One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a tunnel management module, a packet processor, and a forwarding module. The tunnel management module operates the switch as a tunnel gateway capable of terminating an overlay tunnel. During operation, the packet processor, which is coupled to the tunnel management module, identifies in a data packet a virtual Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with a virtual tunnel gateway. This virtual tunnel gateway is associated with the switch and the data packet is associated with the overlay tunnel. The forwarding module determines an output port for an inner packet in the data packet based on a destination address of the inner packet.

Overlay tunnel in a fabric switch

In a computer-implemented method, a port profile is associated with a virtual machine that requires a VLAN connection to an external network through an edge port. The port profile includes a VLAN identification associated with the VLAN connection and an edge port identification associated with the edge port. The method further comprises migrating the virtual machine from a first physical server to a second physical server, wherein both the first and second physical servers are in communication with a network switch comprising the edge port. After migrating the virtual machine to the second physical server, the virtual machine is automatically provided with a VLAN connection to the external network in accordance with the port profile associated with the virtual machine. Similarly, a port profile may be associated with a virtual machine as it is created and deployed to a server, wherein the VLAN connection is configured according to the associated port profile.

Automated network configuration in a dynamic virtual environment

One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch system. The switch includes one or more ports on the switch configured to transmit packets encapsulated based on a first protocol. The switch further includes a control mechanism. During operation, the control mechanism forms a logical switch based on a second protocol, receives an automatically assigned identifier for the logical switch without requiring manual configuration of the identifier, and joins a virtual cluster switch.

Virtual cluster switching

Embodiments of the invention relate to providing interoperability between hosts supporting multiple encapsulation. One embodiment includes a method that includes mapping packet encapsulation protocol type information for virtual switches. Each virtual switch is associated with one or more virtual machines (VMs). It is determined whether one or more common encapsulation protocol types exist for a first VM associated with a first virtual switch and a second VM associated with a second virtual switch based on the mapping. A common encapsulation protocol type is selected if it is determined that one or more common encapsulation protocol types exist for the first virtual switch and the second virtual switch. A packet is encapsulated for communication between the first VM and the second VM using the selected common encapsulation protocol type.

Interoperability for distributed overlay virtual environment

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for facilitating flow definition management in a switch. During operation, the system identifies a generic flow definition which specifies a flow that is not specific to any input port of a switch. The system further stores in a flow lookup data structure one or more port-specific flow rules based on the generic flow definition, wherein each port-specific flow rule corresponds to a respective port capable of processing data flows.

System and method for flow management in software-defined networks

An information handling system is provided. The information handling system includes a first hypervisor running on a first host and a second hypervisor running on a second host. The first hypervisor managing a first virtual switch, and the second hypervisor managing a second virtual switch. The information handling system also includes a plurality of virtual machines (VMs), including a first VM, which is part of a first tenant, running on the first host, and a second VM, part of a second tenant, running on the second host. The first virtual switch has a mapping in memory that maps a customer-specific multicast IP address, used by the plurality of VMs to indicate a multicast group that includes VMs on the first and second tenants, to a global multicast IP address used by the first and second hosts.

Systems and methods for providing multicast routing in an overlay network

An information handling system is provided. The information handling system includes a plurality of aggregation devices configured to distribute information in a virtual link trunk and a plurality of nodes coupled to the aggregation devices. When one of the plurality of aggregation devices received a reboot command, that aggregation device is configured to transmit a first message to the nodes indicating that the aggregation device is rebooting, receive a first acknowledgement message from the nodes indicating that they will not send any information to the rebooting aggregation device. The aggregation device is then configured to reboot, receive a second message from the nodes indicating the nodes are ready to receive information from the rebooted aggregation device, transmit a second acknowledgement message to the nodes indicating that the rebooted aggregation device has rebooted and is capable of receiving information, and receive information from at least one of the nodes for transmission to at least one other node.

System and method for reducing information loss in an aggregated information handling system

A packet switch receives a management packet sent for discovery on a data flow's path through a network. The switch creates a test packet (310T) which looks like a packet belonging to the data flow of interest. The test packet is processed by the switch like the data flow of interest except that the test packet is not necessarily transmitted. The processing results may include the egress ports for the test packet, and if the ports are part of a LAG or ECMP group, the results provide the group and the group members associated with the egress ports. Firewall actions and other information can be included. The switch may forward the results to the originator of the management packet. The switch may insert the results into the management packet and forward the management packet on the ports determined as egress ports for the test packet. Other features are also provided.

Use of test packets by packet switches in computer networks

An information handling system is provided. The information handling system includes a plurality of routing bridges coupled to at least one node. The node may be multihomed and logically coupled to the rest of the information handling system through a virtual routing bridge. Methods and systems are provided to allow multicast packets originating behind the virtual routing bridge to be properly handled to comply with reverse path forwarding. This may be accomplished by creating and selectively using a plurality of routing trees that include the paths between the virtual routing bridge and neighboring physical routing bridges.

Systems and methods providing reverse path forwarding compliance for a multihoming virtual routing bridge

Aspects of the present invention include extending routing capabilities to improve networking efficiencies. In embodiments, a spine-leaf network configuration may be provisioned as a single router to solve at least two issues: (1) local routing within a leaf; and (2) scalability of the hardware ARP table. In embodiments, one or more tables in the leaf node may be programmed so that data traffic coming from a first host in a first subnet or VLAN on the leaf and intended for a second host in a second subnet or VLAN on the leaf may be forwarded locally to the second host in the second subnet or VLAN without traversing to the spine layer.

Shivakumar Sundaram

Papers

Systems and methods for providing multicast routing in an overlay network

System and method for reducing information loss in an aggregated information handling system

Use of test packets by packet switches in computer networks

Systems and methods providing reverse path forwarding compliance for a multihoming virtual routing bridge

Routing in spine-leaf networking systems