Method and system for network traffic steering based on dynamic routing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9467370-B2
Application number	US-201414230866-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2014
Priority date	Mar 31, 2014
Publication date	Oct 11, 2016
Grant date	Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

An approach is provided for steering network traffic (e.g., IP traffic) based on dynamic routing to a service node or a chain of service nodes that can provide in-line services. In an exemplary embodiment, traffic is steered from a first router to an in-line service router by tunneling through a second router, wherein in-line service router is configured to provide in-line services to the traffic.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting an opt-in status of a subscriber node associated with a service chain in a network;
notifying one or more in-line service routers of the opt-in status of the subscriber node;
establishing, in response to the notification of the opt-in status, one or more tunnels from a first router to the one or more in-line service routers, via a second router, in accordance with a tunneling protocol;
advertising, by the one or more in-line service routers, a route to the subscriber node, wherein a next hop in the route is one of the one or more in-line service routers;
advertising, by the second router, a default route to the one or more in-line service routers; and
steering at least one of upstream traffic or downstream traffic associated with the subscriber node to or through the one or more in-line service routers, via the route or the default route, based, at least in part, on dynamic routing in accordance with a routing protocol or the tunneling protocol.

2. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
advertising a default first upstream route by the one or more in-line service routers to the first router; and
advertising a default second upstream route by the second router to the first router,
wherein the default first upstream route is preferable to the default second upstream route.

3. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
applying, to the steered upstream traffic or downstream traffic, one or more services associated with the service chain; and
forwarding the steered upstream traffic or downstream traffic, by the one or more in-line service routers to the second router.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more services associated with the service chain includes deep packet inspection.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the first router is a broadband network gateway router or an edge router, and the second router is an aggregate router.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more in-line service routers are multimedia service routers processing one or more types of media traffic.

7. A method according to claim 1 , wherein notifying the one or more in-line service routers includes notifying the one or more in-line service routers through a secured interface.

8. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the routing protocol is a Border
Gateway Protocol and the tunneling protocol is a Label Distribution Protocol.

9. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
adding a classifier configured to forward the steered upstream traffic or downstream traffic associated with the subscriber node to the service chain, based at least in part on the notification received.

10. A system comprising:
a policy manager comprising a processor configured to:
detect an opt-in status of a subscriber node associated with a service chain in a network, and
notify an in-line service router of the opt-in status;

the in-line service router configured to forward traffic to the service chain; and
a first router configured to route upstream or downstream traffic associated with the subscriber node from or to the subscriber node; and
wherein the in-line service router and the first router are further configured to:
establish, in response to being notified of the opt-in status, one or more tunnels from the first router to the in-line service router via a second router in accordance with a tunneling protocol,

wherein the in-line service router is further configured to advertise a downstream route to the second router, wherein a next hop in the downstream route is the in-line service router;
wherein the second router is configured to advertise a default upstream route to the in-line service router; and
wherein the in-line service router and the first router are further configured to:
steer at least one of the upstream or downstream traffic associated with the subscriber node to or through the in-line service router, via the downstream route or the default upstream route, based, at least in part, on dynamic routing in accordance with a routing protocol and the tunneling protocol.

11. A system according to claim 10 , wherein the in-line service router is further configured to advertise a default first upstream route to the first router;
wherein the second router is further configured to advertise a default second upstream route to the first router; and
wherein the default first upstream route is preferable to the default second upstream route.

12. A system according to claim 10 , wherein one or more services associated with the service chain includes deep packet inspection.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to:
detect an opt-in status of a subscriber node associated with a service chain in a network;
notify one or more in-line service routers of the opt-in status of the subscriber node;
establish, based on the opt-in status of the subscriber node, one or more tunnels from a first router to the one or more in-line service routers via a second router in accordance with a tunneling protocol;
advertise a downstream route to the subscriber node by the one or more in-line service routers, wherein a next hop in the downstream route is one of the one or more in-line service routers.
advertise a default route by the second router to the one or more in-line service routers; and
steer at least one of upstream traffic or downstream traffic associated with the subscriber node to or through the one or more in-line service routers, via the downstream route or the default route, based, at least in part, on dynamic routing in accordance with a routing protocol or the tunneling protocol.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
advertise a default first upstream route by the one or more in-line service routers to the first router; and
advertise a default second upstream route by the second router to the first router,
wherein the default first upstream route is preferable to the default second upstream route.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the first router is a broadband network gateway router or an edge router and the second router is an aggregate router.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the one or more in-line service routers are multimedia service routers processing one or more types of media traffic.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the routing protocol is a Border Gateway Protocol and the tunneling protocol is a Label Distribution Protocol.

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Bitar Nabil N

Classifications

• H04L45/50

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

• H04L45/74 Primary

  Address processing for routing · CPC title