Virtual Route Reflectors for Autonomous System Routing Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hot potato routing becomes less effective as the distance between the route reflector and its clients increases, leading to unnecessary network traffic and the need for strategically placed, expensive physical route reflectors to maintain efficiency.
Innovation Solution
Implementing virtual route reflectors that can be located remotely and operate as software on any hardware platform, requesting topology information from autonomous systems to select optimal paths and advertise routes as if they were locally positioned, thereby reducing the need for physically placed reflectors and enhancing routing efficiency across different autonomous systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If physical route reflectors are strategically placed close to client routers to maintain hot potato routing efficiency, then routing efficiency is improved, but device cost and deployment complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of route reflector functionality through software instances that can be deployed remotely. Instead of placing physical route reflectors at every strategic location, virtual instances are created that replicate the routing reflection function, allowing multiple clients to be served from a centralized or remotely-located platform.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical deployment of route reflector hardware with a software-based virtualization approach. The routing reflection function is implemented as software that can run on standard server hardware, eliminating the need for specialized physical devices to be strategically placed throughout the network infrastructure.
2Loss of energy
If physical route reflectors are deployed close to clients to enable effective hot potato routing, then traffic reduction is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
Virtual route reflector instances create software-based copies of the routing function that can serve multiple clients from a single physical platform, eliminating the need for expensive physical device deployment at each client location while maintaining the traffic optimization benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtualized route reflector platform provides universal service to multiple autonomous systems and client routers simultaneously. A single physical infrastructure supports multiple virtual instances, each capable of performing hot potato routing for its respective clients, thereby reducing overall network traffic without requiring separate physical deployments for each client.
3Device complexity
If virtual route reflectors are used to reduce deployment cost and complexity, then device complexity is reduced, but routing efficiency may deteriorate due to remote location
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces BGP-LS (Border Gateway Protocol - Link State) as an intermediary mechanism that enables the virtual route reflector to obtain accurate topology information from the autonomous system. This allows the remotely-located virtual reflector to calculate optimal exit points and advertise appropriate routes, maintaining routing efficiency despite the physical distance from clients.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual route reflector performs preliminary route calculation and optimization by obtaining topology information in advance through BGP-LS and pre-determining the best exit points for traffic. This preliminary action allows the system to advertise optimized routes before traffic flows occur, ensuring efficient routing even though the reflector is remotely-located.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to reflect routes from a virtual route reflector are disclosed. An example method includes requesting, at a virtual route reflector remote from an autonomous system, topology information and external route information from the autonomous system. The external route information identifies a plurality of border routers through which a remote destination can be reached. The example method also includes selecting, using the topology information, a first path from among a plurality of paths emanating from a selected node in the autonomous system, the plurality of paths exiting the autonomous system at respective border routers of the plurality of border routers. The example method further includes advertising, from the virtual route reflector to a client router in the autonomous system, a route to the remote destination, the route including a first border router at which the first path exits the autonomous system.