DATA CENTER ETHERNET SWITCH FABRIC

摘要

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for providing a multi-tenant data center Ethernet switch fabric that enables communications among virtual machines. A controller assigns location-based MAC addresses to the virtual machines and programs the Ethernet switch fabric to forward packets by the location information embedded in the location-based MAC addresses.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for enabling communications among a plurality of virtual machines via a switch fabric, the method comprising:
in said switch fabric comprising a plurality of Ethernet switches and a plurality of virtual switches, wherein said plurality of virtual switches and said plurality of virtual machines are running on a plurality of host machines, wherein each of said plurality of host machines hosts one of said plurality of virtual switches and a subset of said plurality of virtual machines, wherein said one of said plurality of virtual switches provides connectivity among said subset of said plurality of virtual machines and at least one of said plurality of Ethernet switches, and wherein each of said plurality of virtual machines belongs to one of at least one tenant group, assigning a MAC (Media Access Control) address to a virtual machine, of said plurality of virtual machines, wherein a set of bits of said MAC address identifies a location of said virtual machine in said switch fabric; and programming said switch fabric to forward a unicast packet destined to said MAC address by using at least one bit of said set of bits of said MAC address.