Packet Router Forwarding Rules for Fail-Safe Mobile Traffic
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network visibility systems face challenges in efficiently processing and analyzing large volumes of mobile data traffic while ensuring fail-safe operation and easy scalability, particularly in forming and applying forwarding rules for packet routing.
Innovation Solution
A router controller architecture that configures forwarding rules in a packet router, utilizing controller blocks with backup mechanisms to ensure continuous operation, dynamic filters for user-centric packet grouping, and load-sharing components to handle availability changes and distribute packets efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional packet routing methods are used in network visibility systems, then the system can process data traffic, but it cannot efficiently handle large volumes of mobile data traffic with fail-safe operation and scalability
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments packet routing functionality into separate forwarding rule tables (FIB table for forward routing, RIB table for reverse routing) that operate independently. This segmentation allows the system to process large volumes of traffic through optimized forward routing while maintaining reliability through independent reverse routing for analytics, preventing single-point failures from compromising the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary routing information base (RIB) table that mediates between incoming packets and the forward information base (FIB) table. This intermediary structure enables the system to maintain fail-safe operation by providing an additional routing layer that can handle edge cases and ensure packet delivery even when primary routing paths fail, while maintaining processing efficiency through optimized FIB lookups.
2Reliability
If network visibility systems process all packets through the same routing path, then routing is simple, but packets from single users cannot be ensured to be analyzed by the same analytic server
Solution Approach 1:
The routing architecture is segmented into distinct forward routing (FIB) and reverse routing (RIB) paths. The FIB handles efficient packet forwarding while the RIB specifically manages reverse routing for analytics traffic. This segmentation ensures that packets from the same user can be consistently directed to the same analytic server through the RIB's user-centric routing rules, while maintaining overall system simplicity through clear separation of concerns.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by implementing user-specific routing rules in the RIB table that apply only to reverse routing for analytics, while the FIB table maintains general-purpose forward routing. This allows the system to ensure consistent analytics processing for user packets without complicating the overall routing architecture, as the specialized user-centric routing is localized to specific table entries rather than requiring system-wide complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system uses static forwarding rules, then the routing configuration is simple, but it cannot adapt to availability changes and load-sharing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic forwarding rules in both FIB and RIB tables that can be updated in real-time based on network conditions and component availability. The controller architecture dynamically adjusts routing rules to redistribute traffic when components fail or become available, and to optimize load sharing across multiple analytic servers. This dynamic capability allows the system to adapt to changing conditions without requiring complex manual reconfiguration, as the rules are automatically updated based on monitored network state.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are a system, method and/or computer readable storage embodiments for processing packets based on forwarding rules in a packet router of a network visibility system. In an embodiment, the packet router contains components for processing sets of packets via tags based on whitelist and forwarding rules in the packet router. The packet router may also distinguish between a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GTP) packet and a non-GTP packet and may process GTP and non-GTP packets based on the whitelist and forwarding rules.