Using graph neural networks to create table-less routers

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform method to predict an output port for a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address in a network, the method comprising:

• constructing an untrained model comprising a graph neural network (GNN), a first artificial feed-forward neural network (ANN), and a second ANN;
• training the untrained model to obtain a trained model by:
• training the first ANN using at least IP addresses of destination nodes in the network,
• training the GNN using at least an adjacency matrix of the network and initial node features computed using the IP addresses of destination nodes in the network, and
• training the second ANN by combining the output of the first ANN and an output of the GNN using the attention mechanism;
• and
• using the trained model to predict the output port for the destination IP address, wherein using the trained model comprises executing the first ANN, the attention mechanism, and the second ANN.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform method to predict an output port for a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address in a network, the method comprising:
• constructing an untrained model comprising a graph neural network (GNN), a first artificial feed-forward neural network (ANN), and a second ANN;
• training the untrained model to obtain a trained model by:
• training the first ANN using at least IP addresses of destination nodes in the network,
• training the GNN using at least an adjacency matrix of the network and initial node features computed using the IP addresses of destination nodes in the network, and
• training the second ANN by combining the output of the first ANN and an output of the GNN using an attention mechanism;
• and
• using the trained model to predict the output port for the destination IP address, wherein using the trained model comprises executing the first ANN, the attention mechanism, and the second ANN.