Patent ID: 9081603
Filing Date: 2015-07-14
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: receiving at a switch, a packet from a virtual machine located at a host in communication with the switch, the packet comprising a device identifier identifying another switch in communication with another host that hosted the virtual machine at the time of initialization of the virtual machine prior to movement of the virtual machine to the host; comparing at the switch, the device identifier in the packet received from the virtual machine with a device identifier assigned to the switch and determining that the virtual machine has moved based on the device identifier in the packet being different from the device identifier assigned to the switch; storing location information for the virtual machine in an entry in a virtual machine move list at the switch based on a determination that the virtual machine has moved, said entry comprising a virtual machine IP (Internet Protocol) address for the virtual machine, the device identifier assigned to the switch for identifying the switch that the virtual machine is associated with after movement, and a priority indicating a preference for inserting the location information for the virtual machine into a forwarding information base; and transmitting said entry for the virtual machine from the virtual machine move list to one or more other switches in communication with the switch; wherein said location information from the virtual machine move list is inserted into a forwarding information base at one or more of the other switches for use in optimized forwarding of packets destined for the virtual machine.