Bouncing router communications in a multi-tier network

A method, comprising:

• receiving, at a particular router in an intermediate tier of a multi-tier network, a data transmission from a first router in a lower tier of the network, the first router being connected to the particular router;
• determining that a destination of the data transmission is a second router in the lower tier of the network, the second router being connected to the particular router, wherein the determining that the destination of the data transmission is the second router in the lower tier of the network comprises matching the destination of the data transmission to a subnet mask associated with an override routing table;
• responsive to the determining, overriding a default behavior of routing the data transmission directly to the second router in the lower tier via the connection between the second router and the particular router, and instead routing the data transmission to another router in a higher tier of the network for re-routing to the second router in the lower tier of the network, wherein the routing the data transmission to the another router in the higher tier of the network comprises looking up an address of the another router in the override routing table;
• determining that a destination of a second data transmission does not match a subnet mask associated with the override routing table;
• and
• routing the second data transmission using a default routing table.

A method, comprising:

• identifying a router in a middle tier of a network topology;
• identifying multiple routers in a lower tier of the network topology that are connected to the router in the middle tier;
• identifying multiple routers in an upper tier of the network topology that are connected to the router in the middle tier;
• generating a configuration that, when processed by the router in the middle tier of the network topology, causes the router in the middle tier of the network topology to generate an override routing table to override a default behavior of forwarding a data packet transmitted by one of the multiple routers in the lower tier, and destined for another of the routers in the lower tier, directly to the another of the routers in the lower tier, and instead forward the data packet, to one of the multiple routers in the upper tier of the network topology;
• transmitting the configuration to the router in the middle tier of the network topology for processing;
• processing the configuration by the router in the middle tier of the network topology, wherein the processing comprises:
• generating the override routing table based on the configuration, and
• applying the generated override routing table to an interface of the router in the middle tier that is connected to one of the multiple routers in the lower tier of the network topology;
• and
• routing a data message received at the interface of the router in the middle tier of the network from the one of the multiple routers in the lower tier of the network, wherein the routing comprises:
• analyzing the data message to determine whether a destination of the data message is one of the multiple routers in the lower tier of the network topology, if the destination of the data message is one of the multiple routers in the lower tier of the network topology, using the generated override routing table to identify one or more of the multiple routers in the higher tier of the network and routing the data message to the one of the identified routers, and
• otherwise using a global routing table to route the data message.