CN108667709B

CN108667709B - Message forwarding method and device

Info

Publication number: CN108667709B
Application number: CN201810483399.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄李伟; 王伟
Original assignee: Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-05-18
Filing date: 2018-05-18
Publication date: 2020-12-29
Anticipated expiration: 2038-05-18
Also published as: CN108667709A

Abstract

The application provides a message forwarding method and a message forwarding device, which can comprise the following steps: receiving a message; when an output interface of a forwarding table item matched with the received message is determined to be a tunnel port of a target VXLAN tunnel, selecting a target physical forwarding path from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is any one of the at least one VXLAN tunnel; forwarding the first VXLAN message after the message is packaged according to the target physical forwarding path; the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path. By using the method provided by the application, the physical forwarding path can be flexibly selected to forward the message forwarded through the VXLAN tunnel.

Description

Message forwarding method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of computer communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for forwarding a packet.

Background

VXLAN (Virtual eXtensible Virtual local area Network) is a two-layer VPN (Virtual Private Network) technology based on an IP (Internet Protocol Address) Network and adopting a "Media Access Control (MAC) in UDP (User Datagram Protocol)" encapsulation form. VXLAN can provide two-layer interconnection for dispersed physical sites based on existing service provider or enterprise IP networks and can provide service isolation for different tenants.

In a VXLAN network, a VXLAN Tunnel may be established between two VTEPs (VXLAN Tunnel End Point). Typically, a VXLAN tunnel corresponds to an actual physical forwarding path used to forward packets passing through the VXLAN tunnel, which is typically calculated by a routing protocol. When the tunnel source VTEP needs to send the packet to the tunnel destination VTEP, the tunnel source VTEP may perform VXLAN encapsulation on the packet, and send the encapsulated VXLAN packet to the tunnel destination VTEP through a physical forwarding path corresponding to the VXLAN tunnel. However, when the physical forwarding path is congested or fails, the tunnel source VTEP may drop the packet, thereby causing a flow break.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present application provides a message forwarding method and device for preventing a flow break.

Specifically, the method is realized through the following technical scheme:

according to a first aspect of the present application, a method for forwarding a packet is provided, where the method is applied to a VTEP, and includes:

according to a first aspect of the present application, a packet forwarding method is provided, where the method is applied to a VTEP, and a VTEP device configures multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein, when the VTEP device is a head node of the plurality of physical forwarding paths, the method comprises:

receiving a message;

when an output interface of a forwarding table item matched with the received message is determined to be a tunnel port of a target VXLAN tunnel, selecting a target physical forwarding path from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is any one of the at least one VXLAN tunnel;

forwarding the first VXLAN message after the message is packaged according to the target physical forwarding path; the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the selecting a target physical forwarding path from the multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel includes:

and when determining that the route from the VTEP to the destination VTEP of the target VXLAN tunnel connection is unreachable, selecting a target physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route.

Optionally, the information of the target physical forwarding path includes an IP address of a node on the target physical forwarding path;

the forwarding the first VXLAN packet after encapsulating the packet according to the target physical forwarding path includes:

selecting a target node from other nodes except the VTEP and the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path;

when the routing from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be reachable, encapsulating the message into a first VXLAN message, and forwarding the first VXLAN message;

wherein, the destination IP address of the first VXLAN message is the IP address of the target node; the first VXLAN message carries the IP address of an intermediate node between the target node and the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path and the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path;

or the first VXLAN message only carries the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the method further includes:

setting the value of the designated field of the first VXLAN message as a first preset value; the first preset value indicates that the first VXLAN packet carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, when the VTEP is an SDN forwarding device in an SDN network, a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the at least one VXLAN tunnel are configured as follows:

and receiving a VXLAN tunnel identifier issued by the SDN controller and a corresponding relation of a plurality of pre-configured physical forwarding paths.

Optionally, the method further includes:

when the routing from the VTEP to the target VXLAN tunnel connection destination VTEP is determined to be unreachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the message to form a second VXLAN message;

wherein, the destination IP address of the second VXLAN message is the IP address of the destination VTEP; the value of the preset field of the second VXLAN message is a second preset value; the second preset value indicates that the second VXLAN packet does not carry an IP address of a node on any physical forwarding path.

According to a second aspect of the present application, a packet forwarding method is provided, where the method is applied to a VTEP, and a VTEP device configures multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein the VTEP device is a non-head node on a plurality of physical forwarding paths, the method comprising:

receiving a first VXLAN message sent by a head node on a target physical forwarding path corresponding to a target tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is a VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the first VXLAN message; the target physical forwarding path is a physical forwarding path selected by the head node from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel;

after determining that the destination IP address of the first VXLAN message is the IP address of the VTEP, checking whether the first VXLAN message carries the information of a target physical forwarding path;

and if the packet carries the information, according to the information of the target physical forwarding path, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the packet after the first VXLAN packet is unpacked again to form a second VXLAN packet and forwarding the second VXLAN packet.

Optionally, the checking whether the first VXLAN packet carries information of a target physical forwarding path includes:

checking the value of the designated field of the first VXLAN message;

if the value of the designated field of the first VXLAN message is a first preset value, determining that the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path;

and if the value of the designated field of the first VXLAN message is a second preset value, determining that the first VXLAN message does not carry the information of the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the information of the target physical forwarding path is an IP address of a node on the target physical forwarding path;

according to the information of the target physical forwarding path, re-performing VXLAN encapsulation on the decapsulated message of the first VXLAN message to form a second VXLAN message and forwarding the second VXLAN message, including:

when the fact that the route from the VTEP to the final node on the target physical forwarding path is unreachable and an intermediate node exists between the VTEP and the final node is determined, selecting the target node from nodes, except the final node, on the target physical forwarding path carried by the first VXLAN message;

when the routing from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be reachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the message after the first VXLAN message is unpacked again to form a second VXLAN message and forwarding the second VXLAN message;

wherein, the destination IP address of the second VXLAN message is the IP address of the destination node;

the second VXLAN message carries the IP address of the intermediate node between the target node and the terminal node and the IP address of the terminal node; or the second VXLAN message only carries the IP address of the terminal node;

the value of the designated field of the second VXLAN message is a first preset value; and the first preset value identifies that the second VXLAN message carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the re-VXLAN encapsulation is performed on the decapsulated message of the first VXLAN message according to the information of the target physical forwarding path to form a second VXLAN message and forward the second VXLAN message, further including:

when the route from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is determined to be reachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the message after the first VXLAN message is de-encapsulated to form a third VXLAN message;

wherein, the destination IP address of the third VXLAN message is the IP address of the terminal node; the third VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path;

and the value of the designated field of the third VXLAN message is a second preset value, and the second preset value indicates that the third VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the method further includes:

and if the first VXLAN message does not carry the information of the target physical forwarding path, decapsulating the first VXLAN message, and forwarding the decapsulated message.

