Inter-Tep Overlay Forwarding for Colocated Vm Latency Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
In software-defined datacenters, routing traffic between colocated virtual machines (VMs) and Edge Services Gateways (ESGs) via the physical underlay network causes bottlenecks and increased latency, as traffic must traverse the network interface card (NIC) and underlay network, reducing throughput and increasing latency.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an overlay interceptor in the host hypervisor to intercept and route traffic between colocated VMs and ESGs within the host, avoiding the need for traffic to exit the host and thereby bypassing the physical underlay network, thus reducing NIC bottlenecks and latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traffic between colocated VMs and ESG is routed via the physical underlay network, then network connectivity is established, but throughput is reduced and latency increases due to NIC bottlenecks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an overlay interceptor as an intermediary component within the hypervisor that intercepts encapsulated overlay traffic before it reaches the physical NIC. This intermediary redirects the traffic to a local endpoint resolver that can deliver it directly to the destination VM on the same host, bypassing the physical underlay network and eliminating the bottleneck at the NIC while maintaining proper overlay network connectivity
2Adaptability or versatility
If traffic traverses the physical underlay network, then routing between overlay networks is achieved, but bandwidth usage at the host NIC increases causing bottlenecks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the traffic handling path into two distinct routes: traffic that requires physical network routing continues to use the underlay network, while traffic destined for locally-colocated VMs is segmented and redirected through the overlay interceptor to a local delivery mechanism. This segmentation allows the system to maintain routing capability for external traffic while reducing unnecessary bandwidth consumption for internal traffic
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure provides an approach for deploying an software defined networking (SDN) solution for overlay routing of traffic on a host with colocated a workload virtual machine (VM), addressable on an overlay network and VM addressable on an underlay network. An overlay interceptor in a hypervisor of the host can intercept traffic from a virtual switch and route the traffic to destination VM. The overlay interceptor can route the traffic directly, without the traffic exiting the host. A fast path can be created for the routing.