Creating and maintaining segment routed traffic engineering policies via border gateway protocol
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsClarence Filsfils, Arjun Sreekantiah, Stefano B. Previdi, Muthurajah Sivabalan
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a set of extensions to enable BGP to setup and maintain flexible Segment Routed Traffic Engineered (SR-TE) policies. Embodiments of the present disclosure further propose a new approach for steering traffic onto SR-TE paths on a per-prefix basis without deploying the existing complex mechanisms.
Claims20
A method for controlling steering of traffic in a network comprising multiple network elements according to Segment Routed Traffic Engineering (SR-TE) policies, the method comprising:
- receiving, at an ingress network element, a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) update message comprising network reachability information (NLRI) and one or more path attributes to a network element, wherein
- the NLRI comprises an identification of a SR-TE policy and an identification of an egress network element to which the traffic is to be provided to, and
- the one or more path attributes comprise:
- a first segment list comprising a first ordered list of one or more network elements that the traffic associated with the identified SR-TE policy is to traverse to reach the identified egress network element;
- a second segment list comprising a second ordered list of one or more network elements that the traffic associated with the identified SR-TE policy is to traverse to reach an intermediate network element between the ingress network element and the identified egress network element;
- a first weight associated with the first segment list and a second weight associated with the second segment list;
- and
- forwarding traffic received at the ingress network element in accordance with the received BGP updated message.
A system for controlling steering of traffic in a network comprising multiple network elements according to Segment Routed Traffic Engineering (SR-TE) policies, the system comprising:
- at least one memory element configured to store computer executable instructions, and
- at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory element and configured, when executing the instructions, to:
- receive, at an ingress network element, a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) update message comprising network reachability information (NLRI) and one or more path attributes to a network element, wherein the NLRI comprises an identification of a SR-TE policy and an identification of an egress network element to which the traffic is to be provided to, and the one or more path attributes comprise:
- a first segment list comprising a first ordered list of one or more network elements that the traffic associated with the identified SR-TE policy is to traverse to reach the identified egress network element;
- a second segment list comprising a second ordered list of one or more network elements that the traffic associated with the identified SR-TE policy is to traverse to reach an intermediate network element between the ingress network element and the identified egress network element;
- and
- a first weight associated with the first segment list and a second weight associated with the second segment list;
- and
- forward traffic received at the ingress network element in accordance with the received BGP updated message.
One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions controlling steering of traffic in a network comprising multiple network elements according to Segment Routed Traffic Engineering (SR-TE) policies and, when the software is executed, configured to:
- receive, at an ingress network element, a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) update message comprising network reachability information (NLRI) and one or more path attributes to a network element, wherein the NLRI comprises an identification of a SR-TE policy and an identification of an egress network element to which the traffic is to be provided to, and the one or more path attributes comprise:
- a first segment list comprising a first ordered list of one or more network elements that the traffic associated with the identified SR-TE policy is to traverse to reach the identified egress network element;
- a second segment list comprising a second ordered list of one or more network elements that the traffic associated with the identified SR-TE policy is to traverse to reach an intermediate network element between the ingress network element and the identified egress network element;
- a first weight associated with the first segment list and a second weight associated with the second segment list;
- and
- forward traffic received at the ingress network element in accordance with the received BGP updated message.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.