Details for Patent: 9,912,616

Title:	Grouping tunnel endpoints of a bridge cluster
Abstract:	Some embodiments provide a method for a first managed forwarding element (MFE). The method receives a packet from a data compute node that connects to the MFE. The packet has a destination address that corresponds to a data compute node in a remote network. The method determines (i) a group of MFEs that form a bridge cluster for sending packets to the remote network and (ii) multiple tunnel endpoints for the group of MFEs, wherein each MFE in the group has at least one of the plurality of tunnel endpoints. The method selects one of the plurality of tunnel endpoints as a destination tunnel endpoint for the packet. The method encapsulates the packet with a source tunnel endpoint associated with the first MFE and the selected destination tunnel endpoint.
Inventor(s):	Shen; Jianjun (Beijing, CN), Tessmer; Alexander (Mountain View, CA), Hira; Mukesh (Palo Alto, CA), Thakkar; Pankaj (Cupertino, CA), Wang; Hua (Beijing, CN)
Assignee:	NICIRA, INC. (Palo Alto, CA)
Filing Date:	Dec 02, 2015
Application Number:	14/956,775
Claims:	1. For a first managed forwarding element (MFE), a method comprising: receiving a packet from a data compute node that connects to the MFE, the packet having a destination address that corresponds to a data compute node in a remote network; mapping (i) the destination address to a group identifier for a group of at least two MFEs that form a bridge cluster for sending packets to the remote network and (ii) the group identifier for the bridge cluster to a list of tunnel endpoints comprising a plurality of tunnel endpoints for the group of MFEs, wherein each MFE in the bridge cluster has at least one of the plurality of tunnel endpoints and operates as a separate forwarding element that connects to both the remote network and a local network of the first MFE; selecting one of the plurality of tunnel endpoints as a destination tunnel endpoint for the packet; and encapsulating the packet with a source tunnel endpoint associated with the first MFE and the selected destination tunnel endpoint. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the MFEs of the group of MFEs that form the bridge cluster are configured to bridge packets from the local network to the remote network. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data compute node is on the local network, wherein the local network is a first layer 2 network and the remote network is a second layer 2 network. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first layer 2 network is a logical overlay network and the second layer 2 network is a virtual local area network (VLAN). 5. The method of claim 4, wherein encapsulating the packet comprises using a tunneling protocol for encapsulation. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting one of the tunnel endpoints comprises: calculating a hash of a set of packet header values of the packet; and based on the hash, assigning the set of packet header values to a particular one of the plurality of tunnel endpoints. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the set of packet header values comprises the destination address. 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the set of packet header values comprises source and destination network layer addresses, source and destination transport layer port numbers, and a transport layer protocol. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tunnel endpoints is a first plurality of tunnel endpoints, wherein a second plurality of tunnel endpoints are associated with the first MFE, the method further comprising selecting the source tunnel endpoint from the second plurality of tunnel endpoints associated with the first MFE. 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the encapsulated packet onto a physical network between the source tunnel endpoint and the destination tunnel endpoint. 11. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a first managed forwarding element (MFE) for execution by at least one processing unit, the MFE comprising sets of instructions for: receiving a packet from a data compute node that connects to the MFE, the packet having a destination address that corresponds to a data compute node in a remote network; mapping (i) the destination address to a group identifier for a group of at least two MFEs that form a bridge cluster for sending packets to the remote network and (ii) the group identifier for the bridge cluster to a list of tunnel endpoints comprising a plurality of tunnel endpoints for the group of MFEs, wherein each MFE in the bridge cluster has at least one of the plurality of tunnel endpoints and operates as a separate forwarding element that connects to both the remote network and a local network of the first MFE; selecting one of the plurality of tunnel endpoints as a destination tunnel endpoint for the packet; and encapsulating the packet with a source tunnel endpoint associated with the first MFE and the selected destination tunnel endpoint. 12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the MFEs of the group of MFEs that form the bridge cluster are configured to bridge packets from the local network to the remote network. 13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the data compute node is on the local network, wherein the local network is a first layer 2 network and the remote network is a second layer 2 network. 14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first layer 2 network is a logical overlay network and the second layer 2 network is a virtual local area network (VLAN), wherein the set of instructions for encapsulating the packet comprises a set of instructions for using a tunneling protocol for encapsulation. 15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the set of instructions for selecting one of the tunnel endpoints comprises a set of instructions for: calculating a hash of a set of packet header values of the packet; and based on the hash, assigning the set of packet header values to a particular one of the plurality of tunnel endpoints. 16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the set of packet header values comprises the destination address. 17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the set of packet header values comprises source and destination network layer addresses, source and destination transport layer port numbers, and a transport layer protocol. 18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the plurality of tunnel endpoints is a first plurality of tunnel endopints, wherien a second plurality of tunnel endpoints are associated with the first MFE, the first MFE further comprising a set of instructions for selecting the source tunnel endpoint from the second plurality of tunnel endpoints associated with the first MFE.