Juniper Networks, Inc.

Amit Shukla

Suresh Boddapati

Xiangwen Xu

Joseph LaSalle White

Ravi Shekhar

Jeevan Madhu Kamisetty

Arthi R Ayyangar

Anjan Venkatramani

Ravi I Singh

Anil Lohiya

Rahul Kasralikar

Puneet Jain

Srilakshmi Adusumalli

Ronak Shah

Divakar Shankarappa

Raja Krishnamoorthy

Sharath Sridhar

Steven Xu

Amit Srivastav

Nirmal Kumar Ramalingam

Kireeti Kompella

Quaizar Vohra

Kaushik Ghosh

Srinivasan Jagannadhan

Raj Tuplur

Junan Chen

Umesh Kondur

Vijayabhaskar Annamalai Kalusivalingam

Rajeevalochan Ramaswamy

Shashvat A Thakor

Roselyn K Lee

An apparatus includes a virtual switch hosted at a first network device. The virtual switch is configured to receive a data packet from a first virtual resource hosted at the first network device to be sent to a second virtual resource hosted at a second network device. The virtual switch is configured to encapsulate the data packet to define an encapsulated data packet using a tunnel header, which has a first portion associated with the first and second network devices, and a second portion associated with a data flow between the first and second virtual resources when the data packet is sent from the first network device to the second network device. An Internet Protocol network can use the second portion of the tunnel header to load balance the data packet with respect to other data packets sent from the first network device to the second network device.

Methods and apparatus for improving load balancing in overlay networks

In some embodiments a method includes receiving, at a first network device, a data unit to be sent to second network device via a tunnel, the data unit associated with an application. The method includes appending, to the data unit, an encapsulation header that includes a first portion configured such that the second network device is configured to forward the data unit based on the second portion of the encapsulation header that is configured to identify the application. The method includes sending, from the first network device to the second network device via a first portion of the tunnel, the data unit such that the second network device appends the encapsulation header to the data unit prior to forwarding the data unit via a second portion of the tunnel.

End to end application identification and analytics of tunnel encapsulated traffic in the underlay

Techniques are described for supporting Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) link aggregation groups (LAGs) between a server and a data center switch in a data center. The techniques enable an access switch in the data center switch to assign class identifiers to each member link in an FCoE LAG between an FCoE node (Enode) of the server and the access switch. In this way, the access switch is able to redirect FCoE traffic from a Fibre Channel forwarder (FCF) of a storage area network (SAN) toward the Enode on the correct member link of the FCoE LAG. The techniques also enable scaling of FCoE initialization protocol (FIP) and FCoE sessions by installing FIP snooping filters that use on a source media access control (MAC) address hit determination in ingress filter processors (IFPs) of the access switch to avoid session limitations of virtual local area network (VLAN) filter processors (VFPs).

Fibre channel over ethernet (FCoE) link aggregation group (LAG) support in data center networks

Techniques are described for automatic provisioning of inter-control center communications protocol (ICCP) and automatic provisioning of virtual local area networks (VLANs) on an inter-chassis link (ICL) between multi-chassis link aggregation group (MC-LAG) peer devices. The MC-LAG peer devices may comprise two network devices included in an MC-LAG that is multi-homed to each of a plurality of MC-LAG client devices. In one example, the disclosed techniques enable detection of one or more VLANs configured on a multi-homed interface of the MC-LAG, and automatic provisioning of the detected VLANs on the ICL within the MC-LAG. In another example, the disclosed techniques enable determination of one or more ICCP parameters from MC-LAG configuration information, and automatic provisioning of ICCP over the ICL according to the determined ICCP parameters. The MC-LAG may be included within an enterprise switch of an enterprise network or within a data center switch of a data center network.

Automatic ICCP provisioning and VLAN provisioning on an inter-chassis link in a MC-LAG

An apparatus includes a memory and a processor operatively coupled to the memory. The processor is configured to partition a set of ports of an optical multiplexer into a set of port groups including a first port group having a first set of ports and a second port group having a second set of ports mutually exclusive from the first set of ports. The processor is configured to associate the first port group with a first router and associate the second port group with a second router. When the optical multiplexer is operatively coupled to the first router and the second router, the first router is operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the first set of ports and not the second set of ports, and the second router is operatively coupled to the optical multiplexer via the second set of ports and not the first set of ports.