According to a third aspect of the present application, there is provided a packet forwarding apparatus, where the apparatus is applied to a VTEP, and the VTEP device configures multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein, when the VTEP device is a head node of the plurality of physical forwarding paths, the apparatus includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a packet;

the device comprises a selecting unit, a forwarding unit and a forwarding unit, wherein the selecting unit is used for selecting a target physical forwarding path from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to a target VXLAN tunnel when an output interface of a forwarding table item matched with a received message is determined to be a tunnel port of the target VXLAN tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is any one of the at least one VXLAN tunnel;

the forwarding unit is used for forwarding the first VXLAN message after the message is packaged according to the target physical forwarding path; the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the selecting unit, when selecting a target physical forwarding path from the multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel, is specifically configured to select a target physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route when determining that the route from the VTEP to the target VTEP connected to the target VXLAN tunnel is unreachable.

the forwarding unit is specifically configured to select a target node from other nodes on the target physical forwarding path except the VTEP and the terminal node; when the routing from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be reachable, encapsulating the message into a first VXLAN message, and forwarding the first VXLAN message; wherein, the destination IP address of the first VXLAN message is the IP address of the target node; the first VXLAN message carries the IP address of an intermediate node between the target node and the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path and the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path; or the first VXLAN message only carries the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path.

According to a fourth aspect of the present application, there is provided a packet forwarding apparatus, where the apparatus is applied to a VTEP, and the VTEP device configures multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein the VTEP device is a non-head node on a plurality of physical forwarding paths, the apparatus comprising:

the receiving unit is used for receiving a first VXLAN message sent by a head node on a target physical forwarding path corresponding to the target tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is a VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the first VXLAN message; the target physical forwarding path is a physical forwarding path selected by the head node from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel;

the checking unit is used for checking whether the first VXLAN message carries the information of a target physical forwarding path or not after the target IP address of the first VXLAN message is determined to be the IP address of the VTEP;

and the forwarding unit is used for re-carrying VXLAN encapsulation on the message after the first VXLAN message is de-encapsulated according to the information of the target physical forwarding path to form a second VXLAN message and forwarding the second VXLAN message.

the forwarding unit is specifically configured to select a target node from nodes, except the terminal node, on the target physical forwarding path carried by the first VXLAN packet when it is determined that the route from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is unreachable and an intermediate node exists between the VTEP and the terminal node; when the routing from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be reachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the message after the first VXLAN message is unpacked again to form a second VXLAN message and forwarding the second VXLAN message; wherein, the destination IP address of the second VXLAN message is the IP address of the destination node; the second VXLAN message carries the IP address of the intermediate node between the target node and the terminal node and the IP address of the terminal node; or the second VXLAN message only carries the IP address of the terminal node; the value of the designated field of the second VXLAN message is a first preset value; and the first preset value identifies that the second VXLAN message carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the forwarding unit is further specifically configured to perform VXLAN encapsulation on the decapsulated packet of the first VXLAN packet again to form a third VXLAN packet when it is determined that the route from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is reachable; wherein, the destination IP address of the third VXLAN message is the IP address of the terminal node; the third VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path; and the value of the designated field of the third VXLAN message is a second preset value, and the second preset value indicates that the third VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

After receiving the message to be forwarded through the tunnel, the VTEP of the present application does not forward the message through the default physical forwarding path calculated by the routing protocol and corresponding to the tunnel, but selects one physical forwarding path from the plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the tunnel to forward the message, so that on one hand, congestion for the default physical forwarding path is reduced; on the other hand, the selection of the physical forwarding path is more flexible when the VTEP forwards the packet through the tunnel.

In addition, when the default physical forwarding path is not available (i.e. the route from the VTEP to the destination VTEP of the VXLAN tunnel connection is not reachable), the VTEP may not discard the packet to be forwarded, but select a physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route to forward the ethernet packet, thereby preventing the interruption of the service traffic.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating physical actual path forwarding in an Underlay network according to the present application;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a message forwarding method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another message forwarding method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating physical actual path forwarding in another underwlay network according to the present application;

fig. 5 is a hardware architecture diagram of a VTEP where a message forwarding apparatus is located according to the present application;

fig. 6 is a block diagram of a message forwarding apparatus corresponding to fig. 5 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a hardware architecture diagram of another VTEP where the message forwarding apparatus is located according to the present application;

fig. 8 is a block diagram of a message forwarding apparatus corresponding to fig. 7 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present application, as detailed in the appended claims.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It is to be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the present application. The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "when … …" or "in response to a determination", depending on the context.

The VXLAN technology takes the existing three-layer physical network as an Underlay network, and a virtual two-layer network, namely an Overlay network, is constructed on the three-layer physical network. The Overlay network realizes the transfer of the second-layer message of the tenant between different sites across a three-layer network by using a three-layer forwarding path provided by the Underlay network through a packaging technology.

For example, VXLAN tunnel 1 is established between VTEP1 and VTEP4 of the Overlay network, and the actual physical forwarding path of VXLAN tunnel 1 is formed by VTEPs in the Underlay network.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating physical actual path forwarding in an underleay network according to the present application.

Assume that there are 4 actual physical forwarding paths for VXLAN tunnel 1 between VTEP1 and VTEP4, which are:

VTEP1→VTEP2→VTEP4；

VTEP1→VTEP5→VTEP3→VTEP4；

VTEP1→VTEP5→VTEP4；

VTEP1→VTEP2→VTEP6→VTEP4。

typically the VXLAN tunnel 1 default physical forwarding path between VTEP1 and VTEP4 may be calculated from routing protocols.

Assume that the physical forwarding path of VXLAN tunnel 1 calculated according to the routing protocol is VTEP1 → VTEP5 → VTEP 4. Once the physical forwarding path calculated by the routing protocol is formed, VTEP1 generates a routing table entry 1 corresponding to the physical forwarding path, where the destination IP address of the routing table entry 1 is the IP address of VTEP4, and the next hop is the IP address of VTEP 5. Then, the VTEP1 further generates a forwarding table entry 1 according to the routing table entry 1, where the destination IP address of the forwarding table entry 1 is the IP address of VTEP4, and the next hop is the IP address of VTEP 5.

At the same time, VTEP5 also generates a routing table entry 2 corresponding to the physical forwarding path, where the destination IP address of the routing table entry 2 is the IP address of VTEP4, and the next hop is the IP address of VTEP 4. Then, VTEP5 further generates a forwarding table entry 2 according to the routing table entry 2, where the destination IP address of the forwarding table entry 2 is the IP address of VTEP4, and the next hop is the IP address of VTEP 4.

