Intelligent Handling of Virtual Machine Mobility in Large Data Center Environments

摘要

At a physical device in a network configured to host a virtual switch and one or more virtual machines, a packet is received at the virtual switch from a source virtual machine that is directly attached to that virtual switch. A destination Media Access Control (MAC) address is identified from the packet indicating a destination virtual machine for the packet. In response to determining that the destination MAC address of the packet is not present in a database of MAC addresses accessible by the virtual switch, the destination MAC address of the packet is replaced with a shared MAC address associated with a plurality of physical switches in the network.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
at a physical device in a network configured to host a virtual switch and one or more virtual machines, receiving a packet at the physical device hosting the virtual switch from a source virtual machine that is in communication with the virtual switch; identifying from the packet, a destination Media Access Control (MAC) address indicating a destination virtual machine for the packet; determining whether the destination MAC address of the packet is a unicast address or multicast address and whether the destination MAC is present in a database of MAC addresses accessible by the virtual switch; and if the determining indicates that the destination MAC address is not present in the database and is a unicast destination MAC address, replacing the destination MAC address of the packet with a shared MAC address.