Spine-Leaf Traffic Switchover Before Route Convergence
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Solution Overview
Problem
In the Spine-Leaf architecture of a data center, traffic interruption occurs during route convergence due to path failures between Spine and Leaf nodes, affecting user service experience.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for traffic fast switchover that involves looping back data packets through faulty member paths in ECMPs, selecting a fast switchover path, determining a next hop, and encapsulating a specified MAC address for Layer 3 forwarding to ensure seamless traffic redirection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If route convergence is used to restore traffic after path failure, then network routing is automatically adjusted, but traffic interruption occurs for several seconds affecting user service experience
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-configures backup paths and fast switchover mechanisms before path failures occur. When a failure is detected, the system immediately switches traffic to pre-prepared alternative paths without waiting for route convergence, thereby eliminating traffic interruption and improving reliability while avoiding time loss.
2Productivity
If ECMP load balancing is used to distribute traffic across multiple paths, then network throughput is improved, but traffic interruption occurs when one path fails
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-establishes backup paths for each ECMP path and configures fast switchover mechanisms. When a path failure is detected, traffic is immediately redirected to the pre-prepared backup path, maintaining both the throughput benefits of ECMP load balancing and the reliability of continuous traffic flow without interruption.
3Stability of the object's composition
If route convergence is waited for before switching paths, then routing decisions are made based on stable converged routes, but traffic interruption occurs during the convergence process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-configures multiple possible paths and backup routes before network convergence is complete. When a failure occurs, the system immediately switches to pre-prepared paths rather than waiting for convergence, thereby eliminating traffic interruption while still achieving stable routing through the pre-established path configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces fast switchover mechanisms and backup paths as intermediary elements between the primary paths and the final converged routing. These intermediaries enable immediate traffic redirection while the network completes its convergence process, eliminating the need to wait for convergence and preventing traffic interruption.
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed are a method and an apparatus for service fast switchover. The present disclosure may be applied in a spine-leaf architecture, wherein the method may be applied to a backbone spine node. The backbone spine node may loop back a data packet sent through a port connected to a faulty member path from Equal Cost Multi Paths (ECMPs) to which the faulty member path belongs, select one fast switchover member path from the ECMPs prior to routes in a network with the ECMPs converging, determine an access node connected to the fast switchover member path as a next hop, perform layer 3 forwarding on the data packet and encapsulate a specified Media Access Control, MAC, address as a destination MAC address, and send the data packet, with the specified MAC address as the destination MAC address, to the next hop through the fast switchover member path.