CONNECTING FABRICS VIA SWITCH-TO-SWITCH TUNNELING TRANSPARENT TO NETWORK SERVERS

摘要

A network switch includes ports, memory, and a processor. The switch is operable to switch packets of a layer 2 network, and the memory is for storing a tunneling engine computer program. The processor executes the tunneling engine, where the processor identifies a second switch operable to switch layer-2 network packets. The identification includes detecting that the second switch is connected to the network switch over a layer 3 connection, and the tunneling engine creates a tunnel over the layer 3 connection between the switches to exchange layer-2 packets. The tunnels encapsulates and decapsulates the packets that are exchanged between the switches. When the processor determines that a packet from a first node to a second node that is connected to the second switch, the processor creates an encapsulation flow on the network switch to encapsulate packets from the first node to the second node over the tunnel.

主权项

1. A network switch comprising:
a plurality of ports, the network switch being operable to switch packets of a layer 2 network received on the plurality of ports; a memory for storing a tunneling engine computer program; and a processor operable to execute the tunneling engine, wherein the processor is operable to identify a second switch operable to switch packets of the layer 2 network, the identification including detecting that the second switch is connected to the network switch over a layer 3 connection, wherein the tunneling engine is operable to create a tunnel over the layer 3 connection between the network switch and the second switch to exchange packets of the layer 2 network, the exchange of packets over the tunnel including encapsulation and decapsulation of the packets that are exchanged between the network switch and the second switch, wherein when the processor determines that a received packet of the layer 2 network is from a first node and addressed to a second node, where the second node is connected to the second switch, the processor creates an encapsulation flow on the network switch to encapsulate packets from the first node to the second node over the tunnel.