Patent ID: 8606890

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for managing communication between nodes in a virtual networking environment, the method comprising: a first computing system determining whether route information for forwarding a packet from a first node to a second node in a virtual network is available, wherein the route information is stored in a first data storage medium accessible by the first computing system, and wherein the second node is hosted on a second computing system; in response to determining that the route information for the second node is available to the first computing system, forwarding the packet from the first computing system to the second computing system on which the second node is hosted in a physical network; in response to determining that the information is not available to the first computing system: forwarding the packet to multiple computing systems in the physical network via a network service; the first computing system receiving a learning request from the second computing system, in response to the second computing system receiving the packet via the network service, wherein the learning request is originated by the second computing system to provide updated route information associated with the second node to indicate that the second node is hosted on the second computing system; wherein the learning request is independent from communication sent from the second node to the first node in response to the packet; and in response to receiving the learning request, the first computing system updating a copy of the route information associated with the second node in the first data storage medium.