Selecting a link of a link group based on contents of a concealed header
AssigneeCiena Corporation
InventorsKeith Michael Bly, Dackary Ronald Busch
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods, devices, and systems for selecting a link of a link group based on contents of a concealed header are disclosed. A network node operating method includes a first network node receiving a packet and concluding that a link group connecting the first network node to a second network node will forward the packet to the second network node. The method further includes determining that the packet includes a tunnel header and an original header concealed by the tunnel header, selecting one link from among a set of parallel links of the link group based at least on one or more fields of the concealed original header, and forwarding the packet to the second network node via the selected link.
Claims20
A network node operating method comprising:
- a source node receiving a packet having an original header including a destination node address, the source node forwarding the packet to a first tunnel node;
- the first tunnel node adding a tunnel header to the packet, the tunnel header including a destination node tunnel address different from the destination node address;
- a first network node receiving the packet from the first tunnel node;
- the first network node concluding that a link group connecting the first network node to a second network node will forward the packet to the second network node;
- the first network node determining that the packet comprises the tunnel header and the original header concealed by the tunnel header;
- first selecting a first link from among a set of parallel links of the link group based at least on one or more fields of the tunnel header;
- determining that a current capacity consumption of the selected first link is approximately at a maximum capacity;
- second selecting a second link from among the set of parallel links of the link group based on one or more fields of the concealed original header, the selected second link being different than the selected first link;
- and
- forwarding the packet to the second network node via the selected second link.
A network node operating method comprising:
- assigning a first packet to a first link of a set of parallel links of a link group connecting two network nodes based on a delivery header of the first packet, the first packet not comprising a concealed original header;
- and
- assigning a second packet comprising a delivery header and a concealed original header to a second link of the link group based at least on one or more fields of the concealed original header and a capacity level of the first link.
A network node comprising:
- a plurality of ports;
- a switching fabric configured to forward packets to the plurality of ports;
- and
- distribution circuitry configured to:
- receive a packet from one of the ports;
- determine that the received data packet comprises a tunnel header and an original header concealed by the tunnel header;
- select a first link from among a set of parallel links of a link group associated with two or more of the ports of the plurality based at least on one or more fields of the tunnel header;
- select a second link from among the set of parallel links of a link group associated with two or more of the ports of the plurality based at least on one or more fields of the concealed original header and a capacity level of the selected first link;
- and
- instruct the switching fabric to forward the packet to the port of the plurality associated with the selected second link.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.