Session management in a forwarding plane

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• at least one computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
• coupling a subscriber to a network endpoint through a session manager during a network session of the subscriber in a network environment, the session manager being located outside a forwarding plane;
• maintaining a session manager offloading system of the session manager in the forwarding plane of the network environment, the session manager offloading system configured to offload processing from the session manager into the forwarding plane;
• intercepting at least a portion of subscriber traffic in a stream between the subscriber and the network endpoint through the session manager based on a context of the stream;
• first determining, by the session manager, whether to perform a process on the at least the portion of the subscriber traffic at the session manager outside of the forwarding plane or the session manager offloading system in the forwarding plane;
• performing at the session manager, in response to the first determining resulting in the session manager, the process on the intercepted the at least the portion of the subscriber traffic in the stream;
• offloading, in response to the first determining resulting in the session manager offloading system, the intercepted the at least the portion of the subscriber traffic in the stream to the session manager offloading system;
• and
• performing, in response to the offloading, the process on the offloaded at least the portion of the subscriber traffic in the stream based on the context of the stream at the session manager offloading system;
• wherein the session manager offloading system provides at least some functions of the session manager within the forwarding plane, such that the session manager offloading system provides within the forwarding plane as an alternative to processing the intercepted at least the portion of the subscriber traffic in the stream by the session manager outside of the forwarding plane.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• coupling a subscriber to a network endpoint through a session manager during a network session of the subscriber in a network environment, the session manager being located outside a forwarding plane;
• maintaining a session manager offloading system of the session manager in the forwarding plane of the network environment, the session manager offloading system configured to offload processing from the session manager into the forwarding plane;
• intercepting at least a portion of subscriber traffic in a stream between the subscriber and the network endpoint through the session manager;
• first determining, by the session manager, whether to perform a process on the at least the portion of the subscriber traffic at the session manager outside of the forwarding plane or the session manager offloading system in the forwarding plane;
• performing at the session manager, in response to the first determining resulting in the session manager, the process on the intercepted the at least the portion of the of the subscriber traffic in the stream;
• offloading, in response to the first determining resulting in the session manager offloading system, the intercepted the at least the portion of the subscriber traffic in the stream to the session manager offloading system;
• and
• performing, in response to the offloading, the process on the offloaded at least the portion of the subscriber traffic in the stream at the session manager offloading system;
• wherein the session manager offloading system provides at least some functions of the session manager within the forwarding plane, such that the session manager offloading system provides within the forwarding plane an alternative to processing the intercepted at least the portion of the subscriber traffic by the session manager in the stream outside the forwarding plane.