End point scaling on segment routing fabrics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10659346-B2
Application number	US-201916297171-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2019
Priority date	Jul 22, 2016
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed are systems and methods for scaling Massively Scalable Data Center (MSDC) networks with a large number of end-point tunnels utilizing Equal-cost multi-path routing (ECMP). The systems and methods can use the NO-OP label operations to maintain single ECMP objects to switch a set of segment routing tunnels that share the same ECMP links. The forwarding engine can determine the use of the NO-OP label operation and update a received packet to enable the use of the single ECMP objects of the set of segment routing tunnels.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to negotiate a no-op segment routing tunnel, the method comprising:
receiving, at a node, a segment ID;
determining a local range;
calculating a label based on the segment ID and the local range;
determining no-op capabilities of the node to yield a determination; and
configuring the node based on the determination.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the no-op capabilities of the node includes determining whether the node can be configured to perform no-op label operations.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the no-op label operations are configured over a network topology or distributed using a control plane protocol with a default.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the no-op label operations cause the node to convey instructions including ignore label operations.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
configuring the node for no-op operations if the determination is the node can be configured to perform the no-op operations; and
transmitting the segment ID to next nodes of the node.

6. A method to negotiate a no-op segment routing tunnel, the method comprising:
receiving, at a node, a segment ID;
determining a local range;
calculating a label;
determining no-op capabilities of the node to yield a determination;
configuring the node based on the determination;
configuring the node for null operation if the determination is the node cannot be configured to perform no-op operations; and
transmitting the segment ID to next nodes of the node.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving the segment ID at a next node;
determining another local range; and
calculating another label.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining the next node cannot perform no-op operations; and
configuring the next node based on the determining the next node cannot perform the no-op operations.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the next node is configured for null operations.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
transmitting the segment ID to other next nodes of the next node.

11. A system configured to negotiate a no-op segment routing tunnel, the system comprising:
a processor; and
a memory configured to store instructions executable by the processor, the instructions when executed by the processor cause the system to:
receive, at a node, a segment ID;
determine a local range;
calculate a label based on the segment ID and the local range;
determine no-op capabilities of the node to yield a determination; and
configure the node based on the determination.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein determining the no-op capabilities of the node includes determining whether the node can be configured to perform no-op label operations.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the no-op label operations are configured over a network topology or distributed using a control plane protocol with a default.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the no-op label operations cause the node to convey instructions including ignore label operations.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the instructions when executed by the processor further cause the system to:
configure the node for no-op operations if the determination is the node can be configured to perform the no-op operations, and
transmit the segment ID to next nodes of the node.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the instructions when executed by the processor further cause the system to:
configure the node for null operation if the determination is the node cannot be configured to perform no-op operations, and
transmit the segment ID to next nodes of the node.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the instructions when executed by the processor further cause the system to:
receive the segment ID at a next node,
determine another local range, and
calculate another label.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions when executed by the processor further cause the system to:
determine the next node cannot perform no-op operations, and
configure the next node based on the determining the next node cannot perform the no-op operations.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the next node is configured for null operations.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the instructions when executed by the processor further cause the system to transmit the segment ID to other next nodes of the next node.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Usman Malick Mohamed
• Ramabadran Srinivasan
• Sivaramu Raghava
• Srinivasan Sriram
• Ananthakrishnan Srini

Classifications

• H04L45/24 Primary

  Multipath · CPC title

• H04L45/50

  using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS] · CPC title

• H04L45/124

  using a combination of metrics · CPC title

• H04L12/4633

  Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling · CPC title