Method, network apparatus, and tangible machine-readable medium thereof for detecting a looping network packet

• US 7,953,067 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2007
• Issued: 05/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Institute For Information Industry
• Original Assignee: Institute For Information Industry
• Inventors: Shie, Bing-Huan, Liu, Yung-Chih
• Primary Examiner(s): LEVITAN, DMITRY
• Application Number:
  US11/944,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20080304417A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,282 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/351, 370/389, 370/392, 370/400, 709/223, 709/224, 709238-246
• US Class Current: 370/351
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/18 Loop-free operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing

Abstract

A method, a network apparatus, and a tangible machine-medium thereof for detecting a looping network packet are provided. A receiving module receives a network packet. A memory stores a routing table comprising an address related variable, a sequence number related variable and a radius related variable. A determining module determines whether the network packet is a looping network packet by comparing the parameters of the routing table with those of the network packet. With these arrangements, the routing loop caused by transmission of the network packets can be detected using current network structures.

Claims

1. A method for detecting a looping network packet, comprising the steps of:

receiving a network packet;

determining that an address related parameter, a sequence number related parameter, and a radius related parameter of a routing table have been replaced within a predetermined period of time, wherein the radius related parameter indicates a number of counts the network packet has been forwarded in hops;

determining that the address related parameter of the routing table is the same as an address related parameter of the network packet;

determining that the sequence number related parameter of the routing table is the same as a sequence number related parameter of the network packet; and

determining that the radius related parameter of the routing table is different from a radius related parameter of the network packet, in order to identify the network packet as the looping network packet.

2. A network apparatus, comprising:

a receiving module for receiving a network packet;

a memory for storing a routing table with extra information, wherein the extra information comprises an address related parameter, a sequence number related parameter, and a radius related parameter, wherein the radius related parameter indicates a number of counts the network packet has been forwarded in hops; and

a determining module for determining that the address related parameter, the sequence number related parameter, and the radius related parameter of the routing table have been replaced within a predetermined period of time, for determining that the address related parameter of the routing table is the same as an address related parameter of the network packet, for determining that the sequence number related parameter of the routing table is the same as a sequence number related parameter of the network packet, and for determining that the radius related parameter of the routing table is different from a radius related parameter of the network packet, in order to identify the network packet as a looping network packet.

3. The network apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the address related parameter of the network packet is an originator address of the network packet.

4. The network apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sequence number related parameter of the network packet is a sequence number of the network packet.

5. The network apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the radius related parameter of the network packet is a radius of the network packet.

6. A tangible non-transitory machine-readable medium storing a computer program having code for a network apparatus to execute a method for detecting a looping network packet, the method comprising the steps of:

determining that an address related parameter, a sequence number related parameter, and a radius related parameter of a routing table have been replaced within a predetermined period of time, wherein the radius related parameter indicates a number of counts the network packet has been forwarded in hops;

determining that the address related parameter of the routing table is the same as an address related parameter of the network packet;

determining that the sequence number related parameter of the routing table is the same as a sequence number related parameter of the network packet; and

determining that the radius related parameter of the routing table is different from a radius related parameter of the network packet, in order to identify the network packet as the looping network packet.