Method, apparatus and computer-readable medium for multicast communication in a containerized environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12143294-B2
Application number	US-202318379217-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2023
Priority date	Oct 26, 2021
Publication date	Nov 12, 2024
Grant date	Nov 12, 2024

Abstract

A method for execution by a processor of a host having an external interface for connection to at least one other network element of a packet-based data network, the host storing a routing table and implementing a container connected to a bridge, the container being addressable by an internal address on a bridge network associated with the bridge. The method includes obtaining an indication of a request for the container to join a multicast group. In response to the obtaining, a request is sent via the external interface for the host to join the multicast group. The routing table may be modified so as to make the bridge a next hop for future packets obtained from the external interface and destined for the multicast group. The routing table may also be modified so as to make the external interface a next hop for future packets that are obtained from the bridge, whose source address is the internal address of the container and that are destined for the multicast group. The method also includes setting up an expiry parameter increase for such future packets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for execution by a processor of a host network element, the host network element having an external interface for connection to at least one other network element of a packet-based data network, the host network element storing a routing table in memory and implementing a container connected to a bridge, the host implementing an internal interface for connection to the bridge, the method comprising:
obtaining a packet from the external interface, the packet having a destination address that is a multicast group address;
increasing an expiry parameter of the packet;
consulting the routing table to identify the internal interface as a next hop for the packet; and
sending the packet to the bridge via the internal interface.

2. The method defined in claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the multicast group address is on a list of addresses and wherein the increasing the expiry parameter of the packet is performed only if the multicast group address is on the list.

3. The method defined in claim 1 , wherein increasing the expiry parameter of the packet comprises incrementing a time-to-live of the packet if the packet is an IPv4 packet or increasing a hop limit of the packet if the packet is an IPV6 packet.

4. The method defined in claim 1 , the container being addressable by an internal address on a bridge network associated with the bridge, wherein the bridge is configured to send the packet to the container via the bridge network using the container's internal address.

5. The method defined in claim 1 , wherein the bridge is configured to receive a prior request from the container to join a multicast group identified by the multicast group address.

6. The method defined in claim 4 , wherein the container is configured to process the packet upon receipt from the bridge.

7. The method defined in claim 6 , wherein the packet includes a payload containing video data and wherein the container runs a video processing application for processing the video data.

8. The method defined in claim 1 , wherein the packets are IP packets, and wherein the routing table is a multicast routing table.

9. The method defined in claim 1 , the container being addressable by an internal address on a bridge network associated with the bridge, further comprising: (i) obtaining a second packet from the container via the bridge, the packet having, as its source address, the internal address of the container and having, as its destination address, a second multicast group address; and (ii) consulting the routing table to identify the external interface as a next hop for the second packet, based at least in part on the destination address of the second packet being the second multicast group address.

10. The method defined in claim 9 , wherein the internal address is a MAC address.

11. The method defined in claim 9 , further comprising increasing the expiry parameter of the second packet.

12. The method defined in claim 11 , wherein the increasing the expiry parameter of the second packet occurs before the consulting the routing table to identify the external interface as a next hop for the second packet.

13. The method defined in claim 11 , the host network element being addressable by network elements other than the host network element an external address, the method further comprising setting the source address of the second packet to be the external address of the host network element.

14. The method defined in claim 13 , further comprising sending the second packet via the external interface.

15. The method defined in claim 1 , wherein the bridge isolates the container from other host functions.

16. The method defined in claim 15 , wherein the other host functions comprise a routing process that performs the obtaining, consulting, increasing and sending.

17. The method defined in claim 15 , wherein the host network element implements other containers and wherein the bridge is implemented by a container engine, the container engine further implementing a bridge network that connects the container to the other containers while being isolated from the other host functions.

Assignees

• Genetec Inc

Inventors

• Bouchard Jean

Classifications

• H04L12/1886

  with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains · CPC title

• H04L12/185

  with management of multicast group membership · CPC title

• H04L45/20 Primary

  Hop count for routing purposes, e.g. TTL · CPC title

• H04L45/021

  Ensuring consistency of routing table updates, e.g. by using epoch numbers · CPC title

• H04L45/16 Primary

  Multipoint routing · CPC title