Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for OAM in overlay networks. In response to receiving a packet associated with an OAM operation from a device in an overlay network, the system generates an OAM packet. The system can be coupled with the overlay network and can include a tunnel endpoint interface associated with an underlay address and a virtual interface associated with an overlay address. The overlay address can be an anycast address assigned to the system and another device in the overlay network. Next, the system determines that a destination address associated with the packet is not reachable through the virtual interface, the destination address corresponding to a destination node in the overlay network. The system also determines that the destination address is reachable through the tunnel endpoint interface. The system then provides the underlay address associated with the tunnel endpoint interface as a source address in the OAM packet.

Abstract: A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes acquiring at a local network element information regarding a remote network element via a control protocol distribution method and refraining from instantiating the remote VTEP for the remote network element on the local network element until unicast traffic from the local network element to the remote network element via an overlay network has begun. The method may further include detecting unicast traffic from the local network element to the remote network element and subsequent to the detecting, instantiating the remote VTEP for the remote network element on the local network element. Some embodiments may include detecting cessation of the unicast traffic from the local network element to the remote network element and subsequent to the detecting cessation, uninstantiating the remote VTEP for the remote network element from the local network element.

Abstract: Techniques provided herein use aggregate endpoints in a virtual overlay network. In general, aggregate endpoints operate as a single receiving entity for certain packets/frames sent between different physical proximities of the virtual overlay network.

Abstract: A method for programming a MAC address table by a first leaf node in a network comprising a plurality of leaf nodes is provided. Each leaf node comprises one or more Virtual Tunnel End Points (“VTEPs”) and instantiates a plurality of Virtual Routing and Forwarding elements (“VRFs”), with a corresponding Bridge Domain (“BD”) assigned to each VRF. The method includes obtaining information indicating one or more VTEP Affinity Groups (VAGs), each VAG comprising an identification of one VTEP per leaf node, obtaining information indicating assignment of each VRF to one of the VAGs, assigning each VAG to a unique Filtering Identifier (“FID”), thereby generating one or more FIDs, and programming the MAC address table, using FIDs instead of BDs, by populating the MAC address table with a plurality of entries, each entry comprising a unique combination of a FID and a MAC address of a leaf node.

Abstract: A method for programming a MAC address table by a first leaf node in a network comprising a plurality of leaf nodes is provided. Each leaf node comprises one or more Virtual Tunnel End Points (“VTEPs”) and instantiates a plurality of Virtual Routing and Forwarding elements (“VRFs”), with a corresponding Bridge Domain (“BD”) assigned to each VRF. The method includes obtaining information indicating one or more VTEP Affinity Groups (VAGs), each VAG comprising an identification of one VTEP per leaf node, obtaining information indicating assignment of each VRF to one of the VAGs, assigning each VAG to a unique Filtering Identifier (“FID”), thereby generating one or more FIDs, and programming the MAC address table, using FIDs instead of BDs, by populating the MAC address table with a plurality of entries, each entry comprising a unique combination of a FID and a MAC address of a leaf node.

Abstract: A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes establishing a pool of multicast group addresses reserved for assignment to Layer 2 (“L2”) and Layer 3 (“L3”) segment IDs of a network comprising an Internet protocol (“IP”) fabric, and assigning a first multicast group address from the pool to an L3 segment ID of a Virtual Routing and Forwarding element (“VRF”) associated with a new partition established in the network. The method further includes pushing the first multicast group address assignment to a database to provide arguments for configuration profiles, and configuring a new tenant detected on a leaf node of the network using the configuration profiles, in which the configuring comprises specifying multicast group to segment ID assignments for the tenant as specified in the configuration profiles.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for managing movements of virtual machines in a network. At a first switch, a virtual machine (VM) is detected. The VM is hosted by a physical server coupled to the first switch. A message is sent to other switches and it indicates that the VM is hosted by the physical server. When the first switch is paired with a second switch as a virtual port channel (vPC) pair, the message includes a switch identifier that identifies the second switch. A receiving switch receives the message from a source switch in the network comprising a route update associated with the VM. A routing table of the receiving switch is evaluated to determine whether the host route is associated with a server facing the physical port. The message is examined to determine it contains the switch identifier.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for managing movements of virtual machines in a network. At a first switch, a virtual machine (VM) is detected. The VM is hosted by a physical server coupled to the first switch. A message is sent to other switches and it indicates that the VM is hosted by the physical server. When the first switch is paired with a second switch as a virtual port channel (vPC) pair, the message includes a switch identifier that identifies the second switch. A receiving switch receives the message from a source switch in the network comprising a route update associated with the VM. A routing table of the receiving switch is evaluated to determine whether the host route is associated with a server facing the physical port. The message is examined to determine it contains the switch identifier.

Abstract: Coordinating gateways for multi-destination traffic across a TRILL fabric and a VXLAN/IP fabric with a plurality of TRILL IS-IS TLVs and a plurality of Layer 3 IS-IS TLVs is provided herein. The plurality of TRILL IS-IS TLVs and the plurality of Layer 3 IS-IS TLVs effectuate: grafting an IP multicast share tree with a plurality of TRILL distribution trees at only one of a plurality of gateways in a network interworking a TRILL fabric and a VXLAN/IP fabric; ensuring that multicast traffic traversing from the plurality of TRILL distribution trees is not looped back to the TRILL fabric through the VXLAN/IP fabric; restoring connectivity among a plurality of VXLAN/IP fabric partitions through the TRILL fabric if the VXLAN/IP fabric is partitioned; and restoring connectivity among a plurality of TRILL fabric partitions through the VXLAN/IP fabric if the TRILL fabric is partitioned.

