IP Encapsulation Routing for Direct Service Instance Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing service routing systems face inefficiencies and high costs due to reliance on tunneling and extension headers, which require extensive infrastructure and lack end-to-end security, making them cumbersome and expensive to implement.
Innovation Solution
Implementing service aware routing using IP encapsulation to map service addresses to service instances, leveraging IPv4 or IPv6 encapsulation without additional tunneling or extension headers, ensuring end-to-end security and compatibility with existing networks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If tunneling and extension headers are used for service routing, then service instance mapping can be achieved, but infrastructure complexity and implementation cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the service instance mapping function from complex tunneling protocols and extension headers, implementing it directly through standard IP encapsulation. This removes the need for additional tunneling infrastructure while preserving the core functionality of mapping service addresses to service instances.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the IP encapsulation mechanism universal by using standard IPv4 or IPv6 headers that can carry service instance information without requiring specialized tunneling protocols. This allows the same mechanism to handle both regular IP routing and service instance mapping, eliminating the need for separate tunneling infrastructure.
2Reliability
If tunneling protocols are implemented for service routing, then service mapping is possible, but end-to-end security is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the security vulnerabilities associated with tunneling protocols by extracting the service mapping functionality from the tunneling mechanism. Instead of embedding service instance information within tunneling headers, the patent uses standard IP encapsulation that maintains end-to-end security while achieving the same mapping objective.
3Ease of operation
If load balancer is involved in every service request, then service instance selection can be performed, but system overhead and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs service instance selection in advance by encoding the service instance identifier directly in the IP encapsulation header at the source. This preliminary action eliminates the need for load balancer involvement in every service request, as the routing decision is already made and embedded in the packet header before transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables packets to self-identify their destination service instance through the IP encapsulation header, eliminating the need for intermediary load balancers to interpret and forward requests. The service instance information is self-contained in the packet, allowing direct routing without additional system overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are techniques directed to utilizing IP encapsulation to route data packets to different instances of a service in a network. In one aspect, a method includes generating a first request, which includes a first data packet and a first IP encapsulation; transmitting the first request to a service aware router, wherein the service aware router generates a second request that includes the first data packet and a second IP encapsulation, and transmits the service request to the instance of the service; receiving, from the service instance, a response including a second data packet and a third IP encapsulation, which includes an identifier of the service instance of the service; and recording the identifier of the service instance, wherein subsequent requests for applying the service to data packets originating at the device are directly transmitted by the device to the service instance.