When VTEP1 receives the ethernet packet, if the outgoing interface of the forwarding table entry matched with the ethernet packet is the tunnel port of VXLAN tunnel 1, VTEP1 may perform VXLAN encapsulation on the ethernet packet to form a VXLAN packet. The destination IP of the VXLAN message is the IP address of VTEP 4.

Then, VTEP1 may send the VXLAN message to VTEP5 according to the next hop (i.e., IP address of VTEP 5) indicated by the forwarding table entry (i.e., forwarding table entry 1) whose destination IP is the IP address of VTEP 4.

After receiving the VXLAN message, VTEP5 may search for a forwarding table entry 2 having a destination IP address identical to the destination IP address carried in the VXLAN message, and then VTEP5 may send the VXLAN message to VTEP4 according to the VTEP (i.e., VTEP4) indicated by the next hop of the forwarding table entry 2.

The VTEP1 sends the received ethernet packet to VTEP4 through VXLAN tunnel 1 by the forwarding method.

However, taking VTEP1 as an example, VTEP1 routing table entry has a certain aging time, and when the aging time expires, if no route advertisement corresponding to the routing table entry 1 is received, VTEP1 deletes the routing table entry 1.

When traffic congestion occurs on the paths VTEP1 → VTEP5 → VTEP4, VTEP1 hardly receives the route advertisement corresponding to the route entry 1, so that VTEP1 deletes the route entry 1, and further deletes the forwarding entry 1 corresponding to the route entry 1.

When VTEP1 needs to forward the encapsulated VXLAN message, the VXLAN message cannot be forwarded because the forwarding table entry 1 cannot be found, and therefore the VXLAN message is discarded.

In view of the above, the present application provides a message forwarding method, which at least solves the above problems.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a message forwarding method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, where the method may be applied to a VTEP device, where the VTEP device configures multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; when the VTEP apparatus is a head node of the plurality of physical forwarding paths, the method may include steps 201 to 203.

Before introducing the message forwarding method provided by the present application, several concepts are introduced.

1) Physical forwarding path

In a VXLAN tunnel established in an Overlay network, an actual physical forwarding path corresponding to the VXLAN tunnel is arranged in an Underlay network. The physical forwarding path is mainly used for forwarding VXLAN messages.

For example, a VXLAN tunnel 1 is established between VTEP1 and VTEP4 on the Overlay, and the actual physical forwarding path corresponding to VXLAN tunnel 1 is a physical forwarding path 1 on the Underlay (i.e., VTEP1 → VTEP5 → VTEP 4).

When VTEP1 sends a VXLAN message to VTEP4 through VXLAN tunnel 1, the actual physical forwarding path of the message is: VTEP1 sends the VXLAN message to VTEP5, and VTEP5 sends the VXLAN message to VTEP 4.

The VXLAN tunnel may correspond to a plurality of actual physical forwarding paths, where one physical forwarding path is a path calculated by a routing protocol (herein, the forwarding path calculated by the routing protocol is referred to as a default physical forwarding path), and the others are non-default physical forwarding paths. Generally, when a source VTEP device of a VXLAN tunnel detects that a route from a source VTEP to a destination VTEP is reachable, the source VTEP device forwards a packet to the destination VTEP through the default physical forwarding path (i.e., looking up an IP forwarding entry). When the source VTEP device detects that the route from the source VTEP to the destination VTEP is not reachable, the source VTEP discards the packet, thereby causing a flow interruption.

In the application, the VTEP is configured with the identifier of the VXLAN tunnel and the corresponding relationship of at least one physical forwarding path corresponding to the VXLAN tunnel identifier, so that the source VTEP can flexibly select the physical forwarding path to forward the packet that needs to be forwarded by the VXLAN tunnel, and does not adopt the mode of forwarding only through the default physical forwarding path.

The corresponding relationship between the VXLAN tunnel identifier and the at least one physical forwarding path may be generated as follows:

the first method is as follows: the VTEP may receive a user-configured VXLAN tunnel identification and a correspondence of at least one physical forwarding path.

The second method comprises the following steps: when the VTEP is an SDN forwarding device in the SDN network, the VTEP may receive a VXLAN tunnel identifier issued by an SDN controller and a correspondence relationship of at least one physical forwarding path.

The following describes the message forwarding method provided in the present application in detail. The method is applied to VTEP, and the VTEP equipment is configured with a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein, when the VTEP device is a head node of the plurality of physical forwarding paths, the method comprises:

step 201: receiving a message;

the received message may be an ethernet message received through the AC port of the VTEP, and may also be other types of messages, where the message is only described as an example, and is not limited specifically.

When the method provided by the present application is described below, the message is taken as an example for description, and is not described herein again.

Step 202: when an output interface of a forwarding table item matched with the received message is determined to be a tunnel port of a target VXLAN tunnel, selecting a target physical forwarding path from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is any of the at least one VXLAN tunnel.

When the method is implemented, the VTEP can receive the Ethernet message through a local AC port. Then VTEP can search the forwarding table entry of the destination MAC address of the ethernet packet. When the outbound interface of the found forwarding entry is a tunnel port of a VXLAN tunnel (for convenience of description, referred to as a target VXLAN tunnel), the VTEP may select a target physical forwarding path from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel.

The VXLAN tunnel is targeted to be any one of at least one VXLAN tunnel configured in the VTEP device.

At the time of selection:

the method comprises the following steps: the VTEP can arbitrarily select one physical forwarding path from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel as the target physical forwarding path.

The second method comprises the following steps: and when determining that the route from the VTEP to the destination VTEP of the target VXLAN tunnel connection is unreachable, the VTEP selects a target physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route.

In implementation, the VTEP may check whether the route of the VTEP to the destination VTEP of the target VXLAN tunnel connection is reachable.

During the checking, the VTEP may check whether a routing table entry exists locally, where the destination IP address is the IP address of the destination VTEP, and if so, determine that the route from the VTEP to the destination VTEP of the target VXLAN tunnel connection is reachable. And if not, determining that the destination VTEP of the tunnel connection from the VTEP to the target VXLAN is not reachable.

When the VTEP determines that the VTEP is unreachable to the destination VTEP, the VTEP may select a destination physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route from among a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the destination VXLAN tunnel.

This has the advantage that when the route from the VTEP to the destination VTEP of the VXLAN tunnel connection is not reachable, the VTEP may not discard the ethernet packet, but select a physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route to forward the ethernet packet, thereby preventing the service traffic from being interrupted.

Step 203: forwarding the first VXLAN message after the message is packaged according to the target physical forwarding path; the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path.

The information of the target physical forwarding path may be an IP address of a node on the target physical forwarding path, and the like, and here, the information of the target physical forwarding path is only exemplarily described, and is not specifically limited.

