Patent ID: 8296459

Claim:
A routing system for determining a routing path for network data packets through a substrate network associated with a virtual network having virtual components, the routing system comprising: a computing interface for receiving user-specified characteristics of virtual routes of a virtual network; and a route manager comprising one or more computing devices, the route manager configured to: obtain a user-specified virtual route characteristic from the computing interface, the user-specified virtual route characteristic associated with a virtual route identifying one or more virtual components of the virtual network; associate the user-specified virtual route characteristic with at least one computing node, wherein the at least one computing node is configured to simulate a virtual component identified in the virtual route; generate a substrate routing table based at least partly on a topology of the substrate network and the user-specified virtual route characteristic associated with the at least one computing node, the substrate routing table comprising one or more substrate network addresses, the substrate routing table identifying routes through the substrate network; generate one or more forwarding entries for the one or more nodes of the substrate network, the one or more forwarding entries reflecting a substrate route corresponding to an identified route in the substrate routing table; and communicate the one or more forwarding entries to the at least one computing node.