Patent ID: 11962564
Assignee: VMWARE LLC
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A method for forwarding data messages at a plurality of edge nodes of a logical network that process data messages between a logical network and an external network, the method comprising:
at a particular one of the edge nodes, receiving a data message sent from a source machine in the logical network;
performing network address translation to translate a source network address of the data message corresponding to the source machine into an anycast network address that is shared among the plurality of edge nodes; and
sending the data message with the anycast network address to the external network, wherein each edge node in the plurality of edge nodes receives data messages from source machines in the logical network and translates the source addresses of the data messages into the same anycast public network address prior to sending the data messages to the external network;
wherein the external network routes data messages having the anycast network address as a destination network address to a nearest one of the edge nodes.