the first MAC address and the common virtual VTEP IP address;
• receiving, from the cloud service, a second MAC address associated with a second destination host and a VTEP IP address;
• making a second determination that the VTEP IP address matches the common virtual VTEP IP address;
• and
• updating, based on the second determination, the association to further comprise the second MAC 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. The system of claim 7, further comprising:
• a cloud service operatively connected to the plurality of network elements,
• wherein the intercept VTEP receives the redirect criteria from the cloud service.

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.