Patent ID: 9590820
Date: 2017-03-07
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a first network device, the first network device including a processor and a memory operatively coupled to the processor, the memory configured to host a virtual switch, the virtual switch configured to receive a data packet from a first virtual resource from a first plurality of virtual resources hosted at the first network device to be sent to a second virtual resource from a second plurality of virtual resources hosted at a second network device, the virtual switch configured to encapsulate the data packet to define an encapsulated data packet using a tunnel header having (1) a first portion associated with the first network device and the second network device, and (2) a second portion including an identifier, the identifier uniquely associated with traffic sent between the first virtual resource and the second virtual resource, such that an Internet Protocol (IP) network selects, based at least in part on the second portion of the tunnel header, a path from a plurality of paths to send the encapsulated data packet from the first network device to the second network device, balancing traffic load between the first network device and the second network device, the plurality of paths connecting the first network device and the second network device, the second portion of the tunnel header including a transport protocol portion, the virtual switch configured to define a value associated with the identifier included in the second portion of the tunnel header, the value being an output of a hash function using at least one of an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the first virtual resource or an IP address associated with the second virtual resource as an input of the hash function.