Patent ID: 11678093

Abstract:
A network interface card (NIC) and a method for stablishing a connection between virtual machines of a network. The NIC includes: a programmable switching ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit), a central processing unit (CPU), multiple Ethernet controllers, and multiple on-board transceivers functioning as external ports. The switching ASIC functions as a switch that manipulates data traffic within the NIC including by switching the data traffic between and among the CPU, the Ethernet controllers, and the on-board transceivers. The method includes: installing rules that route a Synchronize (SYN) packet from a source virtual machine (VM) through a software engine, appending a signed cookie to the SYN packet; verifying that a policy represented by the signed cookie appended to the SYN packet matches a policy of a destination VM; and returning the SYN packet to the source VM which establishes a connection between the source VM and the destination VM.