Implementation of virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) in top-of-rack switches in a network environment

摘要

An example method for implementation of virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) in top-of-rack (ToR) switches in a network environment is provided and includes receiving a packet encapsulated with a VXLAN header having an unknown virtual tunnel endpoint (VTEP) Internet Protocol (IP) address in a network environment, and installing an entry at an index location of a forwarding table. The index location includes an encoding of the VTEP-IP address as a VTEP index (VTEP-IDX), and the entry maps a VXLAN interface to an IP address associated with a VXLAN network identifier (VNI). In specific embodiments, the VTEP-IDX is log N bits, where N is a size of the forwarding table. The forwarding table indicates a destination VTEP IP address when encapsulating the packet, and the source VTEP IP address when decapsulating the packet.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a Top-Of-Rack (ToR) switch, a packet encapsulated with a virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) header from a virtual tunnel endpoint (VTEP) having an unknown VTEP-Internet Protocol (IP) address in a network environment; converting, by the ToR switch, the unknown VTEP-IP address to a smaller sized VTEP index (VTEP-IDX) serving as a unique identifier of the VTEP having the unknown VTEP-IP address; and installing an entry at an index location of a forwarding table, wherein the index location comprises the VTEP-IDX, wherein the entry maps a combination of a VXLAN network identifier (VNI) and an IP address indicated in an inner header of the packet to a bridge domain (BD) corresponding to a VXLAN interface, wherein the entry in the forwarding table is used by encapsulation and decapsulation processes at the ToR switch for deriving a destination VTEP IP address and source VTEP IP address of subsequent packets to and from the VTEP, respectively.