Layer 2 seamless site extension of enterprises in cloud computing

1. A method of sending a packet received from a source in a private enterprise network to a destination in a cloud network allocated to the private enterprise network, said method comprising:

receiving, by a logical customer edge router in a Cloud Data Center in the cloud network, a Layer 2 packet from a source in the private enterprise network, wherein the logical customer edge router is located in a logical network in the cloud network comprising resources allocated to the private enterprise network and the Layer 2 packet is addressed to a destination in the logical network;

querying, by the logical customer edge router, a directory server for a MAC address of the destination and a location IP address of the destination;

encapsulating, by the logical customer edge router, the Layer 2 packet when the logical customer edge router determines the destination is within the logical network, wherein the Layer 2 packet is encapsulated with a header including the MAC address of the destination;

further encapsulating, by the logical customer edge router, the Layer 2 packet with a header including the location IP address of the destination; and

forwarding, by the logical customer edge router, the Layer 2 packet to the destination, wherein the logical customer edge router forwards the Layer 2 packet through the location IP address of the destination to the MAC address of the destination.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

decapsulating, by a switch at the location IP address of the destination, the location IP header of the Layer 2 packet;

forwarding, by the destination switch, the Layer 2 packet to the MAC address of the destination;

decapsulating, by a destination server at the MAC address of the destination, the MAC header of the Layer 2 packet; and

forwarding, by the destination server, the Layer 2 packet to the destination within the destination server.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

verifying, by a hypervisor in the destination server, that the Layer 2 packet is from the same enterprise, wherein the hypervisor inspects a security token in the header of the Layer 2 packet; and

discarding, by the hypervisor, the Layer 2 packet when the Layer 2 packet's security token is not verified.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the security token comprises at least an enterprise-specific key, an enterprise ID, and a destination IP address.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

verifying, by a hypervisor in the destination server, that the Layer 2 packet is from the same VLAN, said verification performed by the hypervisor analyzing the Layer 2 packet's VLAN tag in the MAC address header;

discarding, by the hypervisor, the Layer 2 packet when the destination does not belong to the same VLAN;

stripping, by the hypervisor, the MAC address header from the Layer 2 packet when the destination belongs to the same VLAN; and

forwarding, by the hypervisor, the Layer 2 packet to the destination.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the logical customer edge router, a request query for the MAC address of the destination from the source;

querying, by the logical customer edge router, a directory in a directory server for the MAC address of the destination; and

forwarding, by the logical customer edge router, the MAC address of the destination to the source.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

querying, by the logical customer edge router, a directory server for a cloud IP address of the destination; and

encapsulating, by the logical customer edge router, the Layer 2 packet with a cloud IP header including the cloud IP address of the destination, wherein the forwarding step comprises the logical customer edge router forwarding the Layer 2 packet through the location IP address of the destination to the cloud IP address of the destination.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

decapsulating, by a switch at the location IP address of the destination, the location IP header of the Layer 2 packet;

forwarding, by the destination switch, the Layer 2 packet to the cloud IP address of the destination;

decapsulating, by a destination server at the cloud IP address of the destination, the cloud IP header of the Layer 2 packet; and

forwarding, by the destination server, the Layer 2 packet to the destination within the destination server.

9. A method of forwarding a packet originating from a source in a cloud network allocated to a private enterprise network, said method comprising:

receiving, by a hypervisor in a server hosting a source virtual machine, a Layer 2 packet, the virtual machine being located in a logical network in the cloud network comprising resources allocated to the private enterprise network;

querying, by the hypervisor, a directory server in the logical network for a destination address when the destination address of the Layer 2 packet is not in a virtual routing and forwarding table at the server,

encapsulating, by the hypervisor, the Layer 2 packet with a first MAC header, the first MAC header corresponding to a MAC address entry received from the directory server;

further encapsulating, by the hypervisor, the Layer 2 packet with a location IP header, the location IP header corresponding to a location IP address of the destination received from the directory server; and

forwarding, by the hypervisor, the Layer 2 packet through the location IP address of the destination to the MAC address of the determination.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

decapsulating, by a logical customer edge router in a Cloud Data Center, the location IP header of the packet.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

replacing, by the logical customer edge router, the first MAC header with a second MAC header corresponding to the destination MAC address when there is an entry for the destination in the directory server;

tunneling, by the logical customer edge router, the Layer 2 packet with the second MAC header to the destination MAC address when there is an entry for the destination in the directory server;

replacing, by the logical customer edge router, the first MAC address with a MAC broadcast header when there is no entry for the destination in virtual routing and forwarding table; and

tunneling, by the logical customer edge router, the Layer 2 packet with the MAC broadcast header to each customer edge router in the private enterprise network when there is no entry for the destination in the virtual routing and forwarding table.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

computing, by the hypervisor, a security token comprising a combination of an enterprise-specific key, enterprise ID, and destination IP address; and

encapsulating, by the hypervisor, the packet with the security token.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

decapsulating, by a customer edge router at the destination in the private enterprise network, the MAC header;

verifying, by the customer edge router at the destination, the security token in the header of the received packet and discarding; and

discarding, by the customer edge router at the destination, the received packet when the security token is not verified.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

further encapsulating, by the hypervisor, the Layer 2 packet with a cloud IP header, the cloud IP header corresponding to a IP address of the destination received from the directory server.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

decapsulating, by the logical customer edge router in a Cloud Data Center, the cloud IP header of the packet.

16. A logical customer edge router in a cloud network connected to at least one customer edge router in a private enterprise network and a server hosting a virtual machine in the cloud network allocated to the private enterprise network, the logical customer edge router sending Layer 2 packets between locations in the private enterprise network and locations in the cloud network,

wherein the logical customer edge router, the virtual machine, and the customer edge router in the private enterprise network share a common IP address space and VLAN allocated to the private enterprise network.

17. The logical customer edge router of claim 16 , wherein the logical customer edge router shares a common IP address space with a directory server containing a directory of devices in the private enterprise network and devices in a logical network in the cloud network comprising resources allocated to the private enterprise network.

18. The logical customer edge router of claim 17 , wherein the directory maintains address information of the devices in the private enterprise network and devices in the logical network, the address information including:

an enterprise ID,

a location IP address,

a MAC address, and

a cloud IP address.