Routing VLAN tagged packets to far end addresses of virtual forwarding instances using separate administrations

1. A method in a network element of a packet data network to route packets with embedded virtual local area network information and an IP header to far end addresses of virtual forwarding instances, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a frame including an embedded virtual network identifier (VNI);

looking up the VNI to identify a virtual forwarding instance (VFI), the VFI having a correlated an I-Component Service Identifier (I-SID) and an internet protocol (IP) to backbone media access control (B-MAC) table that is shared with a set of VFIs each having correlated I-SIDs;

resolving by the VFI an IP address of the frame to a B-MAC address using the shared IP to B-MAC resolution table;

encapsulating the frame with the I-SID and B-MAC; and

sending the frame to the remote B-MAC address.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

mapping the I-SID to a layer 3 virtual private network instantiated as a plurality of L2 VPNs.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the layer 3 virtual private network is a backbone virtual local area network.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

receiving the frame having the I-SID encapsulation at the remote B-MAC address;

decapsulating the frame; and

forwarding the frame to an IP address associated with the virtual forwarding instance associated with the I-SID.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

assigning the I-SID to the virtual forwarding instance before mapping the virtual network identifier to the I-SID, the I-SID being assigned by determining an IP address of a virtual local area network tunnel end point, and advertising the determined IP address with the I-SID and a local B-MAC address.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the virtual local area network tunnel end point is a VxLAN tunnel end point (VTEP).

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the advertising of the determined IP address comprises advertising the IP address in intermediate system-intermediate system (IS-IS).

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein assigning the I-SID further comprises the steps of:

determining a port of the I-SID; and

assigning a plurality of I-SIDS that are associated with the determined port to the virtual forwarding instance, the virtual forwarding instance being shared with the plurality of I-SIDS in a pool.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein assigning the I-SID comprises the steps of:

assigning the I-SID at a backbone edge bridge (BEB), the backbone edge bridge also sending the frame to the remote backbone MAC address.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

assigning the I-SID to the virtual forwarding instance before mapping the virtual network identifier to the I-SID by receiving mapping information from a management server.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

assigning the I-SID to the virtual forwarding instance before mapping the virtual network identifier to the I-SID by using a dynamic host configuration relay to learn an IP address of the virtual local area network.

12. A network element of a packet data network to route packets with embedded virtual local area network information and an IP header to far end addresses of virtual forwarding instances, the network element comprising:

an ingress module including a server port, ternary content addressable memory (TCAM), and a mapping module,

the server port configured to receive a frame including an embedded virtual network identifier (VNI) from a virtual machine (VM),

the TCAM configured to identify the VNI of the frame and lookup a virtual forwarding instance having a correlated I-Component Service Identifier (I-SID) and an internet protocol (IP) to backbone media access control (B-MAC) table that is shared with a set of VFIs each having correlated I-SIDs,

the mapping module configured to resolve a destination IP address of the frame to a remote B-MAC address using the shared IP to B-MAC table, and encapsulate the frame with the I-SID and B-MAC; and

an egress module configured to send the frame to the remote B-MAC address.

13. The network element of claim 12 , wherein the mapping module is further configured to map the I-SID to a layer 3 virtual private network.

14. The network element of claim 13 , wherein the layer 3 virtual private network is a backbone virtual local area network.

15. The network element of claim 12 , wherein the mapping module is further configured to assign the I-SID to the virtual forwarding instance before mapping the virtual network identifier to the I-SID, the I-SID being assigned by determining an IP address of a virtual local area network tunnel end point, and advertising the determined IP address with the I-SID and a local backbone MAC address.

16. The network element of claim 15 , wherein the virtual local area network tunnel end point is a VxLAN tunnel end point (VTEP).

17. The network element of claim 15 , wherein the advertising of the determined IP address comprises advertising the IP address in intermediate system-intermediate system (IS-IS).

18. The network element of claim 15 , wherein the mapping module is further configured to determine a port of the I-SID, and assign a plurality of I-SIDs that are associated with the determined port to the virtual forwarding instance, the virtual forwarding instance being shared with the plurality of I-SIDS in a pool.

19. The network element of claim 18 , wherein the mapping module is further configured to assign the I-SID at a backbone edge bridge (BEB), the backbone edge bridge also sending the frame to the remote backbone MAC address.

20. The network element of claim 12 , wherein the mapping module is configured to assign the I-SID to the virtual forwarding instance before mapping the virtual network identifier to the I-SID by receiving mapping information from a management server.

21. The network element of claim 12 , wherein the mapping module is configured to assign the I-SID to the virtual forwarding instance before mapping the virtual network identifier to the I-SID by using a dynamic host configuration relay to learn an IP address of the virtual local area network.