US 8,711,703 B2 · Load balancing in shortest-path-bridging networks

Abstract

A flow classification process is used at the edge of the shortest path bridging network to determine a flow label for attachment to a client frame entering the network. Any of several flow labels can be assigned to a client frame traversing the network to a particular egress node, and the flow labels are used by forwarding nodes to select among multiple equal-cost paths. In several embodiments, the flow label is calculated as a function of the client frame contents, which provide an entropy source for randomizing the selection of the flow label. This entropy source comprises the Internet Protocol (IP) header in the client frame, in some embodiments, but may comprise other client frame content in other cases.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A method for facilitating load balancing in a data packet network backbone that utilizes shortest path bridging, the method comprising:

receiving one or more client frames at an ingress node of the network backbone;
calculating a flow offset value for each client frame as a function of the contents of the client frame, wherein the flow offset value is one of N predetermined values, where N defines a maximum number of possible paths from the ingress node to a backbone destination-MAC address for the client frame;
attaching a backbone virtual LAN identifier (B-VID) to each client frame, wherein the B-VID is a function of a predetermined B-VID base value and the flow offset value for the client frame;
and
forwarding each client frame according to the B-VID and the backbone destination-MAC address for the client frame.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Load balancing in shortest-path-bridging networks

Life of this patent

Load balancing in shortest-path-bridging networks

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12