Malleable routing for data packets

A system for configurable traffic routing comprising:

• a plurality of network nodes, each network node including a network interface, a non-transitory memory and one or more processors coupled with the non-transitory memory, wherein each network node supports routing packets according to a uniform routing criterion, and is further configured to support routing capabilities, each routing capability being associated with one or more alternative criteria, and wherein each network node transmits an indication of the supported routing capabilities on the network interface;
• a communications network with links interconnecting the plurality of network nodes in a physical topology;
• the system further including a criterion determination module, a node/link determination module, and a route determination module;
• wherein the criterion determination module is configured to determine one or more operator-defined routing criteria to transmit a set of data packets across a network, wherein the one or more alternative routing criteria are associated with a routing capability, and wherein the one or more alternative routing criteria are associated with control of a Traffic Engineering (TE) metric;
• wherein the node/link determination module is configured to identify network nodes and communication links in the network that satisfy the routing capability;
• and
• wherein the route determination module is configured to use the one or more alternative routing criteria to identify a route for data packets through the network nodes and the communication links that support the routing capability and control the TE metric;
• wherein the system is operable to configure the set of network nodes and links corresponding to the route identified by the route determination module to exchange a first set of packets traversing the system using the identified route.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing logic which, when executed by one or more processors:

• at each of a plurality of network nodes, each network node supporting routing packets according to a uniform routing criterion, indicate one or more routing capabilities supported by the network node, each routing capability being associated with a one or more operator-defined routing criteria;
• receive, by a first network node, the indications regarding the routing capabilities supported by each of the plurality of network nodes;
• determine, at the first network node, one or more operator-defined criteria to use to route a first set of data packets across a network, the one or more operator-defined criteria chosen to control a Traffic Engineering (TE) metric associate with the first set data packets as they traverse the network;
• identify, based at least in part on the received indications, one or more network nodes from the plurality of network nodes that support the routing capability associated with the determined one or more operator-defined criteria;
• determine a route for the first set of data packets through the network nodes and the communication links that supports the routing capability and controls the TE metric using at least one operator-defined criterion;
• and
• propagate the first set of data packets along the determined route.