Service Chaining via Reflected Frame Message Headers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current solutions for distributed inline service chaining in data networks are either costly and inefficient due to the need for physical construction of unique service chains or require complex, expensive packet processing at each hop, making them difficult to scale and integrate with third-party services.
Innovation Solution
The method involves using a network device with service processing entities that encapsulate frames with a reflected frame message (RFM) header containing source and destination information, allowing for efficient steering of traffic through chains of services across multiple network devices, leveraging existing protocol suites like DDCFM for Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) to reduce costs and enhance scalability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If distributed service chaining is implemented across multiple network devices, then service flexibility and scalability are improved, but device complexity and integration difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a service chain controller as an intermediary component that manages and coordinates service chaining across multiple network devices. This controller handles the complexity of service chain configuration, traffic steering decisions, and coordination between different devices, thereby enabling service flexibility without requiring each individual device to handle the full complexity of distributed service chaining integration
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the service chaining functionality into distinct components: service chain definition, traffic classification, steering decisions, and service execution. Each network device handles specific segments of this process, with the service chain controller coordinating between segments. This segmentation allows each device to focus on specific functions, reducing individual device complexity while maintaining overall system flexibility
2Measurement precision
If computation intense processing is performed at each network device hop, then traffic steering accuracy is improved, but processing overhead and latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs traffic classification and service chain selection in advance, before traffic reaches each processing hop. The service chain controller pre-determines the appropriate service chain for each traffic flow based on classification rules, and this decision is cached or stored for rapid retrieval during forwarding. This preliminary action ensures accurate traffic steering decisions are made once, eliminating the need for repeated computation-intensive processing at each hop while maintaining steering accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the computation-intensive traffic classification and service chain selection functions from individual network device hops and concentrates them in a dedicated service chain controller. This extraction allows the controller to perform comprehensive analysis and make accurate steering decisions, while the forwarding devices only need to execute simple lookup and forwarding operations, significantly reducing processing latency at each hop
3Device complexity
If a single networking box hosts all inline services, then configuration complexity is reduced, but scalability and openness are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments inline services from the core networking function and distributes them across multiple independent network devices. Each service can be hosted on separate devices or virtualized instances, allowing the networking infrastructure to maintain simple forwarding operations while services are distributed independently. This segmentation enables the system to scale by adding service devices without modifying the core networking devices
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a service chain controller as an intermediary that manages the distributed service architecture. This controller handles service registration, capability discovery, and dynamic service chain composition, thereby providing the openness and scalability of distributed services while abstracting away the configuration complexity from network operators through automated service chain management
Data Source
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AI summary
A method of supporting service chaining at a network device of a data network is disclosed. The data network offers a set of services associated with a set of network devices, where subscribers of the data network are served by chains of one or more services. The method starts upon receiving a frame, and the network device selects a chain of one or more services for the frame to be processed by the data network. The network device encapsulates the frame with a reflected frame message (RFM) header, the RFM header containing source information associated with the network device, destination information associated with an immediate next service for the frame to be processed, an operation code indicating the frame being an RFM frame. Then the network device sends the encapsulated frame out of the network device according to the destination information of the encapsulated frame.