The following description will take the information of the target physical forwarding path as an example of the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

Step 1: the VTEP can select a target node from other nodes except the VTEP and the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path.

In one approach to selecting a destination node, the VTEP may select the node closest to the destination node as the destination node in the order of the destination physical forwarding path from the head node to the destination node.

For example, the target physical forwarding path is VTEP1 → VTEP2 → VTEP6 → VTEP 4.

The nodes on the target physical forwarding path are VTEP1, VTEP2, VTEP6, and VTEP4, in that order. Where VTEP1 is the head node on path 2, VTEP4 is the end node on path 2, and VTEP2 and VTEP6 are intermediate nodes on path 2.

Since VTEP6 is closest in distance to the end node VTEP4, VTEP may select VTEP6 as the target node.

In another way of selecting the destination node, the VTEP may select any one of the nodes on the destination physical forwarding path except the VTEP and the end node as the destination node.

Here, the selection of the target node is merely an exemplary illustration, and the selection of the target node is not specifically limited.

Step 2: the VTEP may check whether the route of the VTEP to the selected destination node is reachable.

In implementation, the VTEP may detect whether a routing entry exists locally for which the destination IP address is the IP address of the target node. If the route from the VTEP to the target node is available, the route from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be reachable, and if the route from the VTEP to the target node is not available, the route from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be unreachable.

And step 3: when the VTEP determines that the route from the VTEP to the target node is reachable, the VTEP may perform VXLAN encapsulation on the ethernet packet to form a first VXLAN packet, and forward the first VXLAN packet.

The destination IP address of the first VXLAN packet is the IP address of the destination node.

When an intermediate node exists between the target node and the final node on the target physical forwarding path, the first VXLAN packet carries the IP address of the intermediate node between the target node and the final node on the target physical forwarding path and the IP address of the final node on the target physical forwarding path.

When no intermediate node exists between the target node and the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path, the first VXLAN message only carries the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path.

In addition, the VTEP can also set the value of the specified field of the first VXLAN packet to be a first preset value, where the first preset value indicates that the first VXLAN packet carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

The VTEP can then forward the first VXLAN message according to the forwarding entry matching the destination IP of the first VXLAN message.

The location carrying the IP address of the end node on the target physical forwarding path and the location of the specified field may be encapsulation information of the first VXLAN packet.

The encapsulation information may include a VXLAN header, etc., and is only exemplary and not particularly limited to the location carrying, the location specifying fields, and the encapsulation information.

And 4, step 4: if the VTEP determines that the route from the VTEP to the target node is not reachable, the VTEP can reselect the target node from the remaining nodes on the target physical forwarding path except the target node, the VTEP and the terminal node.

After reselecting the target node, the VTEP may repeatedly perform steps 2 through 4.

Step 204: and when the routing from the VTEP to the target VXLAN tunnel connection destination VTEP is determined to be reachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the message to form a second VXLAN message.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another message forwarding method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application, where the method may be applied to a VTEP device, where the VTEP device configures multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein the VTEP device is a non-head node on a plurality of physical forwarding paths, and the method comprises steps 301 to 304. The non-head nodes include intermediate nodes between the head node and the end node, and the end node.

Step 301: receiving a first VXLAN message sent by a head node on a target physical forwarding path corresponding to a target tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is a VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the first VXLAN message; the target physical forwarding path is a physical forwarding path selected by the head node from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel.

Step 302: after determining that the destination IP address of the first VXLAN message is the IP address of the VTEP, checking whether the first VXLAN message carries the information of a target physical forwarding path;

during implementation, the VTEP determines that the destination IP address carried in the first VXLAN packet is the IP address of the VTEP, and may perform VXLAN decapsulation on the first VXLAN packet to obtain encapsulation information and an encapsulated packet. The encapsulated packet may be an ethernet packet, or may be other types of packets, which is only illustrated here by way of example, and is not specifically limited.

The following description will take an example in which the encapsulated packet is an ethernet packet.

The VTEP can check the value of the specified field of the first VXLAN message.

For example, the specified field is a field in the first VXLAN packet encapsulation information, and at this time, the VTEP may check the value of the specified field in the packet encapsulation information; the encapsulation information may include a VXLAN header, an IP header, a UDP header, etc. of the first VXLAN message. This is merely an exemplary illustration of the location of the specified field and is not specifically limited.

If the value of the designated field is a first preset value, determining that the first VXLAN message carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path;

and if the value of the designated field of the encapsulation information is a second preset value, determining that the second VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

The first preset value indicates that the encapsulation information of the second VXLAN message carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path;

the second preset value indicates that the encapsulation information of the second VXLAN packet does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

It should be noted that the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path may be carried in the encapsulation information of the first VXLAN packet, such as in the VXLAN header of the first VXLAN packet, and here, the location carrying the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path is only exemplarily described, and is not specifically limited.

Step 303: and if the packet carries the information, according to the information of the target physical forwarding path, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the packet after the first VXLAN packet is unpacked again to form a second VXLAN packet and forwarding the second VXLAN packet.

When the routing is achieved, after the first VXLAN message is determined to carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path, the VTEP can detect whether the routing from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is reachable.

During detection, the VTEP may detect whether a routing table entry exists, where the destination IP address is the IP address of the terminal node, and if so, determine that the route from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is reachable. If not, determining that the route from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is unreachable.

In addition, the VTEP can also determine whether an intermediate node exists between the VTEP and the terminal node according to the number of nodes on the physical forwarding path carried by the first VXLAN packet.

For example, when the IP address of a node carried in the first VXLAN packet indicates that there is no intermediate node between the VTEP and the terminal node, the first VXLAN packet only carries the IP address of the terminal node. When the IP addresses of the nodes carried by the first VXLAN message indicate that there is an intermediate node between the VTEP and the terminal node.

1) When the fact that the route from the VTEP to the final node on the target physical forwarding path is unreachable and an intermediate node exists between the VTEP and the final node is determined, selecting the target node from nodes, except the final node, on the target physical forwarding path carried by the first VXLAN message;

when the routing from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be reachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the Ethernet message after the first VXLAN message is de-encapsulated to form a second VXLAN message and forwarding the second VXLAN message;

and the value of the designated field of the second VXLAN message is a first preset value, and the first preset value identifies that the second VXLAN message carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

2) When the route from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is determined to be reachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the message after the first VXLAN message is de-encapsulated to form a third VXLAN message;

wherein, the destination IP address of the third VXLAN message is the IP address of the terminal node; the third VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

3) And when the routing from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be unreachable, reselecting the target node from other nodes except the terminal node and the unreachable target node on a target physical forwarding path carried by the first VXLAN message. And re-detecting whether the route of the VTEP to the re-selected target node is reachable.

And if the routes from the VTEP to all nodes carried by the first VXLAN message are not reachable, discarding the first VXLAN message.

