ARP OFFLOADING FOR MANAGED HARDWARE FORWARDING ELEMENTS

摘要

Some embodiments provide an ARP-offload service node for several managed hardware forwarding elements (MHFEs) in a datacenter in order to offload ARP query processing by the MHFEs. The MHFEs are managed elements because one or more network controllers (e.g., one or more management servers) send configuration data to the MHFEs to configure their operations. In some of these embodiments, the network controllers configure the MHFEs to create logical forwarding elements (e.g., logical switches, logical routers, etc.) each of which can span two or more managed forwarding elements.

主权项

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a service node program for processing address resolution protocol (ARP) in a network comprising a plurality of managed software forwarding elements (MSFE) and at least one managed hardware forwarding element (MHFE), the program comprising sets of instructions for:
at a service node,
receiving an ARP request from the MHFE;determining whether a layer 2 (L2) address for replying to the ARP request is stored locally at the service node;when the L2 address is not stored locally, replicating the ARP request and sending the replicated ARP request to a set of MSFEs;providing the L2 address to the MHFE when the L2 address is stored locally or when the L2 address is received from one of the MSFEs.