Overlay tunnel in a fabric switch

摘要

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.

主权项

1. A switch, comprising:
a tunnel management module configurable to:
operate the switch as a tunnel gateway capable of terminating an overlay tunnel;learn a MAC address of a virtual machine via a tunnel initiated by a first hypervisor associated with the virtual machine; andconstruct a message for a second hypervisor comprising an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first hypervisor in response to receiving a data frame with unknown destination from a virtual machine associated with the second hypervisor; and a packet processor configurable to identify in a data packet a virtual IP address associated with a virtual tunnel gateway, wherein the virtual tunnel gateway is associated with the switch; and a forwarding module configurable to determine an output port for an inner packet in the data packet based on a destination address of the inner packet.