4) And when the routing from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is determined to be unreachable and no intermediate node exists between the VTEP and the terminal node, discarding the Ethernet message after the first VXLAN is de-encapsulated.

Step 304: and if not, de-encapsulating the first VXLAN message, and forwarding the de-encapsulated message.

From the above description it can be seen that:

on the first hand, after receiving the message to be forwarded through the tunnel, the VTEP does not forward the message through the default physical forwarding path corresponding to the tunnel and calculated by the routing protocol, but selects one physical forwarding path from the plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the tunnel to forward the message, so that on the one hand, congestion aiming at the default physical forwarding path is reduced; on the other hand, the selection of the physical forwarding path is more flexible when the VTEP forwards the packet through the tunnel.

In a second aspect, when the VTEP determines that the route from the VTEP to the destination VTEP of the VXLAN tunnel connection is unreachable (i.e., the physical forwarding path from the VTEP to the destination VTEP calculated by the routing protocol is unavailable), the VTEP may not discard the packet to be forwarded through the VXLAN tunnel, but search a physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route from the physical forwarding path table to forward the packet, thereby preventing the interruption of the traffic flow.

In a third aspect, the present application extends the VXLAN header of the VXLAN packet, so that the VXLAN packet can carry the IP address of the node on the physical forwarding path, and the present application further improves the forwarding flow of the VXLAN packet.

And after receiving the VXLAN message, the VTEP decapsulates the VXLAN message if the destination IP address of the VXLAN message is the IP address of the VTEP. And further checking whether the VXLAN message carries the node IP address on the physical forwarding path, if so, selecting a target node, and carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the decapsulated message again, wherein the target IP address of the encapsulated VXLAN message is the IP address of the target node. And then forwarding the repackaged VXLAN message until the VXLAN message is forwarded to the terminal node. This allows the VXLAN packet to be forwarded along a physical forwarding path that is configured for the VXLAN tunnel without changing the forwarding table on each VTEP.

In a fourth aspect, the forwarding flow of the VXLAN message is different from the forwarding flow of the existing VXLAN message.

In the existing method, after an intermediate node between the VTEP and the destination VTEP receives a VXLAN message, the VXLAN message is directly subjected to table lookup and forwarding, and the VXLAN message is not subjected to encapsulation and decapsulation operations.

In the present application, after receiving the VXLAN message, the intermediate node between the VTEP and the destination VTEP decapsulates the VXLAN message, selects the destination node, decapsulates the VXLAN message, and then re-encapsulates the VXLAN message, and then forwards the VXLAN message, if the destination IP address of the VXLAN message is the IP address of the node.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating physical actual path forwarding in another underleay network shown in the present application.

The following describes the message forwarding method provided in the present application in detail by using a specific example and with reference to fig. 4.

First, a networking architecture of the present application and a physical forwarding path table proposed in the present application are introduced.

Assuming that VXLAN tunnel 41 is established between VTEP41 and VTEP44, VTEP41 is connected to user host VM41 and VTEP44 is connected to user host VM 42.

Assuming that the IP address of VTEP41 is 1.1.1.1 and the IP address of VTEP44 is 4.4.4.4, the source IP address of VXLAN tunnel 41 is 1.1.1.1 and the destination IP address is 4.4.4.4.

Assume that the default physical forwarding path of the VXLAN tunnel 41 calculated by the routing protocol is physical forwarding path 1, and the nodes on the physical forwarding path 1 are VTEP41, VTEP43, and VTEP44 in this order. Wherein, VTEP41 is the head node, VTEP43 is the intermediate node, VTEP44 is the end node.

Meanwhile, the VTEP41 is also configured with a tunnel identifier of the VXLAN tunnel and a corresponding relationship with at least one physical forwarding path.

For example, the VXLAN tunnel 41 is configured to correspond to the physical forwarding path 1, the physical forwarding path 2, and the physical forwarding path 3.

The nodes on the physical forwarding path 2 are VTEP41, VTEP42, VTEP46 and VTEP44 in this order. Where VTEP41 is the head node on path 2, VTEP44 is the end node on path 2, and VTEP42 and VTEP46 are intermediate nodes on path 2. The IP address of VTEP42 is 2.2.2.2, and the IP address of VTEP46 is 6.6.6.6.

The nodes on physical forwarding path 3 are VTEP41, VTEP45, and VTEP44 in that order.

The correspondence may be generated as follows:

the first method is as follows: VTEP41 may receive a user-configured VXLAN tunnel identification and a correspondence of at least one physical forwarding path.

The second method comprises the following steps: when VTEP41 is an SDN forwarding device in an SDN network, VTEP41 may receive a VXLAN tunnel identifier issued by an SDN controller and a correspondence of at least one physical forwarding path.

For example, the VTEP41 may receive the correspondence between the VXLAN tunnel 41 issued by the SDN controller and the physical forwarding path 1, the physical forwarding path 2, and the physical forwarding path 3.

Next, a message forwarding method proposed by the present application is introduced.

The application expands the VXLAN header of the VXLAN message, so that the VXLAN header can carry the IP address of the node on the selected target physical forwarding path and a designated field for indicating whether the VXLAN header carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path. When the value of the designated field is a first preset value, it indicates that the VXLAN header carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path, and when the value of the designated field is a second preset value, it indicates that the VXLAN header does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

In the present application, it is assumed that the first preset value is 1 and the second preset value is 0.

Assume that VM41 is to send a message to VM 42.

VM41 may send ethernet messages to VTEP 41. When VTEP41 receives the ethernet packet, it may search for a forwarding table matching the destination MAC address of the ethernet packet.

When the found out interface of the forwarding table entry is the local AC port, the VTEP41 forwards the ethernet packet through the local AC port.

If the found out interface of the forwarding table entry is the tunnel port of the VXLAN tunnel 1, the VTEP41 may select a target physical forwarding path from the multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to the VXLAN tunnel 1.

The method comprises the following steps: the VTEP41 can arbitrarily select one physical forwarding path from the plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the VXLAN tunnel 1 as a target physical forwarding path.

The second method comprises the following steps: when VTEP41 determines that the route of VTEP41 to the destination VTEP of the VXLAN tunnel 1 connection (i.e., VTEP44) is unreachable, a physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route (i.e., physical forwarding path 1) is selected as the destination physical forwarding path.

In implementation, VTEP41 may check whether the route of VTEP41 to the destination VTEP of the VXLAN tunnel 1 connection (i.e., VTEP44) is reachable.

Upon checking, VTEP41 may detect whether a routing entry exists for which the destination IP address is the IP address of VTEP44, and if so, determine that the route from VTEP41 to VTEP44 is reachable. If not, it is determined that the route from VTEP41 to VTEP44 is not reachable.

