BGP Routing Cost Control for Partial Link Bundle Failures
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional BGP networks lack the capability to automatically redirect traffic in case of partial link bundle failures, leading to potential traffic loss, unlike IGP networks that utilize bandwidth-aware MPLS-TE mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
Implement a mechanism that automatically detects capacity losses in BGP networks using real-time topology telemetry, determines alternate BGP neighbors, and adjusts Accumulated Interior Gateway Protocol (AIGP) costs to reroute traffic, ensuring minimal traffic loss during partial link failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional BGP networks are used without automatic traffic redirection capability, then device complexity is reduced and ease of operation is maintained, but traffic loss occurs during partial link bundle failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism that monitors link bundle capacity and automatically adjusts BGP costs to redirect traffic. This intermediary layer handles the complexity of failure detection and traffic rerouting, preventing traffic loss while isolating the complexity from the core BGP routing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-service by automatically detecting capacity losses and triggering cost adjustments without manual intervention. The mechanism monitors its own state and autonomously optimizes routing decisions, eliminating the need for external control while maintaining reliability.
2Productivity
If manual cost adjustment via CLI commands is used, then device complexity is minimized, but productivity is reduced due to manual operations required for each failure event
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically detects capacity losses and triggers cost adjustments without requiring manual CLI operations. This self-service mechanism continuously monitors network state and autonomously executes routing optimizations, dramatically improving productivity while maintaining ease of operation through automated processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback loop where capacity loss detection triggers automatic cost adjustment, which in turn redirects traffic. This closed-loop feedback system continuously adapts to network conditions, enabling rapid response to failures without manual intervention and maintaining high productivity.
3Reliability
If bandwidth-aware MPLS-TE mechanisms are implemented in BGP networks, then traffic loss is prevented during partial failures, but device complexity increases compared to conventional BGP
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter being optimized from bandwidth-based (MPLS-TE) to cost-based (BGP). By modifying BGP cost parameters dynamically based on capacity loss detection, the system achieves traffic loss prevention using existing BGP infrastructure, reducing device complexity compared to implementing full MPLS-TE mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using bandwidth-aware mechanisms to directly control traffic flow (MPLS-TE approach), the patent inverts the approach by using cost parameter adjustments to indirectly influence routing decisions. This inversion leverages existing BGP routing logic to achieve the same reliability goals with reduced complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, detecting whether a bandwidth capacity loss occurs on a first link bundle connecting one or more first core routers of a core Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) network with one or more first provider routers, resulting in a detected capacity loss, wherein communication between the one or more first core routers of the core IGP network and the one or more first provider routers utilizes a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), wherein a second link bundle connects one or more second core routers of the core IGP network with one or more second provider routers, and wherein communication between the one or more second core routers of the core IGP network and one or more second provider routers utilizes the BGP; responsive to the detected capacity loss, automatically increasing a cost associated with selected network traffic that was to be carried between the one or more first provider routers and the one or more first core routers of the core IGP network and that will instead be re-directed for communication via the second link bundle; and causing communication via the second link bundle of the selected network traffic, wherein the communication via the second link bundle of the selected network traffic is between the one or more second provider routers and the one or more second core routers of the core IGP network. Other embodiments are disclosed.