Techniques are described for a router providing metric-based multi-hop path selection. For example, a first router of a plurality of routers receives a plurality of network performance metrics for a plurality of links interconnecting the plurality of routers. The plurality of links form a plurality of multi-hop paths through the plurality of routers to a service instance. The router determines, based on the plurality of network performance metrics for the plurality of links, an end-to-end performance of each of the plurality of multi-hop paths. The router selects a multi-hop path over which to forward traffic associated with the session based on the end-to-end performance of each of the plurality of multi-hop paths and one or more performance requirements for a service associated between a session between a client device and the service instance. The router forwards the traffic to the service instance along the selected multi-hop path.

A network device receives a data packet including a source address and a destination address. The network device drops the data packet before it reaches the destination address and generates an error message indicating that the data packet has been dropped. The network device encapsulates the error message with a segment routing header comprising a list of segments. The first segment of the list of segments in the segment routing header identifies a remote server, and at least one additional segment is an instruction for handling the error message. The network device sends the encapsulated error message to the remote server based on the first segment of the segment routing header.

Some embodiments facilitate the provision of a service reachable at a virtual internet protocol (VIP) address. The VIP address is used by clients to access a set of service nodes in the logical network. Facilitating the provision of the service, in some embodiments, includes returning a serviced data message to a load balancer that selected a service node to provide the service for the load balancer to track the state of the connection using the service logical forwarding element. To use the service logical forwarding element, some embodiments configure an egress datapath of the service nodes to intercept the serviced data message before being forwarded to a logical forwarding element in the datapath from the client to the service node, and determine if the serviced data message requires routing by the routing service provided as a service by the edge forwarding element.

A method by a software defined networking (SDN) controller to configure a switch to perform translation module bypass in a container orchestration system. The method includes receiving a translation rule for a flow from a load balancer, sending translation module bypass instructions to a switch in response to receiving the translation rule for the flow, where the translation module bypass instructions include instructions for the switch to stop sending packets belonging to the flow to the translation module and to apply a network address translation specified by the translation rule for the flow to the packets belonging to the flow, and send an indication to the load balancer that the packets belonging to the flow are to bypass the translation module to cause the load balancer to disable timeout processing for the flow in the translation module.

Some embodiments provide novel methods for providing different types of services for a logical network associated with an edge forwarding element acting between the logical network and an external network. The edge forwarding element receives data messages for forwarding and performs a service classification operation to select a set of services of a particular type for the data message. The particular type of service is one of multiple types of services that use different transport mechanisms to forward the data to a set of service nodes (e.g., service virtual machines, or service appliances, etc.) that provide the service. The edge forwarding element receives the data message after the selected set of services has been performed and performs a forwarding operation to forward the data message. In some embodiments, the method is also performed by edge forwarding elements that are at the edges of logical network segments within the logical network.

Techniques for routing data packets through service chains within and between public cloud networks of multi-cloud fabrics. A router in a network, e.g., a public cloud network, receives data packets from nodes in the network through segments of the network. Based at least in part on (i) a source address of the data packet, (ii) a destination address of the data packet, and (iii) an identity of the segments of the network from which the data packets are received, the router determines a next node in the network to which the data packet is to be forwarded. The router may then forward the data packet through another segment of the network to the next node and then receive the data packet from the next node through the another segment.

Techniques are disclosed for identifying faulty links in a virtualized computing environment. Network path latency information is received for one or more network paths in the networked computing environment. Based on the network path latency information, a probable presence of a faulty component is determined. In response to the determination, physical links for a network path associated with the probable faulty component are identified. Information indicative of likely sources of the probable faulty component is received from multiple hosts of the networked computing environment. Based on the identified physical links and information, a faulty component is determined.

A mechanism is disclosed for implementing conditional commands carried by network data packets. A data flow including a data packet is received. The data packet includes a conditional command. A condition and a command are obtained from the conditional command. The mechanism determines that the condition is satisfied. Based on the determination that the condition is satisfied, the command is executed to alter handling of the data flow, alter handling of the data packet, or alter a context for the data flow.

Techniques are described in which a centralized controller, such as a software defined networking (SDN) controller, constructs a service chain that includes a physical network function (PNF) between a bare metal server (BMS) and a virtual execution element (e.g., virtual machine or container), or in some instances a remote BMS, or vice-versa. In accordance with the techniques disclosed herein, the controller may construct an inter-network service chain that includes PNFs, or a combination of PNFs and virtualized network functions (VNFs). The controller may construct an inter-network service chain to steer traffic between a BMS and a virtual execution element or remote BMS through an inter-network service chain using Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) as an underlying transport technology through the service chain.

Techniques are described for a router providing metric-based multi-hop path selection. For example, a first router of a plurality of routers receives a plurality of network performance metrics for a plurality of links interconnecting the plurality of routers. The plurality of links form a plurality of multi-hop paths through the plurality of routers to a service instance. The router determines, based on the plurality of network performance metrics for the plurality of links, an end-to-end performance of each of the plurality of multi-hop paths. The router selects a multi-hop path over which to forward traffic associated with the session based on the end-to-end performance of each of the plurality of multi-hop paths and one or more performance requirements for a service associated between a session between a client device and the service instance. The router forwards the traffic to the service instance along the selected multi-hop path.