Upon detecting that the route from VTEP41 to VTEP44 is unreachable, VTEP41 may select a target physical forwarding path different from physical forwarding path 1 among physical forwarding path 1, physical forwarding path 2, and physical forwarding path 3 corresponding to VXLAN tunnel 1. In this example, it is assumed that the selected target physical forwarding path is physical forwarding path 2.

The nodes on the physical forwarding path 2 are VTEP41, VTEP42, VTEP46, and VTEP44 in that order from the head node to the end node of the physical forwarding path 2. Where VTEP41 is the head node on path 2, VTEP44 is the end node on path 2, and VTEP42 and VTEP46 are intermediate nodes on path 2.

VTEP41 may then select a target node among the nodes on the physical forwarding path 2 other than the present VTEP and VTEP44 (i.e., select a target node among VTEP42 and VTEP 46).

In one approach to selecting a destination node, VTEP41 may prioritize the nodes closest to end node VTEP44 in the order of physical forwarding path 2 from the head node to the end node. For example, VTEP46 is closest to VTEP44, so VTEP46 may be selected as the target node.

In another way of selecting a target node, VTP41 may select any one of VTEP42 and VTEP46 as the target node.

The example of VTEP41 selecting VTEP46 as the target node is described.

After selecting the destination node, VTEP41 may check whether the route from VTEP41 to VTEP46 is reachable.

Upon checking, VTEP41 may check whether a routing entry exists locally for which the destination IP address is the IP address of VTEP46, and if so, determine that the route from VTEP41 to VTEP46 is reachable, and if not, determine that the route from VTEP41 to VTEP46 is not reachable.

When determining that the route from VTEP41 to VTEP46 is reachable, VTEP41 may perform VXLAN encapsulation on ethernet packet 1 to form VXLAN packet 2. The destination IP address of VXLAN message 2 is the IP address of VTEP 46. The VXLAN header of VXLAN message 2 also carries the IP address of the intermediate node between the target node and the end node and the IP address of the end node, or the VXLAN header of VXLAN message 2 only carries the IP address of the end node.

In this example, since there is no intermediate node between VTEP46 and VTEP44, the VXLAN header of VXLAN packet 2 carries the IP address of the end node VTEP44 on physical forwarding path 2. Meanwhile, VTEP41 may also set the value of the specified field in the VXLAN header of VXLAN message 2 to 1.

VTEP41 may then forward the VXLAN message 2 according to the forwarding entry that matches the destination IP address of VXLAN message 2.

When VTEP46 determines that the route of VTEP41 to VTEP46 is unreachable, VTEP41 may reselect the destination node among the remaining nodes (i.e., nodes on physical forwarding path 2 other than the present VTEP, end nodes, and VTEP 46). And checking, according to the steps described above for VTEP46, whether a route from VTEP41 to the reselected destination node is reachable, and forwarding the ethernet packet if the route is reachable.

If the route from VTEP41 to all nodes on physical forwarding path 2 is unreachable, then ethernet packet 1 is discarded.

In this example, assuming that the route from VTEP41 to VTEP46 is reachable, VTEP41 may send the VXLAN packet 2 to VTEP46 in the manner described above.

In this embodiment of the application, when VTEP41 detects that the route from VTEP41 to VTEP44 is reachable, VTEP41 may perform VXLAN encapsulation on the ethernet packet to form VXLAN packet 1. The destination IP address of VXLAN message 1 is the IP address of VTEP44, and the value of the specified field in the VXLAN header of VXLAN message 1 is 0. The VXLAN message 1 does not carry the IP address of the node on the task physical forwarding path.

When the VTEP46 receives the VXLAN message 2, it can be checked whether the destination IP address of the VXLAN message 2 is the IP address of the VTEP.

If the destination IP address of the VXLAN message 2 is not the IP address of the VTEP, the VTEP46 may search for a forwarding entry matching the destination IP of the VXLAN message 2, and then forward the VXLAN message 2 according to the searched forwarding entry.

In this example, the destination IP address of VXLAN message 2 is the IP address of the VTEP, so the VTEP46 can decapsulate VXLAN from VXLAN message 2 to obtain encapsulation information such as VXLAN header and encapsulated ethernet message 1.

VTEP46 may check the value of the specified field of the VXLAN header of VXLAN message 2. In this example, the value of VXLAN header of VXLAN message 2 is 1, and VTEP46 may determine that the VXLAN header carries the IP address of the node on physical forwarding path 2.

VTEP46 may then check whether the route of VTEP46 to the end node (i.e., VTEP44) is reachable, and whether there are intermediate nodes between VTEP46 and the end node (i.e., VTEP 44).

If the route from VTEP46 to the terminating node is not reachable and there is an intermediate node between VTEP46 and the terminating node, then the destination node is selected among the nodes other than the terminating node carried in the VXLAN header of VXLAN packet 2.

And if the route from the VTEP46 to the selected target node is determined to be reachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the Ethernet message 1 to form a VXLAN message 3.

The destination IP address of the VXLAN message 3 is the IP address of the target node, and the VXLAN message 3 also carries the IP address of the intermediate node between the target node and the terminal node, and the IP address of the terminal node; or the VXLAN message 3 carries only the IP address of the end node. The value of the designated field of VXLAN message 3 is 1.

If the route from VTEP46 to the selected destination node is not reachable, VTEP46 may reselect the destination node from the nodes carried in VXLAN packet 3, except the end node and the selected destination node, and detect whether the route from VTEP46 to the reselected destination node is reachable.

If the route from the VTEP46 to the terminal node is reachable, VXLAN encapsulation is performed on the ethernet message 1 to form a VXLAN message 4. The destination address of the VXLAN message 4 is the IP address of the terminal node, the VXLAN message 4 does not carry the IP address of any node on the physical forwarding path 2, and the value of the designated field of the VXLAN message 4 is 0.

If the route from VTEP46 to the end node is not reachable and there is no intermediate node between VTEP46 and the end node, then ethernet packet 1 is discarded.

In this example, if the route from VTEP46 to VTEP44 is reachable, VTEP46 performs VXLAN encapsulation on the ethernet packet 1 to form VXLAN packet 4. The destination IP address of VXLAN message 4 is the IP address of VTEP 44. The VXLAN header of VXLAN message 4 does not carry the IP address of the node on physical forwarding path 2. At this time, VTEP46 may set the value of the specified field in the VXLAN header of VXLAN message 4 to 0.

Then, VTEP46 may look up a forwarding entry whose destination IP address is the IP address of VXLAN message 4, and then forward VXLAN message 3 according to the forwarding entry.

If the route from VTEP46 to VTEP44 is not reachable, VTEP46 may determine that there is no intermediate node between VTEP46 and VTEP44 because the VXLAN header of VXLAN packet 2 only carries the IP address of VTEP 44. At this point, VTEP46 may discard ethernet packet 1.

