Provider Edge Packet Switching with Distinct Core and Customer Lookup Entities
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current packet switching technologies face challenges in efficiently differentiating and forwarding packets between core and customer networks, leading to potential forwarding loops and increased storage requirements due to the need for complex load balancing configurations.
Innovation Solution
A packet switching device with distinct core-facing and customer-facing lookup entities, where the core-facing entity lacks load balancing information, performs lookup operations on IP packets from the core network, while the customer-facing entity performs load balancing operations, avoiding forwarding loops and reducing storage needs by configuring forwarding information bases differently based on the source network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If load balancing information is configured in all lookup entities, then packet forwarding efficiency is improved, but storage requirements increase and forwarding loops may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by configuring different lookup entities with different types of information based on their specific functions. Customer-facing lookup entities contain load balancing information to efficiently distribute customer traffic, while core-facing lookup entities contain only next-hop information to prevent forwarding loops. This localized differentiation optimizes storage usage while maintaining forwarding efficiency where needed.
2Productivity
If complex load balancing configurations are implemented across all interfaces, then traffic distribution is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the packet switching device into distinct functional components: customer-facing lookup entities and core-facing lookup entities. Each segment is configured with appropriate complexity level - customer-facing entities have full load balancing capabilities for traffic distribution, while core-facing entities have simplified next-hop forwarding only. This segmentation reduces overall device complexity while maintaining traffic distribution efficiency.
3Ease of operation
If uniform forwarding configurations are used for all packets, then processing simplicity is maintained, but forwarding loops occur between core and customer networks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by differentiating forwarding configurations based on the source network. Packets from customer networks are processed by customer-facing lookup entities with load balancing information, while packets from core networks are processed by core-facing lookup entities with next-hop information only. This localized differentiation prevents forwarding loops while maintaining appropriate processing simplicity for each packet type.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a provider edge packet switching device of a provider network is configured with different Internet Protocol (IP) forwarding information bases (FIBs) depending on whether the forwarding information base is associated with core-facing ingress packet traffic (e.g., packet traffic from the provider network) or customer-facing ingress packet traffic (e.g., packet traffic from a customer network). In the latter case of customer-facing ingress packet traffic, the customer-facing forwarding information base includes load balancing lookup results for load balancing traffic between a customer edge packet switching device and through the provider network. In the case of core-facing ingress packet traffic, the core-facing forwarding information base includes a lookup result for forwarding traffic to a customer edge packet switching device, and does not include the above-referenced load balancing lookup result information.