Shared Routing Context Consolidates Network Device Routes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network devices face scalability issues due to duplicated routes in multiple routing tables, leading to resource exhaustion as the same routes are not shared across tables, necessitating a solution to consolidate common routes and improve resource utilization.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a shared routing context that stores common routes across local routing contexts, allowing local contexts to perform NAT operations and then pass packets to the shared context for processing, thereby eliminating duplicate route entries and enhancing scalability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple routing tables are configured to process packets at different interfaces, then packet forwarding between different interfaces is enabled, but the same routes are duplicated in each routing table causing resource exhaustion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges duplicate route entries from multiple routing tables into a single shared routing context. Instead of maintaining separate copies of common routes (e.g., routes to public networks like the Internet) in each local routing context, the invention creates a shared routing table that stores these common routes once, which can then be referenced by multiple local routing contexts. This consolidation eliminates redundant storage while preserving the ability to forward packets between different interfaces.
2Reliability
If routing tables do not share routes, then each routing table can independently process packets, but scalability is reduced when many routing tables and routes are configured
Solution Approach 1:
The shared routing context serves multiple local routing contexts simultaneously, acting as a universal routing resource. The shared routing table is designed to be accessible and usable by multiple local routing contexts, each of which can independently process packets while leveraging the common routes stored in the shared context. This multi-functional design enables scalability because the same routing information can serve multiple purposes and multiple routing contexts without being replicated.
3Ease of operation
If common routes are duplicated in each routing table, then each routing table is self-contained, but network device resources are exhausted
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the common routes from individual local routing contexts and places them into a separate shared routing context. By taking out the duplicate route entries and storing them centrally in the shared routing table, the system maintains the functional independence of each local routing context (they can still process packets autonomously) while eliminating the resource waste of storing identical route information multiple times across different routing tables.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for configuring shared routing tables for network devices are provided. In some embodiments, a shared routing context is configured to include common routes across several local routing contexts. When a first packet is received at a first local routing context that is to be routed using one of the common routes, NAT operations may be performed on the first packet and then the shared routing context is used to process the first packet. Similarly, when a second packet is received at a second local routing context that is to be routed using the same common route, NAT operations may be performed on the second packet and then the shared routing context is used to process the second packet.