Installing active flows in a forwarding table

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9935869-B1
Application number	US-201615087983-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 31, 2016
Priority date	Mar 31, 2016
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

A device may determine that a route is inactive. Information identifying the route may be stored in a forwarding plane portion of a forwarding table and a control plane portion of the forwarding table. The route may be associated with directing network traffic toward an endpoint network device. The device may remove the information identifying the route from the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table without removing the information identifying the route from the control plane portion of the forwarding table based on determining that the route is inactive. The device may route network traffic based on the forwarding table after removing the information identifying the route from the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table without removing the information identifying the route from the control plane portion of the forwarding table.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
one or more memories; and
one or more processors to:
determine that a route is inactive,
information identifying the route being stored on the one or more memories in a forwarding plane portion of a forwarding table and a control plane portion of the forwarding table,
the route being associated with directing network traffic toward an endpoint network device;

remove the information identifying the route from the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table without removing the information identifying the route from the control plane portion of the forwarding table based on determining that the route is inactive; and

route network traffic based on the forwarding table after removing the information identifying the route from the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table without removing the information identifying the route from the control plane portion of the forwarding table.

2. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:
receive the information identifying the route;
include the information identifying the route in the control plane portion of the forwarding table and the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table based on receiving the information identifying the route,
the route being active; and

where the one or more processors, when determining that the route is inactive, are to:
determine that the route is inactive after including the information identifying the route in the control plane portion of the forwarding table and the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table.

3. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:
determine that an age interval, associated with utilizing the route to direct network traffic, is satisfied; and
where the one or more processors, when determining that the route is inactive, are to:
determine that the route is inactive based on determining that the age interval, associated with utilizing the route to direct network traffic, is satisfied.

4. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:
determine, after removing the information identifying the route from the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table without removing the information identifying the route from the control plane portion of the forwarding table, that the route is active;
include information identifying the route in the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table based on the information identifying the route stored in the control plane portion of the forwarding table; and
route network traffic based on the forwarding table after including the information identifying the route in the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table.

5. The device of claim 4 , where the one or more processors are further to:
determine, after including the information identifying the route in the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table, that the information identifying the route has been added or removed a threshold quantity of times;
determine, after including the information identifying the route in the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table, that the route is inactive; and
retain the information identifying the route, after determining that the route is inactive, based on determining that the information identifying the route has been added or removed the threshold quantity of times.

6. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:
determine that a quantity of routes identified in the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table satisfies a threshold;
alter a threshold period of time associated with determining a status of the route from a first threshold period of time to a second threshold period of time based on determining that the quantity of routes satisfies the threshold,
the second threshold period of time being less than the first threshold period of time; and

where the one or more processors, when determining that the route is inactive, are to:
determine that the second threshold period of time is elapsed after altering the threshold period of time from the first threshold period of time to the second threshold period of time; and
determine that the route is inactive based on determining that the second threshold period of time is elapsed.

7. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:
determine that the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table stores information identifying a threshold quantity of routes; and
determine that the route is inactive based on determining that the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table stores information identifying the threshold quantity of routes.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
store information identifying a route in a forwarding plane portion of a forwarding table and a control plane portion of the forwarding table,
the route being active,
the route being associated with directing network traffic toward an endpoint network device;

route network traffic via the route based on storing the information identifying the route;
determine, after storing the information identifying the route, that the route is inactive;
remove the information identifying the route from the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table without removing the information identifying the route from the control plane portion of the forwarding table based on determining that the route is inactive; and
route network traffic based on the forwarding table after removing the information identifying the route from the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table without removing the information identifying the route from the control plane portion of the forwarding table.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
receive the information identifying the route via an address resolution protocol message; and
where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to store the information identifying the route, cause the one or more processors to:
store the information identifying the route via a data structure associated with the forwarding table based on receiving the information identifying the route.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
determine that an age interval associated with utilizing the route to direct network traffic is satisfied; and
where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to determine that the route is inactive, cause the one or more processors to:
determine that the route is inactive based on determining that the age interval associated with utilizing the route to direct network traffic is satisfied.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
determine, after removing the information identifying the route from the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table without removing the information identifying the route from the control plane portion of the forwarding table, that the route is active;
include the information identifying the route in the forwarding plane portion of the forwarding table based on

Assignees

• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Shakir Ali Ahmed
• Rajagopal Sridhar Talari

Classifications

• H04L45/02 Primary

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04L45/20

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

• H04L61/103

  across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP] · CPC title

• H04L2101/622

  Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses · CPC title

• H04L61/58

  Caching of addresses or names · CPC title