Nicira, Inc.

Vmware, Inc.

ChiHsiang Su

Piyush Kothari

Sachin Thakkar

Jia Yu

Nilesh Ramchandra Nipane

Mukesh Baphna

Minjal Agarwal

Ganesan Chandrashekhar

Dileep Kumar Devireddy

Abhishek Goliya

Sachin Mohan Vaidya

Rajiv Krishnamurthy

Naveen Ramaswamy

Xiaohu Wang

Hitesh Patel

Yogesh Gaikwad

Techniques for managing configuration of virtual switches in a virtual machine network are disclosed. In an embodiment, a virtual machine network that includes virtual switches is configured to revert back to a saved network configuration if a configuration change causes the connection between the VM management system and a managed node to be lost. For example, before any configuration changes are made, the active configuration is saved. If the new configuration supports a working connection between the managed node and the VM management system, then the saved configuration is no longer needed and can be flushed from memory. If, however, the new configuration causes the managed node to be disconnected from the VM management system, then the system reverts back to the saved configuration that was previously known to work. The saved configuration is used to reestablish the connection so that the network continues to function.

System and method for managing configuration of virtual switches in a virtual machine network

Techniques are disclosed herein for providing an agent for implementing layer 2 (L2) communication on a layer 3 (L3) underlay network. In one embodiment, an agent in virtualization software determines a newly available network address of a VM, configures a network interface of the L3 network to be associated with the network address such that network traffic for the network address is directed to the network interface, adds a route to a virtual router in the virtualization software indicating the VM is local, and adds a router to an address resolution table to associate the network address with a MAC address. This permits a packet sent from one VM to another VM to be processed by the virtual router based on routes therein and forwarded to the other VM either internally or using the L3 underlay network.

Agent for implementing layer 2 communication on layer 3 underlay network

A method of configuring a plurality of logical forwarding elements (LFEs) on a physical computing device comprising virtualization software and a plurality of data compute nodes (DCNs) is provided. The method provisions a first LFE configured and managed by a network manager of a datacenter on the physical computing device, the first LFE for performing OSI L3)packet forwarding between DCNs on one or more hosts, the first LFE comprising a plurality of logical ports configured and managed by the network manager, each logical port of the first LFE for connecting a DCN to a logical network configured and managed by the network manager. The method provisions a second LFE configured and managed by a compute manager of the datacenter on the physical computing device, the second LFE for performing OSI L3 packet forwarding between DCNs on one or more hosts, the second LFE comprising a plurality of logical port groups configured and managed by the compute manager, each logical port of the second LFE for connecting a DCN to a logical network configured and managed by the compute manager. The method configures a first DCN in the plurality of DCNs by the compute manager to connect to a logical network configured and managed by the network manager through a port of the first LFE. The method configures a second DCN in the plurality of DCNs by the compute manager to connect to a logical network configured and managed by the compute manager through a port of the second LFE.

Enabling virtual machines access to switches configured by different management entities

A method of defining policy for a network virtualization platform of a data center is provided. The method receives a registration of one or more actions provided by each of a plurality of data center services. The method defines a policy template by receiving the identification of a set of data center resources and a set of actions registered by a set of data center services to be applied to each identified resource. The method instantiates the template into a set of policy instances that each includes an identification of one or more resources and identification of one or more actions identified in the policy template. The policy is then enforced by the set of data center services by applying the actions identified in each policy instance to the resources identified in the policy instance.

Policy definition and enforcement for a network virtualization platform

A method of configuring a logical network in a datacenter is provided. The datacenter includes a plurality of host physical computing devices, a compute manager to configure one or more data compute nodes (DCNs) on virtualization software of each host, and a network manager. The method configures, by the network manager, a logical network. the method provides, by the network manager, a read-only configuration construct of the logical network to the virtualization software of a set of hosts in the plurality of hosts. The method obtains, by the compute manager, the read-only configuration construct of the logical network from the virtualization software of the set of hosts. The method configures, by the compute manager, a plurality of DCNs to connect to the logical network using the read only configuration construct of the logical network.

Enabling uniform switch management in virtual infrastructure

A physical computing device is provided that includes a set of processing units and a set of machine readable media (CRM) for execution by the set of processing units. The CRM stores a plurality of data compute nodes (DCNs) deployed by a compute manager of a datacenter, virtualization software, and a network manager agent. The network manager receives a read-only configuration construct for each of a set of logical networks from a network manager of the datacenter, the logical networks configured and managed by the network manager. the agent provisions the set of logical networks on the physical computing device for use by the virtualization software. The agent provides a copy of the read-only construct of each logical network to the compute manager to allow the compute manager to connect one or more DCNs to each of the logical networks.

Method and system of provisioning logical networks on a host machine

Techniques for managing the configuration of managed nodes in a virtual machine network are disclosed. In an embodiment, managing the configuration of a managed node involves creating a clone of a virtual port on the managed node and using the cloned virtual port as an alternative communication channel between the managed node and a virtual machine management system to modify the virtual port. This technique can be used to restore connectivity to a managed node, such as a virtual switch, when connectivity is lost due to a misconfigured virtual port.

Method and system for recovering from network disconnects by cloning a virtual port

A method of migrating a data compute node (DCN) in a datacenter comprising a plurality of host physical computing devices, a compute manager, and a network manager is provided. The method by the network manager configures a plurality of logical networks and provides a read-only configuration construct of at least one of the plurality of logical networks to the virtualization software of each host. The construct of each logical network includes a unique identification of the logical network. The method by the compute manager obtains the unique identification of one or more of the logical networks, determining that a particular logical network is available on first and second hosts based on the unique identification of the particular logical network, and configures a first DCN to move from the first host to the second host based on the determination that the first and second hosts are on the particular logical network.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

ChiHsiang Su