Scalable route resolution
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- maintaining indirect next hop data within a centralized routing engine, wherein the indirect next hop data associates protocol next hops with forwarding next hops;
communicating the indirect next hop data from the routing engine to one or more packet forwarding engines;
updating the indirect next hop data within the centralized routing engine in response to network events;
issuing one or more messages from the routing engine to at least one of the packet forwarding engines in response to the update, wherein the messages direct the packet forwarding engine to associate at least one of the protocol next hops with a different forwarding next hop; and
routing packets within a network using the indirect next hop data.
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Abstract
A router comprises a route resolution module to maintain routing information in accordance with a topology of a network, and an indirect next hop manager to maintain indirect next hop data that associates protocol next hops with forwarding next hops. The route resolution module invokes an application programming interface (API) of the indirect next hop manager for associating and disassociating protocol next hops and forwarding next hops. In response to a network event, the route resolution module can modify the indirect next hop data to reduce the time and resources necessary to perform route resolution.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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maintaining indirect next hop data within a centralized routing engine, wherein the indirect next hop data associates protocol next hops with forwarding next hops; communicating the indirect next hop data from the routing engine to one or more packet forwarding engines; updating the indirect next hop data within the centralized routing engine in response to network events; issuing one or more messages from the routing engine to at least one of the packet forwarding engines in response to the update, wherein the messages direct the packet forwarding engine to associate at least one of the protocol next hops with a different forwarding next hop; and routing packets within a network using the indirect next hop data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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7. A method comprising:
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maintaining a tree data structure having route resolution leaf nodes that resolve prefixes to unique identifiers for addressable entries within indirect next hops data that associates protocol next hops and forwarding next hops; receiving a packet comprising network update information; traversing dependent route resolution leaf nodes of the tree in response to the network event to identify unique identifiers for one or more affected indirect next hops; modifying the addressable entries of the indirect next hop data addressed by the unique identifiers to associate at least one of the protocol next hops with a different forwarding next hop; and routing packets within a network using the indirect next hop data.
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20. A router comprising:
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a computer-readable medium to store indirect next hop data having addressable elements, wherein the elements uniquely associate protocol next hops with forwarding next hops; a routing engine to maintain routing information in accordance with a topology of a network; and a packet forwarding engine to forward packets in accordance with forwarding information, wherein, in response to network events, the routing engine updates the indirect next hop data and issues messages directing the packet forwarding engine to update the forwarding information, wherein the packet forwarding engine maintains a version of the indirect next hop data and updates the version of the indirect next hop data in response to the messages by modifying the indirect next hop data to associate at least one protocol next hop with a different forwarding next hop. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A router comprising:
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a routing engine comprising; (i) a route resolution module to maintain routing information in accordance with a topology of a network; and (ii) an indirect next hop manager to maintain indirect next hop data that associate protocol next hops with forwarding next hops, wherein the route resolution module invokes an application programming interface (API) of the indirect next hop manager for associating and disassociating protocol next hops and forwarding next hops; and a packet forwarding engine to forward packets in accordance with forwarding information, wherein, in response to network events, the routing engine updates the indirect next hop data and issues messages directing the packet forwarding engine to update the forwarding information, wherein the packet forwarding engine maintains a version of the indirect next hop data and updates the version of the indirect next hop data in response to the messages by modifying the indirect next hop data to associate at least one protocol next hop with a different forwarding next hop. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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Specification