Multipath Provisioning of L4-L7 Traffic in a Network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016119196-A1
Application number	US-201514612691-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 3, 2015
Priority date	Oct 27, 2014
Publication date	Apr 28, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques are provided for a network mapping server device in a network to receive a connection upgrade message comprising information to establish a first data flow from a first endpoint that does not support multiple subflows for the first data flow according to a multipath protocol, where multiple subflows subdivide the first data flow across two or more network paths. The information in the connection upgrade message is analyzed in order to resolve network connectivity to determine potential network connections for at least two subflows of the first data flow to a second endpoint. A response message is sent comprising information configured to establish at least two subflows for the first data flow between the first endpoint and the second endpoint.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
at a network mapping server device in a network, receiving a connection upgrade message comprising information to establish a first data flow from a first endpoint that does not support multiple subflows for the first data flow according to a multipath protocol, wherein multiple subflows subdivide the first data flow across two or more network paths; analyzing the information in the connection upgrade message in order to resolve network connectivity to determine potential network connections for at least two subflows of the first data flow to a second endpoint; and sending a response message comprising information configured to establish at least two subflows for the first data flow between the first endpoint and the second endpoint.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein sending comprises sending the response message to a proxy device that is configured to subdivide the first data flow into the multiple subflows to the second device.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a connection downgrade message comprising information to downgrade multiple subflows from the second endpoint into a second data flow to the first endpoint, wherein multiple subflows from the second endpoint are merged into the second data flow as a single data flow to the first endpoint.

4 . The method of claim 3 , responsive to the connection downgrade message, sending a merge message to a proxy device that is configured to merge multiple subflows from the second endpoint to the first endpoint.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing comprises determining at least two network devices in the network to separately forward one of each of the two subflows.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing comprises determining that the first endpoint does not support the generation of multiple subflows so that its flows are candidates to be redirected to a proxy device that can subdivide the first data flow into the multiple subflows to the second endpoint.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing comprises determining that the first endpoint does not support the reception of multiple subflows so that multiple subflows from the second endpoint are candidates to be redirected to a proxy device that merges the subflows into a single flow to the first endpoint.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing comprises determining that at least two paths are not available to support the at least two subflows and further comprising sending a message comprising information configured to establish network paths for the at least two subflows by way of adding one of a virtual or a hardware tunnel router to the network in support of one or both of the first and second endpoints.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing comprises determining that at least two paths are not available to support the at least two subflows and further comprising sending a message comprising information configured to establish network paths for the at least two subflows by way of adding one of a virtual or a hardware proxy device to the network in support of one or both of the first and second endpoints.

10 . An apparatus comprising:
one or more network interfaces configured to communicate over a network; and a processor configured to be coupled to the one or more network interfaces and configured to:
receive a connection upgrade message comprising information to establish a first data flow from a first endpoint that does not support multiple subflows for the first data flow according to a multipath protocol, wherein multiple subflows subdivide the first data flow across two or more network paths;
analyze the information in the connection upgrade message in order to resolve network connectivity to determine potential network connections for at least two subflows of the first data flow to a second endpoint; and
send a response message comprising information configured to establish at least two subflows for the first data flow between the first endpoint and the second endpoint.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to send the response message to the proxy device that is configured to subdivide the first data flow into the multiple subflows to the second device.

12 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive a connection downgrade message comprising information to downgrade multiple subflows from the second endpoint into a second data flow to the first endpoint, wherein multiple subflows from the second endpoint are merged into the second data flow as a single data flow to the first endpoint.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein responsive to the connection downgrade message, the processor is further configured to send a merge message to the proxy device that is configured to merge multiple subflows from the second endpoint to the first endpoint.

14 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to analyze the information in the connection upgrade message in order to determine at least two network devices in the network to separately forward one of each of the two subflows.

15 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to analyze the information in the connection upgrade message in order to determine that the first endpoint does not support the generation of multiple subflows so that its flows are candidates to be redirected to a proxy device that can subdivide the first data flow into the multiple subflows to the second endpoint.

16 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to analyze the information in the connection upgrade message in order to determine that the first endpoint does not support the reception of multiple subflows so that multiple subflows from the second endpoint are candidates to be redirected to a proxy device that merges the subflows into a single flow to the first endpoint.

17 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to analyze the information in the connection upgrade message in order to determine that at least two paths are not available to support the at least two subflows and further comprising sending a message comprising information configured to establish network paths for the at least two subflows by way of adding one of a virtual or a hardware tunnel router to the network in support of multipath data flows to one or both of the first and second endpoints.

18 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to analyze the information in the connection upgrade message in order to determine that at least two paths are not available to support the at least two subflows and further comprising sending a message comprising information configured to establish network paths for the at least two subflows by way of adding one of a virtual or a hardware proxy device to the network in support of multipath data flows to one or both of the first and second endpoints.

19 . One or more computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:
receive a connection upgrade message comprising information to establish a first data flow from a first endpoint that does not support multiple subflows for the first data flow according to a multipath protocol, wherein multiple subflows subdivide the first data flow across two or more network paths; analyze the information in the connection upgrade message in order to resolve net

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Comeras Marc Portoles
• Natarajan Preethi
• Natal Alberto Rodriguez
• Maino Fabio Rodolfo
• Aparicio Alberto Cabellos
• Lakafosis Vasileios
• Jakab Lorand

Classifications

• H04L69/161

  Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields · CPC title

• H04L45/24 Primary

  Multipath · CPC title

• H04L47/193

  at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related · CPC title

• H04L69/14

  Multichannel or multilink protocols · CPC title

• H04L69/16

  Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] · CPC title