Different forwarding of packets based on whether received from a core or customer network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9729432-B2
Application number	US-201514952249-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 25, 2015
Priority date	Nov 25, 2015
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

In one embodiment, a provider edge packet switching device of a provider network is configured with different Internet Protocol (IP) forwarding information bases (FIBs) depending on whether the forwarding information base is associated with core-facing ingress packet traffic (e.g., packet traffic from the provider network) or customer-facing ingress packet traffic (e.g., packet traffic from a customer network). In the latter case of customer-facing ingress packet traffic, the customer-facing forwarding information base includes load balancing lookup results for load balancing traffic between a customer edge packet switching device and through the provider network. In the case of core-facing ingress packet traffic, the core-facing forwarding information base includes a lookup result for forwarding traffic to a customer edge packet switching device, and does not include the above-referenced load balancing lookup result information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A packet switching device, comprising:
a core-facing ingress interface and a core-facing egress interface configured to communicatively couple to a core network of a provider network;
a first customer-facing ingress interface and a first customer-facing egress interface configured to communicatively couple to a first customer edge packet switching device of a customer network;
a second customer-facing ingress interface and a second customer-facing egress interface each configured to communicatively couple to a second customer edge packet switching device of the customer network;
one or more processing elements and memory;
a customer-facing lookup entity configured to perform lookup operations on a plurality of customer-network Internet Protocol (IP) packets received on the first customer-facing ingress interface resulting in a determination of sending the plurality of customer-network IP packets to the second customer edge packet switching device by load balancing the plurality of customer-network received IP packets between the core network via the core-facing egress interface and the second customer edge packet switching device via the second customer-facing egress interface; and
a core-facing lookup entity configured to perform lookup operations on IP addresses of a plurality of core-network IP packets received on the core-facing ingress interface resulting in a determination of sending the plurality of core-network IP packets to the second customer edge packet switching device via the second customer-facing egress interface, with the plurality of core-network IP packets including native received IP packets, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) encapsulated IP packets, or both native received IP packets and MPLS encapsulated IP packets, and wherein the core-facing lookup entity is not configured with load balancing information for load balancing the plurality of core-network IP packets.

2. The packet switching device of claim 1 , where the packet switching device is a provider edge packet switching device of the provider network; and wherein the second customer edge packet switching device is communicatively coupled to a second provider edge packet switching device of the provider network, with the second provider edge packet switching device being communicatively coupled to the core network.

3. The packet switching device of claim 2 , wherein at least two or more of the plurality of core-network IP packets are received MPLS encapsulated IP packets.

4. The packet switching device of claim 3 , wherein said received MPLS encapsulated IP packets include a same per Virtual Private Network (VPN) routing and forwarding (VRF) label (same per VRF label).

5. The packet switching device of claim 2 , wherein said received MPLS encapsulated IP packets include a same per Virtual Private Network (VPN) routing and forwarding (VRF) label (same per VRF label).

6. The packet switching device of claim 1 , wherein said received MPLS encapsulated IP packets include a same per Virtual Private Network (VPN) routing and forwarding (VRF) label (same per VRF label).

7. The packet switching device of claim 1 , wherein at least two or more of the plurality of core-network IP packets are received MPLS encapsulated IP packets.

8. The packet switching device of claim 7 , wherein said received MPLS encapsulated IP packets include a same per Virtual Private Network (VPN) routing and forwarding (VRF) label (same per VRF label).

9. A method, comprising:
performing operations by a first provider edge packet switching device communicatively coupled between a core network of a provider network and a first customer edge packet switching device of a customer network and between the core network and a second customer edge packet switching device of the customer network, wherein said operations include:
for a plurality of customer-network Internet Protocol (IP) packets received from the first customer edge packet switching device and addressed to be forwarded to the second customer edge packet switching device, performing a lookup operation on IP addresses of the plurality of customer-network IP packets in a customer-facing IP forwarding data structure resulting in a determination of sending the plurality of customer-network IP packets to the second customer edge packet switching device by load balancing the plurality of customer-network IP packets between sending directly to the second customer edge packet switching device and sending to the second customer edge packet switching device via the core network and accordingly sending the plurality of customer-network IP packets to the second customer edge packet switching device;
for a plurality of core-network IP packets received from the core network and addressed to be forwarded to the second customer edge packet switching device, performing a lookup operation on IP addresses of the plurality of core-network IP packets in a core-facing IP forwarding data structure resulting in a determination of sending the plurality of core-network IP packets directly to the second customer edge packet switching device and not via the core network, with the plurality of core-network IP packets including native received IP packets, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) encapsulated IP packets, or both native received IP packets and MPLS encapsulated IP packets; wherein the core-facing IP forwarding data structure does not include load balancing information for load balancing the plurality of core-network IP packets destined for the second customer edge packet switching device.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second customer edge packet switching device is communicatively coupled to a second provider edge packet switching device of the provider network, with the second provider edge packet switching device being communicatively coupled to the core network.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein at least two or more of the plurality of core-network IP packets are received MPLS encapsulated IP packets.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said received MPLS encapsulated IP packets include a same per Virtual Private Network (VPN) routing and forwarding (VRF) label (same per VRF label).

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein said received MPLS encapsulated IP packets include a same per Virtual Private Network (VPN) routing and forwarding (VRF) label (same per VRF label).

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein said received MPLS encapsulated IP packets include a same per Virtual Private Network (VPN) routing and forwarding (VRF) label (same per VRF label).

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein at least two or more of the plurality of core-network IP packets are received MPLS encapsulated IP packets.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein said received MPLS encapsulated IP packets include a same per Virtual Private Network (VPN) routing and forwarding (VRF) label (same per VRF label).

17. A method, comprising:
performing operations by a first provider edge packet switching device communicatively coupled to a core network via a core-facing ingress interface and a core-facing egress interface, with the first provider edge packet switching device communicatively coupled to a first customer edge packet switching device of a customer network via a first customer-facing ingress interface and a first customer-facing egress interface, with the first provider edge packet switching device communicatively coupled to a second customer edge packet switching device of a customer network via a second customer-facing ingress interface and a second customer-facing egress interface, and with the s

Assignees

• Shearman Robert J
• Ranns Neale David Raymond
• Dent-Young Crispin Nicholas
• Cheilek Alan J
• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Shearman Robert J
• Ranns Neale David Raymond
• Dent-Young Crispin Nicholas
• Cheilek Alan J

Classifications

• H04L45/745

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04L45/306 Primary

  Route determination based on the nature of the carried application · CPC title

• H04L45/586

  of virtual routers · CPC title