In this example, it is assumed that VTEP46 sent VXLAN message 4 to VTEP 44.

When VTEP44 receives the VXLAN message 4, it can be checked whether the destination IP address of VXLAN message 4 is the IP address of VTEP 44. In this example, the destination IP address of VXLAN message 4 is the IP address of VTEP 44. VTEP44 can decapsulate VXLAN from VXLAN message 4 to obtain encapsulation information such as VXLAN header of VXLAN message 4 and ethernet message 1.

Then, the VTEP44 may check the value of the specified field in the VXLAN header of VXLAN message 4, in this example, the value of the specified field in the VXLAN header of VXLAN message 4 is 0, and VTEP44 determines that the VXLAN header of VXLAN message 4 does not carry the node IP address on physical forwarding path 2. At this time, VTEP44 may search for a forwarding entry whose destination MAC address is the MAC address carried in ethernet packet 1, and then forward the ethernet packet 1 according to the forwarding entry.

From the above description it can be seen that:

on the first hand, after receiving the message to be forwarded through the tunnel, the VTEP41 does not forward the message through the physical forwarding path 1 corresponding to the tunnel and calculated by the routing protocol, but selects one physical forwarding path from the plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the tunnel to forward the message, so that on one hand, congestion on the physical forwarding path 1 is reduced; on the other hand, the selection of the physical forwarding path is more flexible when the VTEP forwards the packet through the tunnel.

In a second aspect, when VTEP41 determines that the routes of VTEP41 and VTEP44 are not reachable (i.e., the VTEP41 and VTEP44 physical forwarding paths calculated by the routing protocol are not available), VTEP11 may not drop the ethernet packet to be forwarded, but select a physical forwarding path 2 different from physical forwarding path 1 to forward the ethernet packet, thereby preventing traffic from being interrupted.

And after receiving the VXLAN message, the VTEP decapsulates the VXLAN message if the destination IP address of the VXLAN message is the IP address of the VTEP. And further checking whether the VXLAN header of the VXLAN message carries the IP address of the node on the physical forwarding path, if so, selecting a target node, and performing VXLAN encapsulation on the decapsulated Ethernet message again, wherein the target IP address of the encapsulated VXLAN message is the IP address of the target node. And then forwarding the VXLAN message until the VXLAN message is forwarded to a terminal node. This allows the VXLAN packet to be forwarded along a physical forwarding path 2 configured for the VXLAN tunnel 1 without changing the forwarding tables on the VTEPs.

In the existing method, after an intermediate node between VTEP41 and VTEP44 receives a VXLAN message, the VXLAN message is directly subjected to table lookup and forwarding, and encapsulation and decapsulation operations are not performed on the VXLAN message.

In the present application, after receiving the VXLAN message, the intermediate node between VTEP41 and VTEP44 decapsulates the VXLAN message and reselects the destination node if the destination IP address of the VXLAN message is the IP address of the node, and then re-encapsulates the VXLAN message and forwards the VXLAN message.

Referring to fig. 5, the present application further provides a hardware architecture diagram of a VTEP where the packet forwarding method is located, where the VTPE includes: a communication interface 501, a processor 502, a memory 503, and a bus 504; the communication interface 501, the processor 502 and the memory 503 are connected to communicate with each other via a bus 504.

The processor 502 may be a CPU, the memory 503 may be a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), the memory 503 stores a logic instruction for forwarding a packet, and the processor 502 may execute the logic instruction for forwarding a packet stored in the memory 503 to implement a function of preventing a current interruption.

To this end, the description of the hardware configuration shown in fig. 5 is completed.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a block diagram of a message forwarding apparatus corresponding to fig. 5 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The device is applied to VTEP, and the VTEP equipment is configured with a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; when the VTEP apparatus is a head node of the multiple physical forwarding paths, the VTEP apparatus may include the following units.

A receiving unit 601, configured to receive a message;

a selecting unit 602, configured to select a target physical forwarding path from multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to a target VXLAN tunnel when it is determined that an outgoing interface of a forwarding entry matched with a received packet is a tunnel port of the target VXLAN tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is any one of the at least one VXLAN tunnel;

a forwarding unit 603, configured to forward the first VXLAN packet after the packet is encapsulated according to the target physical forwarding path; the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the selecting unit 602 is configured to, when selecting a target physical forwarding path from the multiple physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel, specifically, when determining that a route from the VTEP to the target VXLAN tunnel connection destination VTEP is unreachable, select a target physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route.

the forwarding unit 603 is specifically configured to select a target node from other nodes on the target physical forwarding path except the VTEP and the terminal node; when the routing from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be reachable, encapsulating the message into a first VXLAN message, and forwarding the first VXLAN message; wherein, the destination IP address of the first VXLAN message is the IP address of the target node; the first VXLAN message carries the IP address of an intermediate node between the target node and the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path and the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path; or the first VXLAN message only carries the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the apparatus includes:

a setting unit 604, configured to set a value of the specified field of the first VXLAN packet to a first preset value; the first preset value indicates that the first VXLAN packet carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the forwarding unit 603 is further configured to perform VXLAN encapsulation on the packet to form a second VXLAN packet when it is determined that the route from the VTEP to the destination VTEP of the target VXLAN tunnel connection is reachable; wherein, the destination IP address of the second VXLAN message is the IP address of the destination VTEP; the value of the preset field of the second VXLAN message is a second preset value; the second preset value indicates that the second VXLAN packet does not carry an IP address of a node on any physical forwarding path.

Referring to fig. 7, the present application further provides a hardware architecture diagram of a VTEP where another packet forwarding method is located, where the VTPE includes: a communication interface 701, a processor 702, a memory 703, and a bus 704; the communication interface 701, the processor 702 and the memory 703 are connected to communicate with each other via a bus 704.

The processor 702 may be a CPU, the memory 703 may be a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), the memory 703 stores a logic instruction for forwarding a packet, and the processor 702 may execute the logic instruction for forwarding a packet stored in the memory 703 to implement a function of preventing a current interruption.

Up to this point, the description of the hardware configuration shown in fig. 7 is completed.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a block diagram of a message forwarding apparatus corresponding to fig. 7 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The device is applied to VTEP, and the VTEP equipment is configured with a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein the VTEP device is a non-head node on a plurality of physical forwarding paths, and the apparatus may include the following elements.

A receiving unit 801, configured to receive a first VXLAN packet sent by a head node on a target physical forwarding path corresponding to a target tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is a VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the first VXLAN message; the target physical forwarding path is a physical forwarding path selected by the head node from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel;

a checking unit 802, configured to check whether the first VXLAN packet carries information of a target physical forwarding path after determining that a destination IP address of the first VXLAN packet is an IP address of the VTEP;

and a forwarding unit 803, configured to perform VXLAN encapsulation on the decapsulated message of the first VXLAN message again according to the information of the target physical forwarding path if the packet is carried, to form a second VXLAN message and forward the second VXLAN message.

