Network traffic synchronization and data compression in redundant network topologies

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• at least one network interface;
• a compression module operative to
• compress outgoing packets;
• de-compress incoming packets;
• and
• compute compression statistics related to the compressed and de-compressed packets;
• a packet processor operative to
• receive packets on the at least one network interface;
• receive synchronization packets from at least one partner network device, wherein at least one synchronization packet includes compression statistics computed by the partner network device;
• transmit the packets received on the at least one network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• wherein at least one synchronization packet transmitted on the at least one network interface includes a compression statistic computed by the compression module;
• and
• a flow control module operative to allocate bandwidth to packets based at least in part on the compression statistics associated with the packets.

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• at least one network interface;
• a compression module operative to
• compress outgoing packets;
• de-compress incoming packets;
• and
• compute compression statistics related to the compressed and de-compressed packets;
• and
• a packet processor operative to
• receive packets on the at least one network interface;
• receive synchronization packets from at least one partner network device, wherein at least one synchronization packet includes compression statistics computed by the partner network device;
• transmit the packets received on the at least one network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device, wherein at least one synchronization packet transmitted on the at least one network interface includes a compression statistic computed by the compression module;
• and
• discard the received synchronization packets.

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• a first network interface for communication with a first network device;
• a second network interface for communication with a second network device;
• at least a third network interface for exchange of synchronization packets with a partner network device;
• a compression module operative to
• compress outbound packets received at the first network interface;
• de-compress inbound packets received at the second network interface;
• and
• compute compression statistics related to the compressed and de-compressed packets;
• a packet processor operative to
• receive packets on the first and second network interfaces, wherein the data packets are addressed to destination hosts;
• receive synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface, wherein at least one synchronization packet includes compression statistics computed by a partner network device;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the first network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device,
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the second network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• wherein at least one synchronization packet transmitted on the at least a third network interface includes a compression statistic computed by the compression module;
• and
• a flow control module operative to allocate bandwidth to packets based at least in part on the compression statistics associated with the packets.

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• a first network interface for communication with a first network device;
• a second network interface for communication with a second network device;
• at least a third network interface for exchange of synchronization packets with a partner network device;
• a compression module operative to
• compress outbound packets received at the first network interface;
• de-compress inbound packets received at the second network interface;
• and
• compute compression statistics related to the compressed and de-compressed packets;
• a packet processor operative to
• receive packets on the first and second network interfaces, wherein the packets are addressed to destination hosts;
• receive synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface, wherein at least one synchronization packet includes compression statistics computed by a partner network device;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the first network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• and
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the second network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device, wherein at least one synchronization packet transmitted on the at least a third network interface includes a compression statistic computed by the compression module;
• a flow control module operative to allocate bandwidth to packets based at least in part on the compression statistics associated with the packets;
• and
• a tunnel probing module operative to
• dynamically probe a communications path to a destination host for at least one network device having compression capabilities;
• and
• establish a compression tunnel with an identified network device in the communications path.

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• a first network interface for communication with a first network device;
• a second network interface for communication with a second network device;
• at least a third network interface for exchange of synchronization packets with a partner network device;
• a compression module operative to
• compress outbound packets received at the first network interface;
• de-compress inbound packets received at the second network interface;
• and
• compute compression statistics related to the compressed and de-compressed packets;
• a packet processor operative to
• receive packets on the first and second network interfaces, wherein the packets are addressed to destination hosts;
• receive synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface, wherein at least one synchronization packet includes compression statistics computed by a partner network device;
• discard the received synchronization packets;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the first network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• and
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the second network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• wherein at least one synchronization packet transmitted on the at least a third network interface includes a compression statistic computed by the compression module;
• and
• a flow control module operative to allocate bandwidth to packets based at least in part on the compression statistics associated with the packets.

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• a first network interface for communication with a first network device;
• a second network interface for communication with a second network device;
• a third network interface for exchange of synchronization packets with a partner network device;
• a fourth network interface for exchange of synchronization packets with the partner network device;
• a compression module operative to
• compress outbound packets received at the first network interface;
• de-compress inbound packets received at the second network interface;
• and
• compute compression statistics related to the compressed and de-compressed packets;
• a packet processor operative to
• receive packets on the first and second network interfaces, wherein the packets are addressed to destination hosts;
• receive synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface, wherein at least one synchronization packet includes compression statistics computed by a partner network device;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the first network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the second network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• transmit, on the third network interface, the data packets received on the first network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• and
• transmit, on the fourth network interface, the data packets received on the second network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• wherein at least one synchronization packet transmitted on the at least a third network interface includes a compression statistic computed by the compression module;
• and
• a flow control module operative to allocate bandwidth to packets based at least in part on the compression statistics associated with the packets.