Abstract: Techniques which provide scalable techniques for managing multicast traffic in interconnected IP fabric data centers. More specifically, embodiments presented herein disclose an aggregated source technique used to address scalability issues for interconnected IP fabric data centers as well as disclose a secondary rendezvous point technique used to address backbone network (S, G) multicast state scalability. Additionally, embodiments disclosed herein include an approach for border leaf load balancing based on group destination addresses used by VTEPs.

Abstract: Packet transmission techniques are disclosed herein. An exemplary method includes receiving a packet that identifies an internet protocol (IP) address assigned to more than one destination node; selecting a virtual routing and forwarding table based, at least in part, on a segmentation identification in the packet; identifying a designated destination node in the packet based, at least in part, on the selected virtual routing and forwarding table; and transmitting the packet to the designated destination node.

Abstract: An example method for determining an optimal forwarding path across a network having gateways configured to implement a plurality of logical networking protocols can include determining a path cost over a first logical network between each of the gateways and a source node and a path cost over the a second logical network between each of the gateways and a destination node. Additionally, the method can include determining an encapsulation cost difference between switching packets over the first and second logical networks. The method can also include determining an encapsulation overhead metric associated with one of the first or second logical networks, and weighting one of the first or second path cost by the encapsulation overhead metric. Further, the method can include selecting one of the gateways as an optimal gateway. The selection can be based on the computed path costs.

Abstract: A method is provided in one example and includes receiving, at a receiving node, a packet that comprises information indicative of an internet protocol address and a segmentation identification, selecting a virtual routing and forwarding table corresponding with the segmentation identification, identifying a destination node based, at least in part, on the internet protocol address and the virtual routing and forwarding table, and transmitting the packet to the destination node.

Abstract: A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes acquiring at a local network element information regarding a remote network element via a control protocol distribution method and refraining from instantiating the remote VTEP for the remote network element on the local network element until unicast traffic from the local network element to the remote network element via an overlay network has begun. The method may further include detecting unicast traffic from the local network element to the remote network element and subsequent to the detecting, instantiating the remote VTEP for the remote network element on the local network element. Some embodiments may include detecting cessation of the unicast traffic from the local network element to the remote network element and subsequent to the detecting cessation, uninstantiating the remote VTEP for the remote network element from the local network element.

Abstract: Multi-destination frames in a network fabric may be carried in IP multicast packets. As such, the network fabric may us IP multicast technique such as a PIM protocol for handling the multi-destination frames. To provide redundancy, the system administrator can use phantom rendezvous points (RPs) that include multiple physical RPs where one of the RPs serves as a primary RP and the other RPs serve as secondary RPs (e.g., backup RPs). Instead of the system administrator manually configuring the phantom RPs, the RPs are automatically configured. To do so, the system administrator may use a GUI to provide multicast groups allocated for the multi-destination traffic, the number of desired phantom RPs (or physical RPs), and the desired RP redundancy. Based on these parameters, a data center manager generates one or more templates that automatically configure the network devices in the fabric as they are booted.

Abstract: An example method for determining an optimal forwarding path across a network having VxLAN gateways configured to implement both FGL networking and VxLAN capabilities can include learning RBridge nicknames associated with the VxLAN gateways in the network. Additionally, the method can include determining a path cost over the FGL network between each of the VxLAN gateways and a source node and a path cost over the VxLAN between each of the VxLAN gateways and a destination node. Further, the method can include determining an encapsulation overhead metric associated with the VxLAN and selecting one of the VxLAN gateways as an optimal VxLAN gateway. The selection can be based on the computed path costs over the FGL network and the VxLAN and the encapsulation overhead metric.

Abstract: An example method for calculating a constrained distribution tree in a TRILL network including a plurality of VL and FGL RBridges can include learning an FGL multi-destination frame filtering capability of at least one of the FGL RBridges in the TRILL network, constructing a sub-graph including the FGL RBridges and associated links and calculating at least one sub-tree based on the sub-graph. The method can also include constructing a graph including VL RBridges, the FGL RBridges and associated links by adding links between the VL RBridges and the FGL RBridges. The FGL RBridge to which the VL RBridge is linked can have sufficient FGL multi-destination frame filtering capability. Further, the method can include calculating a constrained distribution tree based on the graph by treating the sub-tree as a logical node.

Abstract: A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving from an orchestrator element for a new Virtual Routing and Forwarding element (“VRF”) created in a communications network a name of the VRF and interconnect identification; selecting a border element for the VRF; and creating in a database a VRF entry for the selected border element, the entry identifying a configuration profile for the selected border element. The method further includes forwarding a VRF create notification to the selected border element; and providing the configuration profile from the corresponding entry to the selected border element in response to a query to the database from the selected border element. The selected border element applies the configuration profile automatically to configure the selected border element.

Abstract: A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes establishing a pool of multicast group addresses reserved for assignment to Layer 2 (“L2”) and Layer 3 (“L3”) segment IDs of a network comprising an Internet protocol (“IP”) fabric, and assigning a first multicast group address from the pool to an L3 segment ID of a Virtual Routing and Forwarding element (“VRF”) associated with a new partition established in the network. The method further includes pushing the first multicast group address assignment to a database to provide arguments for configuration profiles, and configuring a new tenant detected on a leaf node of the network using the configuration profiles, in which the configuring comprises specifying multicast group to segment ID assignments for the tenant as specified in the configuration profiles.

Abstract: A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes establishing at least one fixed topology distribution tree in a network, where the fixed topology distribution tree comprises one root node and a plurality of leaf nodes connected to the root node; maintaining at the root node an indication of multicast group interests advertised by the leaf nodes; and pruning traffic at the root node based on the advertised multicast group interests of the leaf nodes. In one embodiment, the root node is a spine switch and each of the leaf nodes is a leaf switch and each of the leaf nodes is connected to the root node by a single hop.