Providing efficiencies in processing and communicating internet protocol packets in a network using segment routing

A method, comprising:

• receiving a particular packet by a particular node in a network, with the particular packet as received including an outer Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) header and a second Segment Routing Header, with the outer IPv6 header including an IPv6 Destination Address field, with the second Segment Routing Header including a second Segment List and a second Segments Left, with the second Segment List including a particular Segment Identifier having the value of the IPv6 Destination Address field, and with the second Segments Left identifying a position of the particular Segment Identifier in the second Segment List;
• updating said received particular packet according to a particular Segment Routing Policy identified based on the particular packet, with the particular Segment Routing Policy including an ordered list of Segment Identifiers comprising, in first-to-last order, a first Segment Identifier followed by one or more subsequent Segment Identifiers, with said updating including setting the IPv6 Destination Address field to the first Segment Identifier;
• and
• sending the particular packet, after said updating, into the network from the particular node;
• wherein said updating said received particular packet includes increasing the second Segments Left by one, and adding a first Segment Routing Header with a first Segment List and a first Segments Left, with the first Segment List including said one or more subsequent Segment Identifiers;
• and
• wherein the particular packet said sent from the particular node includes a sequence of three contiguous IPv6 headers in the order of the outer IPv6 header, the first Segment Routing Header, and the second Segment Routing Header with the second Segments Left having a value of one more that the value of the second Segments Left of the particular packet when said received;
• and wherein the second Segment List is the same when the particular packet is said received and when said sent.

An apparatus, comprising:

• one or more hardware interfaces communicatively coupled to a network;
• and
• one or more network processors with memory associated therewith;
• wherein the apparatus, communicatively coupled to a network, performs packet processing operations including Segment Routing-capable (SR-capable) packet processing operations, with said packet processing operations including:
• receiving a particular Internet Protocol (IP) packet from the network, with the particular IP packet including an outer Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) header that includes an IPv6 Destination Address field having a value that is not an address of the apparatus;
• updating the particular IP packet to include a particular Segment Routing Policy, with the Segment Routing Policy including an ordered list of Segment Identifiers that will be traversed by the particular IP packet, with the ordered list comprising in first-to-last order a first Segment Identifier followed by one or more subsequent Segment Identifiers, with said updating including setting the IPv6 Destination Address field to the first Segment Identifier;
• and
• sending said updated particular IP packet from the apparatus into the network;
• wherein said updating the particular IP packet includes adding a first Segment Routing Header including a first Segment List and a first Segments Left and adding a second Segment Routing Header including a second Segment List and a second Segments Left, with the first Segment List including said one or more subsequent Segment Identifiers, and with the second Segment List comprising a single Segment Identifier having the value of the IPv6 Destination Address field of the particular packet when said received by the particular node, and the second Segments Left being a value of one;
• and
• wherein the particular packet said sent from the particular node includes a sequence of three contiguous IPv6 headers in the order of the outer IPv6 header, the first Segment Routing Header, and the second Segment Routing Header.

A method, comprising:

• receiving a particular packet by a particular node in a network, with the particular packet including an outer Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) header that includes a Destination Address;
• updating said received particular packet according to a particular Segment Routing Policy identified based on the particular packet, with the particular Segment Routing Policy including an ordered list of Segment Identifiers comprising, in first-to-last order, a first Segment Identifier followed by one or more subsequent Segment Identifiers, with said updating including setting the Destination Address to the first Segment Identifier, and with said updating including adding said one or more subsequent Segment Identifiers, but not the first Segment Identifier, in a first Segment Routing Header;
• and
• sending the particular packet, that includes said updates according to the particular Segment Routing Policy while not including the first Segment Identifier in the first Segment Routing Header, into the network from the particular node;
• wherein said updating said received particular packet includes adding a second Segment Routing Header with a single Segment Identifier to the particular packet, with the single Segment Identifier being the Destination Address of the particular packet when said received by the particular node;
• wherein the particular packet said sent from the particular node includes a sequence of three contiguous IPv6 headers in the order of the outer IPv6 header, the first Segment Routing Header, and the second Segment Routing Header;
• and
• wherein a bottom packet portion is defined as from, and including, the Destination Address to the end of an IPv6 packet;
• wherein said updating the particular packet includes generating a top packet portion of the particular packet, with the top packet portion including the outer IPv6 header, the first Segment Routing Header, and a preceding portion of the second Segment Routing Header including a Segment Left value of one;
• and wherein the particular packet said sent from the particular node includes said generated top packet portion followed by the bottom packet portion of the particular packet as said received by the particular node.