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• a first network interface for communication with a first network device;
• a second network interface for communication with a second network device;
• at least a third network interface for exchange of synchronization packets with a partner network device;
• a compression module operative to
• compress outbound packets received at the first network interface;
• de-compress inbound packets received at the second network interface;
• and
• compute compression statistics related to the compressed and de-compressed packets;
• a packet processor operative to
• receive packets on the first and second network interfaces, wherein the packets are addressed to destination hosts;
• receive synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface, wherein at least one synchronization packet includes compression statistics computed by a partner network device;
• encapsulate the packets received on the first and second network interfaces with synchronization headers before transmitting the packets on the at least a third network interface;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the first network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the second network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• and
• decapsulate the synchronization packets received on the at least a third network interface network interface;
• wherein at least one synchronization packet transmitted on the at least a third network interface includes a compression statistic computed by the compression module;
• and
• a flow control module operative to allocate bandwidth to packets based at least in part on the compression statistics associated with the packets.

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• a first network interface for communication with a first network device;
• a second network interface for communication with a second network device;
• at least a third network interface for exchange of synchronization packets with a partner network device;
• a compression module operative to
• compress outbound packets received at the first network interface;
• de-compress inbound packets received at the second network interface;
• and
• compute compression statistics related to the compressed and de-compressed packets;
• a packet processor operative to
• receive packets on the first and second network interfaces, wherein the data packets are addressed to destination hosts;
• receive synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface, wherein at least one synchronization packet includes compression statistics computed by a partner network device;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the first network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the packets received on the second network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device, wherein at least one synchronization packet transmitted on the at least a third network interface includes a compression statistic computed by the compression module;
• and
• compose summary versions of the packets received on the first and second network interfaces and transmit the summary versions as synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface;
• and
• a flow control module operative to allocate bandwidth to packets based at least in part on the compression statistics associated with the packets.

In a computer network environment including a first network comprising a plurality of remote hosts and at least first and second redundant compression devices disposed in the communications paths between the remote hosts and a second network, a method comprising

• identifying at least first and second redundant compression devices in communications paths between a second network and the remote hosts of the first network;
• tunneling data flows associated with a given remote host to a selected compression device from the identified redundant compression devices;
• probing the communications paths to a first remote host of the first network for the at least first and second redundant compression devices;
• and
• selecting, for the first remote host, one of the at least first and second redundant compression devices based on the results of the probing step.

A method facilitating the synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• receiving, at a network device, tunnel packets addressed to the network device on a first network interface;
• receiving, at the network device, packets addressed to destination hosts on the second network interface;
• receiving synchronization packets from at least one partner network device;
• decompressing tunnel packets received at the first network interface and transmitting the decompressed data packets received on the first network interface as synchronization packets to at least one partner network device, wherein the synchronization packet includes compressing statistics relating to the decompressing step;
• transmitting the packets received on the second network interface as synchronization packets to the at least one partner network device;
• processing the packets received on the first and second network interfaces, and the synchronization packets;
• and
• discarding the synchronization packets.

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled network device, comprising

• a first network interface for communication with a first network device;
• a second network interface for communication with a second network device;
• at least a third network interface for exchange of synchronization packets with a partner network device;
• a packet processor operative to
• process data packets on the first and second network interfaces, wherein the data packets are addressed to destination hosts;
• process synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface, wherein at least one synchronization packet includes compression statistics computed by a partner network device;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the data packets received on the first network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device,
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the data packets received on the second network interface as synchronization packets to the partner network device;
• and
• a compression module operative to
• compress outbound data packets received at the first network interface and outbound synchronization packets received at the at least a third network interface;
• de-compress inbound data packets received at the second network interface;
• compute compression statistics related to the compressed and de-compressed packets;
• and
• maintain a shadow dictionary for compression operations associated with synchronization packets received at the at least a third network interface;
• and
• a flow control module operative to allocate bandwidth to packets based at least in part on the compression statistics associated with the packets.

An apparatus enabling synchronization of network traffic with at least one compression-enabled partner network device, comprising

• a first network interface;
• a second network interface;
• at least a third network interface for exchange of synchronization packets with a partner network device;
• a compression module operative to
• maintain a compression tunnel with a compression-enabled network device;
• compute inbound compression statistics for inbound packets;
• compute outbound compression statistics for outbound packets;
• and
• a packet processor operative to
• receive inbound packets on the first network interface,
• identify compressed inbound packets received on the first network interface and pass the compressed inbound packets to the compression module;
• receive decompressed inbound packets from the compression module;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, decompressed inbound data packets received on the first network interface as inbound synchronization packets to the partner network device, wherein the inbound synchronization packets include inbound compression statistics computed by the compression module;
• receive outbound packets on the second network interface,
• identify outbound packets corresponding to a compression tunnel and pass the identified outbound packets to the compression module;
• transmit, on the at least a third network interface, the outbound packets received on the second network interface as outbound synchronization packets to the partner network device, wherein the outbound synchronization packets include outbound compression statistics computed by the compression module;
• receive inbound synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface from at least one partner network device, wherein at least one of the inbound synchronization packets include an inbound compression statistic computed by a partner network device;
• and
• receive outbound synchronization packets on the at least a third network interface from the at least on partner network device, wherein at least one of the outbound synchronization packets include an outbound compression statistic computed by a partner network device.