Patent ID: 9154457
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for in-band management of a plurality of switches in a data center, the method comprising: assigning a given first stage switch in a switch cluster as a proxy switch for downlink traffic for a first set of second stage switches in the switch cluster; assigning another first stage switch in the switch cluster as a proxy switch for downlink traffic for a second set of second stage switches in the switch cluster, the second set being different than the first set, wherein each of the first set of second stage switches and the second set of second stage switches are directly interconnected to both the given first stage switch and the another first stage switch via a first set of bidirectional networking links; receiving, at the given first stage switch, an address resolution request from a control plane network (CPN) edge switch directly interconnected with the given first stage switch via a second set of bidirectional networking links, the CPN edge switch providing connectivity to one or more CPN components managing the plurality of switches; providing, by the given first stage switch, a response to the address resolution request received from the CPN edge switch, the response including an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the given first stage switch and respective IP addresses of switches of the first set of second stage switches; in response to receiving the response at the CPN edge switch, configuring a routing table of the CPN edge switch to send traffic destined for the first set of second stage switches to the given first stage switch; receiving, at a given second stage switch in the first set of second stage switches, downlink traffic through the given first stage switch assigned as the proxy for the given second stage switch; and configuring the given second stage switch in the first set of second stage switches, based on the received traffic, to send a first portion of uplink traffic to the given first stage switch assigned as the proxy, and to send a second portion of the uplink traffic to the another first stage switch that is not assigned as a proxy to the given second stage switch, the second portion being different than the first portion; wherein the set of second stage switches do not receive any address resolution requests.