SD-WAN Router Affinity Routing for Policy-Free Gateway Load Balancing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current techniques for load-balancing traffic across gateways in SDWAN networks are resource-intensive and require complex control policies, leading to degraded network performance and scalability issues.
Innovation Solution
Implement affinity routing by assigning affinity numbers and preference orders to gateways and edge routers, allowing automatic load-balancing without complex policies, ensuring deterministic route selection and reduced resource usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If complex control policies are used to achieve load-balancing and affinity routing, then route selection precision is improved, but device complexity and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex control policy into two independent components: (1) affinity numbers assigned to gateways, and (2) affinity preference orders configured on edge routers. This segmentation eliminates the need for complex centralized control policies while maintaining deterministic route selection. Each edge router independently uses its configured preference order to select routes based on gateway affinity numbers, achieving load-balancing without complex policy coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the control mechanism from complex policy rules to simple numerical parameters: affinity numbers (identifying gateways) and affinity preference orders (ranking preferences). These parameter changes transform the route selection process into a deterministic algorithm based on numerical comparison, reducing computational complexity while maintaining precision in route selection and load-distribution across gateways.
2Productivity
If complex control policies are implemented for affinity routing, then load-balancing effectiveness is improved, but resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each edge router independently performs route selection using its locally configured affinity preference order and the gateway affinity numbers received in BGP updates. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for resource-intensive centralized policy processing and complex inter-router coordination, reducing overall network resource consumption while maintaining effective load-balancing across multiple gateways.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms resource-intensive policy evaluation into lightweight numerical comparison operations. Edge routers simply compare affinity preference orders against gateway affinity numbers to determine route selection, replacing complex policy processing with efficient parameter-based decision-making that significantly reduces CPU and memory resource consumption while maintaining load-balancing effectiveness.
3Reliability
If send-path-limit is increased to ensure preferred routes are sent, then route selection reliability is improved, but resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring affinity preference orders on each edge router before route selection occurs. This pre-configuration ensures that preferred routes are always selected without needing to increase send-path-limit values, as the preference order is already established locally. The deterministic nature of this preliminary configuration guarantees route selection reliability while avoiding the resource overhead of transmitting and processing additional route information.
4Adaptability or versatility
If edge routers establish tunnels to all gateways, then network coverage is improved, but device complexity and resource usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamics into tunnel establishment by making it conditional on gateway preference. Instead of static full-mesh tunneling to all gateways, edge routers dynamically establish tunnels only to preferred gateways based on their affinity preference orders. This dynamic approach maintains comprehensive network coverage for failover purposes while significantly reducing the number of active tunnels and associated management complexity on each edge router.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure describes techniques and mechanisms for utilizing affinity routing in SDWAN networks. The techniques may enable network administrators to assign and/or configure affinity numbers to hub(s) and/or gateway(s), tunneling interface(s), service(s), etc., as well as affinity-preference-order(s) to edge device(s) within the network. Network administrators may also configure control polic(ies). The techniques enable a scalable and simplified way to automatically load-balance traffic across different gateways within a network, while reducing network resource usage. The techniques may utilize routing affinity to achieve a variety of networking related functionalities, including automatic load-balancing of traffic, provisioning of active and backup gateways, optimal route distribution to routers from routing controllers, optimized service placement for edge routers, without the need for any policy configuration at all, let alone complex policies.