Network liveliness detection using session-external communications
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- generating, by an application executing on a routing engine that executes at least one routing protocol to control operation of a router, a packet, wherein the packet is a non-bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) packet that does not encapsulate a BFD packet;
receiving, by a packet forwarding engine of the router from the routing engine, the packet;
forwarding, by the packet forwarding engine via a network interface coupled to the packet forwarding engine, the packet; and
refreshing, by the packet forwarding engine in response to determining the packet is destined for a peer network device with which the router has a BFD session and without sending a BFD packet, a transmit timer for the BFD session that defines a transmission interval for sending BFD packets from the router to the peer network device.
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Abstract
In general, techniques are described to dynamically refresh a timer for a communication session provided by a bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) protocol. The techniques potentially mitigate network load by reducing the number of BFD packets required to maintain a BFD communication session. An example network device includes a memory, programmable processor(s), a network interface, and a control unit configured to establish a BFD communication session between the network device and a peer network device that is communicatively coupled to the network device via the network interface, determine whether a packet associated with a communication session other than the BFD communication session is a relevant packet to the BFD communication session, and in response to determining that the packet is the relevant packet, refresh a timer that executes on the network device and is associated with the BFD communication session.
185 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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generating, by an application executing on a routing engine that executes at least one routing protocol to control operation of a router, a packet, wherein the packet is a non-bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) packet that does not encapsulate a BFD packet; receiving, by a packet forwarding engine of the router from the routing engine, the packet; forwarding, by the packet forwarding engine via a network interface coupled to the packet forwarding engine, the packet; and refreshing, by the packet forwarding engine in response to determining the packet is destined for a peer network device with which the router has a BFD session and without sending a BFD packet, a transmit timer for the BFD session that defines a transmission interval for sending BFD packets from the router to the peer network device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A network device comprising:
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a routing engine having at least one processor configured to execute an application to generate a packet, wherein the packet is a non-bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) packet that does not encapsulate a BFD packet, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute at least one routing protocol to control operation of the network device; a packet forwarding engine coupled to a network interface, wherein the packet forwarding engine is configured to receive, from the routing engine, the packet, wherein the packet forwarding engine is configured to forward, via the network interface, the packet, and wherein the packet forwarding engine is configured to refresh, in response to determining the packet is destined for a peer network device with which the network device has a BFD session without sending a BFD packet, a transmit timer for the BFD session that defines a transmission interval for sending BFD packets from the network device to the peer network device. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method comprising:
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receiving, by a router, a packet, wherein the packet is a non-bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) packet that does not encapsulate a BFD packet; determining, by the router, the packet is destined for the router; and refreshing, by the router in response to determining an Internet Protocol header of the packet includes a bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) session identifier inserted by an intermediate router that is a peer router of the router for a BFD session identified by the BFD session identifier, a timer for the BFD session, wherein the timer defines a receipt interval for receiving BFD packets by the router from the peer router for the BFD session. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A network device comprising:
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a packet forwarding engine coupled to a network interface and configured to receive a packet, wherein the packet is a non-bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) packet that does not encapsulate a BFD packet, wherein the packet forwarding engine is configured to determine the packet is destined for the network device, and wherein the packet forwarding engine is configured to refresh, in response to determining an Internet Protocol header of the packet includes a bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) session identifier inserted by an intermediate router that is a peer router of the network device for a BFD session identified by the BFD session identifier, a timer for the BFD session, wherein the timer defines a receipt interval for receiving BFD packets by the network device from the peer router for the BFD session. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification