Summarized Routing Tables Reduce Memory Usage and Forwarding Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Routers face space limitations in storing large routing tables, leading to the need for redundant devices or expanded memory components, which can slow down traffic forwarding.
Innovation Solution
A method for generating summarized routing tables by comparing IP addresses and metadata, reducing the size of the routing tables through grouping similar addresses and metadata, allowing routers to maintain the entire table in memory.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If routing tables store detailed routing information for all network addresses, then routing precision and correctness are improved, but memory space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple routing table entries that share common prefixes and metadata attributes into single summarized entries. By combining entries with identical or overlapping IP address prefixes and grouping them by common metadata characteristics, the system reduces the total number of stored entries while preserving routing accuracy for all original destinations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the routing table representation by changing parameters from storing individual detailed entries to storing summarized entries with aggregated metadata. This parameter transformation allows the same routing information to be represented in a more compact form, reducing memory requirements while maintaining routing precision through the use of prefix matching and metadata grouping.
2Quantity of substance
If expanded memory components are used to store large routing tables, then routing table capacity is improved, but traffic forwarding speed deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
By merging multiple routing entries into single summarized entries, the patent reduces the total number of lookups required during traffic forwarding. The consolidated structure allows routers to process fewer entries while maintaining the ability to route traffic to all original destinations, thereby improving forwarding speed without sacrificing table capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the routing table into hierarchical levels: IP address prefix segments and metadata attribute segments. This segmentation allows for more efficient lookup procedures where traffic routing is determined by matching against summarized prefix entries and their associated metadata groups, reducing the computational complexity compared to searching through individual detailed entries.
3Quantity of substance
If redundant devices are deployed to address space limitations, then routing table storage capacity is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the need for redundant devices by merging routing information into a compact summarized structure that fits within single-device memory constraints. By combining multiple entries and grouping by metadata attributes, the system achieves the storage capacity of multiple devices within a single device, reducing system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for generating a routing table. In one implementation, BGP route broadcasts are received by a control plane of a network. The BGP route broadcasts are aggregated into a table of address summarized routes based on IP addresses included in the BGP route broadcasts. A table of attribute summarized routes is generated from the table of address summarized routes based on similarities between attributes included in the address summarized routes.