Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) is an overlay network technology, in which a message is encapsulated according to a Media Access Control (MAC) in User Datagram Protocol (UDP) method. For example, an original message may be encapsulated into a UDP message.
A VXLAN includes VXLAN Tunnel End Points (VTEPs) and a tenant network composed of multiple hosts. A VTEP is an edge device of the VXLAN, and may be implemented by a physical switch or a virtual switch. Any two VTEPs may be connected by a layer 3 network and communicate with each other through establishing a tunnel between them. In a VXLAN, the tenant network is identified by a VXLAN Network identifier (VNI). A source VTEP encapsulates a message received from a source host in a tenant network into a VXLAN message, and then sends the VXLAN message to a destination VTEP via a tunnel. The destination VTEP decapsulates the received VXLAN message into the message and sends the message to a destination host.
Software Defined Network (SDN) is a new type of network which may separate a control plane of a network device from a forwarding plane. In a SDN VXLAN combining a SDN and a VXLAN, a connection between a controller and a VTEP may be established according to an Openflow protocol or another SDN protocol. The controller distributes an SDN entry to the VTEP to control the forwarding of data flow on the VTEP. The controller distributes a generated SDN entry to the VTEP, and the VTEP converts the SDN entry into a routing forwarding entry and adds the routing forwarding entry to a routing forwarding table corresponding to a VNI in the SDN entry. A connection between the controller and the VTEP is established according to a Network Configuration (Netconf) protocol, and the controller configures the VTEP according to the Netconf protocol.