Stateless load-balancing across multiple tunnels

• US 10,034,201 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2015
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pallas, Derrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang, Suk Jin
• Application Number:
  US14/795,817
• Publication Number:
  US 20170013508A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,111 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/7453 using hashing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/088 among core entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for load-balancing are disclosed. An access point receives a communication request and an identifier from a wireless device. The access point determines a plurality of potential endpoints and selects at least one preferred potential endpoint for the wireless device, based on the identifier and the plurality of potential endpoints. The access point establishes a tunnel between the access point and the preferred endpoint for routing traffic associated with the wireless device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by an access point, a communication request and at least one identifier from a wireless device;

first determining, by the access point, a plurality of potential tunnel endpoints for the wireless device;

second determining whether to perform load balancing on a per flow basis or per the wireless device;

selecting, based on the at least one identifier and the plurality of potential tunnel endpoints, at least one preferred endpoint for the wireless device, the selecting comprising;

in response to a decision by the second determining to perform load balancing on a per flow basis, selecting at least one flow identifier from the wireless device as the at least one identifier;

in response to a decision by the second determining to perform load balancing per the wireless device, obtaining a device identifier from the wireless device as the at least one identifier; and

establishing a tunnel between the access point and the at least one preferred endpoint, wherein the tunnel transfers traffic for the wireless device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting further comprises:

obtaining a plurality of endpoint identifiers corresponding to each of the plurality of potential tunnel endpoints; and

performing a hashing function using the at least one identifier and each of the plurality of endpoint identifiers.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one preferred endpoint corresponds to an endpoint identifier that yields a largest hash value.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the hashing function comprises a highest random weight hashing function.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of endpoint identifiers comprises an internet protocol (IP) address and the at least one identifier comprises a client identifier for the wireless device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the tunnel utilizes a generic routing encapsulation (GRE) protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of potential tunnel endpoints is determined from a domain name system (DNS) server.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a determination that the wireless device has a designated preferred endpoint;

bypassing the second determining and the selecting; and

setting the designated preferred endpoint of the wireless device as the at least one preferred endpoint.

8. An access point on a wireless network, the access point comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receive a communication request and at least one identifier from a first wireless device;

first determine a plurality of potential tunnel endpoints for the first wireless device;

second determine whether to perform load balancing on a per flow basis or per the wireless device;

perform a hashing function using the at least one identifier and an internet protocol (IP) address corresponding to each of the plurality of potential tunnel endpoints;

select, based on the hashing function, at least one preferred endpoint for the first wireless device, comprising;

in response to a decision by the second determine to perform load balancing on a per flow basis, select at least one flow identifier from the wireless device as the at least one identifier;

in response to a decision by the second determine to perform load balancing per the wireless device, obtaining a device identifier from the wireless device as the at least one identifier; and

establish a tunnel between the access point and the at least one preferred endpoint, wherein the tunnel transfers traffic for the first wireless device.

9. The access point of claim 8, the computer-readable storage medium having stored therein additional instructions which cause the processor to:

receive another communication request from a second wireless device; and

select, based on the hashing function, at least another preferred endpoint for the second wireless device that is different from the at least one preferred endpoint.

10. The access point of claim 8, wherein the at least one identifier comprises a media access control (MAC) address for the first wireless device.

11. The access point of claim 8, wherein the hashing function comprises a highest random weight hashing function.

12. The access point of claim 8, wherein the at least one preferred endpoint corresponds to a highest hash value.

18. The access point of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

in response to a determination that the wireless device has a designated preferred endpoint;

bypass the second determine and the select operations; and

set the designated preferred endpoint of the wireless device as the at least one preferred endpoint.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by an access point, a communication request and at least one identifier from a wireless device;

first determining, by the access point, a plurality of potential tunnel endpoints for the wireless device;

second determining whether to perform load balancing on a per flow basis or per the wireless device;

selecting, based on the at least one identifier and the plurality of potential tunnel endpoints, at least one preferred endpoint for the wireless device, the selecting comprising;

in response to a decision by the second determining to perform load balancing on a per flow basis, selecting at least one flow identifier from the wireless device as the at least one identifier;

in response to a decision by the second determining to perform load balancing per the wireless device, obtaining a device identifier from the wireless device as the at least one identifier; and

establishing a tunnel between the access point and the at least one preferred endpoint, wherein the tunnel transfers traffic for the wireless device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, storing additional instructions which cause the processor to:

performing a hashing function using the at least one identifier and an Internet Protocol (IP) address for each of the plurality of potential tunnel endpoints, wherein the at least one preferred endpoint is selected based on a largest hash value.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, storing additional instructions which cause the processor to:

in response to determining that the at least one preferred endpoint selected is not available, selecting an endpoint from the plurality of potential tunnel endpoints having a second largest hash value as the at least one preferred endpoint.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the wireless device was previously paired to a first access point, and wherein the at least one preferred endpoint matches a preferred endpoint selected by the first access point.

19. The medium of claim 13, the operations further comprising:

in response to a determination that the wireless device has a designated preferred endpoint;

bypassing the second determining and the selecting; and

setting the designated preferred endpoint of the wireless device as the at least one preferred endpoint.