Methods and systems for flow virtualization and visibility
AssigneeCumulus Networks, Inc.
InventorsShrijeet Mukherjee, Sameer Merchant, Wilson Kok, Roopa Prabhu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Identity information is decoupled from reachability information in packets transferred between hosts of a computer network by replacing forwarding information within said packets with an identifier having a format of the forwarding information, and applying forwarding labels, derived from the identifiers, which are then used in lieu of the forwarding information for conveying the packets within the network. During such conveyance, the packets are treated according to one or more policies prescribed on a basis of the identifier, which may be an IPv6 address. The forwarding labels may be MPLS labels.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- intercepting one or more packets originated by a first host and destined for a second host;
- replacing forwarding information within said packets with an identifier having a format of the forwarding information;
- applying forwarding labels to the packets, said forwarding labels derived from the identifiers;
- conveying said packets within a network according to the forwarding labels but not the identifier;
- and
- at one or more nodes of the network, treating said packets according to one or more policies prescribed on a basis of said identifier.
A method of providing for flow-based policies within a network, comprising:
- appending, to packets transmitted between a client application and a server application, forwarding information and forwarding labels, the forwarding labels derived from the forwarding information;
- and conveying said packets within a network according to the forwarding labels but not the forwarding information, wherein said network comprises a plurality of communicably coupled nodes between the client application and the server application, and at one or more of said plurality of nodes of the network, applying one or more prescribed policies to said packets said policies being prescribed on a basis of said forwarding information.
A method of providing for flow-based policies within a network, comprising:
- replacing, within packets transmitted between a client application and a server application, an identifier which provides both identification information and reachability information for a node associated with said packets with separate forwarding information and forwarding labels, the forwarding labels derived from the forwarding information;
- and conveying said packets within a network according to the forwarding labels but not the forwarding information, wherein said network comprises a plurality of communicably coupled nodes between the client application and the server application, and at one or more of said plurality of nodes of the network, applying one or more prescribed policies to said packets, said policies being prescribed on a basis of said forwarding information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.