Methods and apparatus for logical associations between routers and optical nodes within a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system

A device may receive network traffic for transmission in a campus network. The campus network may include a set of aggregation devices and a set of satellite devices. The set of satellite devices may be grouped into a set of satellite clusters of the campus network. The device may generate a packet header for the network traffic. The packet header may include an E-channel identifier (ECID) with a quantity of N bits (N&#x3e;10) reserved to address a packet to a particular satellite device of the set of satellite devices and to a particular port of a set of ports of the particular satellite device. The device may transmit the network traffic using the packet header based on generating the packet header.

E-channel identifiers (ECIDS) for scalable satellite device clustering control in a campus network

An aggregation device may detect a change to a status of a campus network. The campus network may include a set of satellite clusters. Each satellite cluster, of the set of satellite clusters, may include one or more satellite devices. The aggregation device may generate one or more satellite cluster specific control messages (SCSCMs) to update the campus network based on detecting the change to the status of the campus network. The one or more SCSCMs may include at least one of a control-and-status protocol (CSP) message, or a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) message. The aggregation device may include information relating to the set of satellite clusters in a configurable portion of the one or more SCSCMs. The aggregation device may transmit the one or more SCSCMs with a border satellite device, of the one or more satellite devices, to update the campus network.

Control messages for scalable satellite device clustering control in a campus network

A device may store, in a data structure, a set of link identifiers, that identifies a set of member links included in a link aggregation group, in association with a set of packet parameters. The device may receive a network packet. The device may determine a particular packet parameter, of the set of packet parameters, associated with the network packet. The device may route the network packet via a particular member link, of the set of member links, identified by the particular link identifier.

Using a firewall filter to select a member link of a link aggregation group

In one embodiment, an apparatus can include a filter module configured to receive multiple Media Access Control (MAC) addresses associated with multiple virtual ports instantiated at a first network device. Each virtual port from the multiple virtual ports can be associated with a MAC address from the multiple MAC addresses. The filter module can be configured to define a filter to be applied to a data frame sent between the first network device and a network switch, the filter being based at least in part on a MAC address prefix included in each MAC address from the plurality of MAC addresses. The MAC address prefix can include an identifier uniquely associated with a second network device at which the filter module operates.

Apparatus and methods to aggregate FCoE (fibre channel over ethernet) filter rules of a single interface in a single or few rules on a first-hop FCoE networking element

In one embodiment, an apparatus includes an initialization module configured to receive a Fiber Channel over Ethernet Initialization Protocol (FIP) login request from a network device. The initialization module is configured to select an outbound port based at least in part on a load-balancing calculation. The initialization module is configured to define a destination Media Access Control (MAC) address. The initialization module is configured to associate the destination MAC address with the outbound port. The initialization module is configured to send, to the network device, a signal including the destination MAC address in response to the FIP login request.

Methods and apparatus to reduce forwarding state on an FCoE-to-FC gateway using port-specific MAC addresses

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a management module configured to assign a unique set of identifiers to each network control entity from a set of network control entities. As a result, a network control entity from the set of network control entities can assign an identifier from its unique set of identifiers to a port in response to that network control entity receiving a login request from the port. The set of network control entities is associated with a distributed multi-stage switch. The management module is also configured to store a zone set database associated with the distributed multi-stage switch. The management module is configured to send an instance of an active zone set stored within the zone set database to each network control entity from the set of network control entities such that each network control entity can enforce the active zone set.

Methods and apparatus for a distributed Fibre Channel control plane

Techniques are described for supporting Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) link aggregation groups (LAGs) between a server and a data center switch in a data center. The techniques enable an access switch in the data center switch to assign class identifiers to each member link in an FCoE LAG between an FCoE node (Enode) of the server and the access switch. In this way, the access switch is able to redirect FCoE traffic from a Fiber Channel forwarder (FCF) of a storage area network (SAN) toward the Enode on the correct member link of the FCoE LAG. The techniques also enable scaling of FCoE initialization protocol (FIP) and FCoE sessions by installing FIP snooping filters that use on a source media access control (MAC) address hit determination in ingress filter processors (IFPs) of the access switch to avoid session limitations of virtual local area network (VLAN) filter processors (VFPs).

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a first network switch configured to be within a Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) network, which has a set of network switches including the first network switch. The first network switch is configured to receive, from a first network device, a login signal including a proposed logical identifier for the first network device. The first network switch is configured to send, in response to the login signal, a multicast signal including the proposed logical identifier to remaining network switches from the set of network switches. As a result, a second network switch from the set of network switches enforces a zone policy in response to receiving the multicast signal and prior to sending the proposed logical identifier to a second network device.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Amit Shukla