US 12,436,791 B2
Efficient network device failover management for virtual machines
Michael Tsirkin, Yokneam Illit (IL)
Assigned to Red Hat, Inc., Raleigh, NC (US)
Filed by Red Hat, Inc., Raleigh, NC (US)
Filed on Jun. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/852,200.
Prior Publication US 2023/0418648 A1, Dec. 28, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 9/455 (2018.01)
CPC G06F 9/45558 (2013.01) [G06F 9/45545 (2013.01); G06F 2009/45583 (2013.01); G06F 2009/45595 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
detecting, by a virtual machine (VM), a primary virtual Network Interface Controller (vNIC) configured with a first media access control (MAC) address assigned to the VM by a hypervisor;
detecting, by the VM, a standby vNIC configured with a second MAC address;
recording the first MAC address and the second MAC address in a control register of the standby vNIC;
connecting a software Network Interface Controller (NIC) configured with a third MAC address to the primary vNIC and the standby vNIC;
selecting a vNIC represented by one of: the primary vNIC or the standby vNIC;
assigning the third MAC address to the selected vNIC; and
communicating network data packets through the software NIC using the third MAC address.