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US 9,866,406 B2Granted
Overlay switch
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJing He, Denghui Huang, Jin Ming Shang, Yun Sun
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention discloses an overlay switch (OSW) and a method used by the same. A received unicast packet needs to pass a waypoint chain including a number of waypoints. A network address of a first waypoint of the waypoint chain and an underlay network address of a second OSW connected to the first waypoint are obtained. In response to a determination that the second OSW is not the first OSW the unicast packet is encapsulated into a first underlay network packet according to a specification of an overlay network. A field of a destination header of the first underlay network packet includes the underlay network address of the second OSW. The first underlay network packet is sent to the second OSW.
Claims20
A method used by an overlay switch (OSW), comprising:
- in response to receiving a unicast packet to be sent to a first OSW, wherein the unicast packet needs to pass a waypoint chain including a number of waypoints, executing steps of:
- obtaining a network address of a first waypoint of the waypoint chain and an underlay network address of a second OSW connected to the first waypoint;
- in response to a determination that the second OSW is not the first OSW, encapsulating the unicast packet into a first underlay network packet according to a specification of an overlay network, wherein a field of a destination header of the first underlay network packet includes the underlay network address of the second OSW;
- in response to a determination that there are a plurality of waypoints in the waypoint chain that are connected to one OSW, adding to the first underlay network packet an index of a next waypoint in the waypoint chain to which the first underlay network packet is to be sent;
- sending the first underlay network packet to the second OSW;
- in response to receiving a second underlay network packet, executing steps of:
- determining whether the second underlay network packet needs to be sent to a Kth waypoint in the waypoint chain, wherein, K is a positive integer;
- responsive to a determination that the second underlay network packet needs to be sent to a Kth waypoint, de-capsulating the second underlay network packet to obtain its overlay network packet;
- and sending the overlay network packet to the Kth waypoint.
6 more elements
A computer program product for an overlay switch (OSW), comprising:
- one or more computer-readable storage media and program instructions comprising:
- program instructions to receive a unicast packet, wherein the unicast packet needs to pass a waypoint chain consisting of a number of waypoints;
- program instructions to obtain a network address of a first waypoint of the waypoint chain and an underlay network address of a second OSW connected to the first waypoint;
- program instructions to respond to a determination that the second OSW is not a first OSW by encapsulating the unicast packet into a first underlay network packet according to a specification of an overlay network, wherein a field of a destination header of the first underlay network packet includes the underlay network address of the second OSW program instructions to respond to a determination that there are a plurality of waypoints in a waypoint chain that are connected to one OSW by adding to an underlay network packet an index of a next waypoint in the waypoint chain to which that underlay network packet is to be sent;
- program instructions to send the first underlay network packet to the second OSW;
- program instructions to receive a second underlay network packet;
- program instructions to determine whether the second underlay network packet needs to be sent to a Kth waypoint in the waypoint chain, wherein, K is a positive integer;
- program instructions to respond to a determination that the second underlay network packet needs to be sent to a Kth waypoint by i) de-capsulating the second underlay network packet to obtain its overlay network packet, and ii) sending that overlay network packet to the Kth waypoint.
5 more elements
A computer system that has an overlay switch (OSW), comprising:
- one or more computer processors;
- one or more computer readable storage medium;
- program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions of the OSW comprising:
- program instructions to receive a unicast packet, wherein the unicast packet needs to pass a waypoint chain consisting of a number of waypoints;
- program instructions to obtain a network address of a first waypoint of the waypoint chain and an underlay network address of a second OSW connected to the first waypoint;
- program instructions to respond to a determination that the second OSW is not a first OSW by encapsulating the unicast packet into a first underlay network packet according to a specification of an overlay network, wherein a field of a destination header of the first underlay network packet includes the underlay network address of the second OSW;
- program instructions to respond to a determination that there are a plurality of waypoints in a waypoint chain that are connected to one OSW by adding to an underlay network packet an index of a next waypoint in the waypoint chain to which that underlay network packet is to be sent;
- program instructions to send the first underlay network packet to the second OSW;
- program instructions to receive a second underlay network packet;
- program instructions to determine whether the second underlay network packet needs to be sent to a Kth waypoint in the waypoint chain, wherein, K is a positive integer;
- program instructions to respond to a determination that the second underlay network packet needs to be sent to a Kth waypoint by i) de-capsulating the second underlay network packet to obtain its overlay network packet, and ii) sending that overlay network packet to the K′h waypoint.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.