Juniper Networks, Inc.

Jaihari V Loganathan

Sanjay Khanna

Ravi Shekhar

Kevin F Wang

Ashutosh K Grewal

Quaizar Vohra

Jeelani Syed

Vijayabhaskar Annamalai Kalusivalingam

Srinivasan Jagannadhan

Jeffrey M Haas

Rahul Aggarwal

Sreekanth Reddy

In general, various aspects of the techniques are described in this disclosure for distributed label assignment for labeled routes. In one example, a method includes obtaining, by a first thread of a plurality of execution threads for at least one routing protocol process executing on processing circuitry of a network device, an allocation of first labels drawn from a label space for a network service; adding, by the first thread, the first labels to a first local label pool for the first thread; generating, by the first thread, after obtaining the allocation of the first labels, a labeled route comprising a route for the network service and a label assigned by the first thread from the first local label pool; and outputting, by the network device, the labeled route.

Distributed label assignment for labeled routing protocol routes

A network device, associated with peer network devices, may receive policy information for a protocol; and compute a first update message based on information regarding a route associated with the policy information. The network device may determine that an upper utilization threshold for one or more of peer queues, associated with the peer network devices, is not satisfied; and write the first update message to the peer queues based on determining that the upper utilization threshold is not satisfied. The network device may compute a second update message based on the information regarding the route; determine that the upper utilization threshold for one or more of the peer queues is satisfied; and pause writing the second update message to the peer queues based on the upper utilization threshold being satisfied. The network device may permit the peer network devices to obtain data from corresponding ones of the peer queues.

Regulating enqueueing and dequeuing border gateway protocol (BGP) update messages

In general, the disclosure describes techniques for lockless management of immutable objects by multi-threaded processes. A device comprising a processor may implement the techniques, where the processor execute a multi-threaded process including a producer thread and a consumer thread. The producer thread may instantiate an immutable object, and provide, to the consumer thread, a reference to the immutable object. The producer thread may also increment a reference counter to indicate that the reference has been provided to the consumer thread, where the reference counter is local to the producer thread and inaccessible to the at least two consumer threads. The producer thread may receive, from the consumer thread, a notification that the consumer thread has finished processing the immutable object, and decrement, responsive to receiving the notification, the reference counter. The producer thread may then delete, based on the reference counter, the immutable object.

Lockless management of immutable objects by multi-threaded processes using multiple counters

In general, the disclosure describes techniques for distributing processing of routes among multiple execution threads of a network device. In some examples, a method includes partitioning a routing information base (RIB) into a plurality of RIB partitions, assigning a route processing thread to each RIB partition, processing BGP routing protocol messages at each of the route processing threads, and receiving, at a BGP update thread serving a BGP peer group, from two or more of the route processing threads, route update information for routes to be advertised. The route update information includes a BGP route tuple having a network prefix value and a pointer to an outgoing attribute. The method further includes collecting, based on the BGP route tuples, route update information for routes having the same outgoing attribute and constructing a BGP update message from the collected route update information.

Border gateway protocol update packing for a distributed routing information base

A system for resolving next hops in a distributed manner includes a plurality of next hop resolution subsystems, each of the plurality of next hop resolution subsystems including (1) a next hop registry, (2) a partial-view tree storing a local instance of next hop resolution information, and (3) a full-view tree storing a local instance of next hop resolution information. The system (1) receives a request to resolve a next hop; (2) obtains a plurality of partial results using the partial-view trees of the next hop resolution subsystems; (3) select a best one of the plurality of partial results; and 4) replies to the request using the selected best one of the plurality of partial results. The full-view trees are updated such that their contents tend to converge.

Distributed next hop resolution

In general, the disclosure describes techniques for distributing processing of routes among multiple execution threads of a network device. In some examples, a method includes identifying, with a thread of a plurality of execution threads, a first route processing thread of the execution threads to process a first route of a routing protocol, the first route received by the network device; identifying, with the thread, a second route processing thread of the execution threads to process a second route of a routing protocol, the second route received by the network device; processing, by the first route processing thread executing on a first core of the plurality of processing cores, the first route; and processing, by the second route processing thread executing on a second core at least partially concurrently with the first route processing thread executing on the first core of the plurality of processing cores, the second route.

Multi-threaded route processing

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a first network control entity within a control plane of a switch fabric system. The first network control entity is configured to receive a first test signal including a test instruction to be implemented within the switch fabric system. The first network control entity is configured to send a second test signal including the test instruction to a second network control entity such that the second network control entity implements the test instruction for a predetermined amount of time.

Methods and apparatus for control protocol validation of a switch fabric system

In some embodiments, a system includes a first network control entity, a second network control entity and a third network control entity. The first network control entity and the second network control entity are associated with a first network segment. The third network control entity is associated with a second network segment. The first network control entity is operable to send to the second network control entity an identifier of the first network segment and forwarding-state information associated with a data port at a first network element. The second network control entity is operable to receive the identifier of the first network segment and the forwarding-state information. The second network control entity is operable to send the forwarding-state information to a second network element. The first network control entity does not send the identifier of the first network segment and the forwarding-state information to the third network control entity.

Methods and apparatus for forwarding-state transport in a distributed control plane

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a route reflector implemented in at least one of a memory or a processing device. The route reflector is configured to be included within a switch fabric system. The route reflector is configured to receive, from a network management module, an instruction to install a route associated with a multi-stage switch, and send the instruction to install to a route target network control entity associated with the multi-stage switch. The route reflector is also configured to receive, from the route target network control entity, a first acknowledgement signal indicating that the route was successfully installed at the route target network control entity. The route reflector is configured to send a second acknowledgement signal to the network management module in response to receiving the first acknowledgement signal.

Methods and apparatus for route installation acknowledgement and acknowledgement aggregation in BGP

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a first network device configured to receive, from a second network device, a first forwarding-state packet associated with a peripheral processing device and having a first generation identifier. The first network device is configured to receive, from a third network device, a second forwarding-state packet associated with the peripheral processing device and having a second generation identifier. The first network device is configured to implement forwarding-state information included in the first forwarding-state packet based on a comparison of the first generation identifier and the second generation identifier.

Methods and apparatus related to route selection within a network

In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a first network control entity associated with at least a portion of multiple physical ports at a first access switch that are operatively coupled to a peripheral processing device and a switch fabric. The first network control entity can receive a host protocol request from the peripheral processing device, the first network control entity to transmit the host protocol request to a second network control entity associated with at least a portion of multiple physical ports at a second access switch, such that the host protocol request causes the second network control entity to obtain a response to the host protocol request. The first network control entity can receive the response to the host protocol request from the second network control entity and transmit the response to the host protocol request to the peripheral processing device.

Host side protocols for use with distributed control plane of a switch

In some embodiments, an apparatus implemented in a memory and/or a processing device includes a first network control entity to manage a first data plane module associated with a port from a set of ports at a first access switch. The first network control entity associates an identifier of a peripheral processing device operatively coupled to the port from the set of ports with a next hop reference. The first network control entity provides the next hop reference to a second network control entity that manages a second data plane module at a second access switch such that the second data plane module can append the next hop reference to a data packet when the peripheral processing device is within a data path between and including the second access switch and a destination peripheral processing device.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Jaihari V Loganathan