Active-standby switchover in border gateway protocol (BGP) network using graceful attract community

A method for operating a network node, the method comprising:

• receiving a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) route advertisement message at the network node;
• matching a value of a community tag in the BGP route advertisement message to a value that is indicative of a graceful attract community;
• in response to matching the value of the community tag in the BGP route advertisement message to the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community, setting a local-preference attribute in a route-map of the network node for a route in the BGP route advertisement message, wherein the route that is set with the local-preference attribute corresponds to a standby host node;
• and
• routing traffic to the standby host node according the route-map;
• further comprising, setting the local-preference attribute in the route-map for the route information in the BGP route advertisement message with the value of the community tag that matches the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community when the BGP route advertisement message with the value of the community tag that matches the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community is received directly from the standby host node but not when the BGP route advertisement message with the value of the community tag that matches the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community is received from a spine node.

An integrated circuit device comprising:

• memory;
• one or more processors;
• a host interface;
• a network interface;
• and
• a packet processing circuit;
• the memory, one or more processors, host interface, network interface, and packet processing circuit configured to:
• receive a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) route advertisement message at the integrated circuit device;
• match a value of a community tag in the BGP route advertisement message to a value that is indicative of a graceful attract community;
• in response to matching the value of the community tag in the BGP route advertisement message to the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community, set a local-preference attribute in a route-map of the integrated circuit device for a route in the BGP route advertisement message, wherein the route that is set with the local-preference attribute corresponds to a standby host node;
• and
• route traffic to the standby host node according to the route-map;
• wherein the local-preference attribute in the route-map for the route in the BGP route advertisement message with the value of the community tag that matches the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community is set when the BGP route advertisement message with the value of the community tag that matches the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community is received directly from the standby host node but not when the BGP route advertisement message with the value of the community tag that matches the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community is received from a spine node.

A method for operating an integrated circuit device, the method comprising:

• receiving a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) route advertisement message at the integrated circuit device;
• matching a value of a community tag in the BGP route advertisement message to a value that is indicative of a graceful attract community;
• in response to matching the value of the community tag in the route advertisement message to the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community, setting a local-preference attribute in a route-map of the integrated circuit device for a route in the BGP route advertisement message, wherein the route that is set with the local-preference attribute corresponds to a standby host node;
• and
• routing traffic to the standby host node according the route-map;
• further comprising, setting the local-preference attribute in the route-map for the route information in the BGP route advertisement message with the value of the community tag that matches the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community when the BGP route advertisement message with the value of the community tag that matches the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community is received directly from the standby host node but not when the BGP route advertisement message with the value of the community tag that matches the value that is indicative of the graceful attract community is received from a spine node.