Communication arrangement between virtual routers of a physical router

A system configured to enable processes on different virtual routers executing on a same physical router to communicate without substantially consuming communication resources of the physical router, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• a router operating system executed by the processor and adapted to functionally organize the physical router by invoking network operations in support of the processes executed by the processor, the processes being independent of the router operating system;
• a virtual router forwarding information base (vrFIB) of each process, the vrFIB used to determine whether the processes are on the same physical router;
• and
• a lightweight interconnection established via a socket library of each of the processes and used for communication between the processes when the processes are on the same physical router, thereby obviating substantial consumption of the communication resources.

Apparatus adapted to enable services on different virtual routers executing on a same physical router to communicate without substantially consuming communication resources of the physical router, the apparatus comprising:

• means for determining whether the services of the virtual routers are on the same physical router;
• means for creating a lightweight interconnection between the services via a socket library of each of the services, if the services are on the same physical router;
• and
• means for forwarding a message using the socket library of a first of the services, over the lightweight interconnection, for receipt using the socket library of a second of the services, to enable communication between the services, thereby obviating substantial consumption of the communication resources.

A computer readable medium containing executable program instructions for enabling services on different virtual routers executing on a same physical router to communicate without substantially consuming communication resources of the physical router, the executable program instructions comprising program instructions for:

• determining whether the services of the virtual routers are on the same physical router;
• if the services are on the same physical router, creating a lightweight interconnection between the services via a socket library of each of the services;
• and
• forwarding a message using the socket library of a first of the services, over the lightweight interconnection, for receipt using the socket library of a second of the services, to enable communication between the services, thereby obviating substantial consumption of the communication resources.