Backbone network with policy driven routing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9049140-B2
Application number	US-94940210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2010
Priority date	Nov 18, 2010
Publication date	Jun 2, 2015
Grant date	Jun 2, 2015

Abstract

A source device obtains a data packet that includes both a destination address and a payload. The source device selects an exit point address of multiple exit point addresses corresponding to the destination address based on one or more policies. The source device encapsulates the data packet with a header that includes the selected exit point address, and the encapsulated data packet is provided to the backbone network. The encapsulated data packet is routed through the backbone network based on the exit point address, and an edge router of the backbone network identifies an interface of the edge router that corresponds to the exit point address. The header is removed from the encapsulated data packet, and the data packet is added to a buffer of the interface for routing to one or more other devices outside of the backbone network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method in a device, the method comprising:
obtaining a data packet that includes both a destination address and a payload;
identifying a first exit point address of multiple exit point addresses corresponding to the destination address, each of the multiple exit point addresses identifying one or more interfaces of one or more edge routers of a backbone network from which the data packet exits the backbone network, each of the one or more edge routers providing data packets from the backbone network to one or more other devices, the identifying including providing one or more criteria to a controller device and receiving, from the controller device, the first exit point address, the first exit point address satisfying the one or more criteria, the first exit point address being selected by the controller device based on one or more policies implemented by the controller device, the one or more policies changing over time;
encapsulating the data packet with a first header that includes the first exit point address;
providing the encapsulated data packet to the backbone network;
causing, using the identified first exit point address rather than the destination address, the encapsulated data packet to route to the one or more interfaces of the one or more edge routers from which the data packet is to exit the backbone network; and
causing the one or more edge routers to maintain a mapping of the identified first exit point address to the one or more interfaces of the one or more edge routers.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the destination address is included in a second header of the data packet.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the identifying comprises: receiving information regarding characteristics of one or more exit points associated with one or more of the multiple exit point addresses.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first exit point address is one of multiple exit point addresses that satisfy the one or more criteria, wherein each of the multiple exit point addresses has a cost associated with using an interface associated with the exit point address and has a latency associated with using the interface associated with the exit point address, and the first exit point address is the one of the multiple exit point addresses that has both a desired cost and a desired latency.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first exit point address is one of multiple exit point addresses that satisfy the one or more criteria, wherein each of the multiple exit point addresses has a cost associated with using an interface associated with the exit point address and has security characteristics associated with using the interface associated with the exit point address, and the first exit point address is the one of the multiple exit point addresses that has both a desired cost and desired security characteristics.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 , the identifying further comprising identifying, for different applications on the device, different exit point addresses of the multiple exit point addresses for the same destination address.

7. A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising identifying a second exit point address, and encapsulating the data packet with a header that includes the second exit point address rather than the first header if sending the data packet with the first header is unsuccessful.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising identifying a second exit point address, and including both the first exit point address and the second exit point address in the first header.

9. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first exit point address and the destination address are both Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

10. One or more computer storage memories having stored thereon multiple instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain a data packet that includes both a destination address and a payload;
identify an exit point address of multiple exit point addresses that correspond to the destination address, each of the multiple exit point addresses identifying one or more interfaces of multiple edge routers of a backbone network from which the data packet exits the backbone network, each of the multiple edge routers providing data packets from the backbone network to one or more other devices, to identify the exit point address includes to provide one or more criteria to a controller device and to receive, from the controller device, the exit point address, the exit point address satisfying the one or more criteria, the exit point address being selected by the controller device based on one or more policies implemented by the controller device, the one or more policies changing over time;
encapsulate the data packet with a header that includes the exit point address;
provide the encapsulated data packet to the backbone network;
cause, using the identified exit point address rather than the destination address, the encapsulated data packet to route to the one or more interfaces of the multiple edge routers from which the data packet is to exit the backbone network; and
cause the multiple edge routers to maintain a mapping of the identified exit point address to the one or more interfaces of the multiple edge routers.

11. One or more computer storage memories as recited in claim 10 , the destination address being included in an additional header of the data packet.

12. One or more computer storage memories as recited in claim 10 , wherein to identify the exit point address is to:
receive information regarding characteristics of one or more exit points associated with one or more of the multiple exit point addresses; and
select, based at least in part on the received information, one of the multiple exit point addresses.

13. One or more computer storage memories as recited in claim 10 , wherein the exit point address is one of multiple exit point addresses that satisfy the one or more criteria, wherein each of the multiple exit point addresses has an associated interface and has a latency associated with using the associated interface, and the exit point address is one of the multiple exit point addresses that has a desired latency.

14. One or more computer storage memories as recited in claim 10 , wherein the exit point address is one of multiple exit point addresses that satisfy the one or more criteria, wherein each of the multiple exit point addresses has an associated interface and has security characteristics associated with using the associated interface, and the exit point address is one of the multiple exit point addresses that has desired security characteristics.

15. One or more computer storage memories as recited in claim 10 , wherein the exit point address is one of multiple exit point addresses that satisfy the one or more criteria, wherein each of the multiple exit point addresses has an associated interface and has a cost associated with using the associated interface, and the exit point address is one of the multiple exit point addresses that has a desired cost.

16. A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising, prior to exiting the backbone network, removing the first exit point address from the first header of the encapsulating the data packet.

17. A system comprising:
one or more processors;
one or more memories having stored thereon multiple instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain a data packet that includes both a

Assignees

• Singh Abhishek
• Zhang Ming
• Greenberg Albert G
• Lahiri Parantap
• Maltz David A
• Krishnan Srinivas
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Singh Abhishek
• Zhang Ming
• Greenberg Albert G
• Lahiri Parantap
• Maltz David A
• Krishnan Srinivas

Classifications

• H04L47/10

  Flow control; Congestion control · CPC title

• H04L45/22 Primary

  Alternate routing · CPC title

• H04L61/25

  of the same type · CPC title

• H04L45/302

  Route determination based on requested QoS · CPC title