Optionally, the checking unit 802 is specifically configured to check a value of the specified field of the first VXLAN packet; if the value of the designated field of the first VXLAN message is a first preset value, determining that the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path; and if the value of the designated field of the first VXLAN message is a second preset value, determining that the first VXLAN message does not carry the information of the target physical forwarding path.

the forwarding unit 803 is specifically configured to select a target node from nodes, except the terminal node, on the target physical forwarding path carried in the first VXLAN packet when it is determined that the route from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is unreachable and an intermediate node exists between the VTEP and the terminal node; when the routing from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be reachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the message after the first VXLAN message is unpacked again to form a second VXLAN message and forwarding the second VXLAN message; wherein, the destination IP address of the second VXLAN message is the IP address of the destination node; the second VXLAN message carries the IP address of the intermediate node between the target node and the terminal node and the IP address of the terminal node; or the second VXLAN message only carries the IP address of the terminal node; the value of the designated field of the second VXLAN message is a first preset value; and the first preset value identifies that the second VXLAN message carries the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the forwarding unit 803 is further specifically configured to perform VXLAN encapsulation on the decapsulated packet of the first VXLAN packet again to form a third VXLAN packet when it is determined that the route from the VTEP to the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path is reachable; wherein, the destination IP address of the third VXLAN message is the IP address of the terminal node; the third VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path; and the value of the designated field of the third VXLAN message is a second preset value, and the second preset value indicates that the third VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.

Optionally, the forwarding unit 803 is further configured to decapsulate the first VXLAN packet and forward the decapsulated packet if the first VXLAN packet does not carry information of the target physical forwarding path.

The implementation process of the functions and actions of each unit in the above device is specifically described in the implementation process of the corresponding step in the above method, and is not described herein again.

For the device embodiments, since they substantially correspond to the method embodiments, reference may be made to the partial description of the method embodiments for relevant points. The above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, and the units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the modules can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the scheme of the application. One of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement it without inventive effort.

The above description is only exemplary of the present application and should not be taken as limiting the present application, as any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A message forwarding method is applied to VTEP, and the VTEP device is configured with a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein, when the VTEP device is a head node of the plurality of physical forwarding paths, the method comprises:

receiving a message;

forwarding the first VXLAN message after the message is packaged according to the target physical forwarding path; the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path; the information of the target physical forwarding path includes an IP address of a node on the target physical forwarding path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a target physical forwarding path among the plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel comprises:

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,

wherein, the destination IP address of the first VXLAN message is the IP address of the destination node; the first VXLAN message carries the IP address of an intermediate node between the target node and the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path and the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path;

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

5. The method of claim 1, wherein when the VTEP is an SDN forwarding device in an SDN network, the plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the at least one VXLAN tunnel are configured by:

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

when the routing from the VTEP to the target VXLAN tunnel connection destination VTEP is determined to be reachable, carrying out VXLAN encapsulation on the message to form a second VXLAN message;

7. A message forwarding method is applied to VTEP, and the VTEP device is configured with a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein the VTEP device is a non-head node on a plurality of physical forwarding paths, the method comprising:

receiving a first VXLAN message sent by a head node on a target physical forwarding path corresponding to a target VXLAN tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is a VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the first VXLAN message; the target physical forwarding path is a physical forwarding path selected by the head node from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel;

after determining that the destination IP address of the first VXLAN message is the IP address of the VTEP, decapsulating the first VXLAN message, and checking whether the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path or not based on the decapsulated encapsulation information; the information of the target physical forwarding path comprises an IP address of a node on the target physical forwarding path;

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the checking whether the first VXLAN packet carries information for a target physical forwarding path comprises:

checking the value of the designated field of the first VXLAN message;

9. The method of claim 7,

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the VXLAN encapsulating the decapsulated first VXLAN packet again according to the information of the target physical forwarding path to form a second VXLAN packet and forwarding the second VXLAN packet, further comprising:

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

12. A message forwarding apparatus, wherein the apparatus is applied to a VTEP, and the VTEP device configures a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein, when the VTEP device is a head node of the plurality of physical forwarding paths, the apparatus includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a packet;

the forwarding unit is used for forwarding the first VXLAN message after the message is packaged according to the target physical forwarding path; the first VXLAN message carries the information of the target physical forwarding path; the information of the target physical forwarding path includes an IP address of a node on the target physical forwarding path.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the selecting unit, when selecting the target physical forwarding path among the plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel, is specifically configured to, when determining that a route from the VTEP to the target VTEP of the target VXLAN tunnel connection is unreachable, select a target physical forwarding path different from the unreachable route.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 or 13,

the forwarding unit is specifically configured to select a target node from other nodes on the target physical forwarding path except the VTEP and the terminal node; when the routing from the VTEP to the target node is determined to be reachable, encapsulating the message into a first VXLAN message, and forwarding the first VXLAN message; wherein, the destination IP address of the first VXLAN message is the IP address of the destination node; the first VXLAN message carries the IP address of an intermediate node between the target node and the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path and the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path; or the first VXLAN message only carries the IP address of the terminal node on the target physical forwarding path.

15. A message forwarding apparatus, wherein the apparatus is applied to a VTEP, and the VTEP device configures a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to at least one VXLAN tunnel; wherein the VTEP device is a non-head node on a plurality of physical forwarding paths, the apparatus comprising:

the receiving unit is used for receiving a first VXLAN message sent by a head node on a target physical forwarding path corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel; the target VXLAN tunnel is a VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the first VXLAN message; the target physical forwarding path is a physical forwarding path selected by the head node from a plurality of physical forwarding paths corresponding to the target VXLAN tunnel;

a checking unit, configured to decapsulate the first VXLAN packet after determining that a destination IP address of the first VXLAN packet is an IP address of the VTEP, and check whether the first VXLAN packet carries information of a target physical forwarding path based on encapsulation information obtained after decapsulation; the information of the target physical forwarding path comprises an IP address of a node on the target physical forwarding path;

16. The apparatus of claim 15,

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the forwarding unit is further configured to perform VXLAN encapsulation again on the decapsulated first VXLAN packet to form a third VXLAN packet when it is determined that the route from the VTEP to the end node on the target physical forwarding path is reachable; wherein, the destination IP address of the third VXLAN message is the IP address of the terminal node; the third VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path; and the value of the designated field of the third VXLAN message is a second preset value, and the second preset value indicates that the third VXLAN message does not carry the IP address of the node on the target physical forwarding path.